Both museums are located next to each other and belong to the German Literature Archive, whose goal is to “acquire, collect and make accessible unique pieces of writing and images and objects related to German-language literature and intellectual history from the eighteenth century to the present.” What this basically means is that most exhibits are books or paper documents of some kind. Which could be OK for some people, but for me was a bit overwhelming.
The Schiller museum, the older of the two (opened in 1903) is dedicated to the most famous son of Marbach, a great Romantic German poet Friedrich Schiller. (I’ve recently read somewhere that Germans produced best Romantic literature, which is simply unbelievable to me as a person living among Germans). The beautiful building hosts objects belonging to Friedrich Schiller (I found his full set of clothes intriguing, he was indeed a giant for his age with his 180 cm height), his portraits and lots and lots of personal letters, editions of his works, and documents related to his art and life.
The second museum, Museum of Modern Literature or LiMo for short, is housed in an impressive building which received Stirling Prize (a British prize for excellence in architecture) in 2007. Its permanent exhibition called “Soul” consists of 280 objects selected from the estates of authors and scholars, comprising approximately 50 million pages, books and objects, which invites its visitors to “discover the literary history of the twentieth century via the holdings of the German Literature Archive.” Located in glass cases, the pieces are mostly correspondence, documentation or similar memorabilia devoted to 20th century writers. There are a few objects like typewriters, ink-stands and death masks. Honestly, the amount of similar-looking papers in similar glass cases was a bit too much for me. What I enjoyed more was their temporary (until April 2018) exhibition “Die Familie. Ein Archiv” (“The family. An archive.”) dedicated to families in the lives of writers. A shirt in which Thomas Mann was baptized, or a family Bible of Theodor Fontane are just a couple of many objects worthy of interest together with numerous photographs. Another temporary exhibition (until July 2018) is devoted to Samuel Beckett’s personal history with Germany, of which he was a big fan. His previously unseen travel notebooks of 1936-37, letters and manuscripts as well as exhibits dealing with Beckett’s work at Schiller-Theater Berlin and cooperation with Süddeutschen Rundfunk (South German Radio) can all be enjoyed at the exhibition.
Of special notice is the location of the museums – next to each other (with an underground passage connecting the two, so it’s reasonable to plan for visiting both museums), on a hill called Schillerhöhe with a splendid view over the Neckar river. There is also a decent cafe with a museum shop in the Schiller museum. I purchased a couple of really cool postcards with Kafka’s and Hesse’s photos on them.
Overall impression: I believe the museums are especially worth visiting to those people who are deeply interested in literature and are familiar with many literary figures of the last centuries. For general public, they might be just a bit overwhelming and, I am afraid to say this word when it comes to literature at all, boring. Besides, some knowledge of German is necessary as there were no English captions at the time of visit.
The museums are open Tuesday to Sunday from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Price is €9 for adults, reduced €7 (students). More info can be found on their website.
