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Uniseum reopened

New exhibits offer interested visitors insights into the history of the University

 

After a time-out due to the corona pandemic and fire protection work, the rooms of the Uniseum are open again. Visitors can immerse themselves in the history of the University of Freiburg free of charge on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 2 pm to 6 pm. Three new exhibition areas provide exciting insights into the University in times of the plague, the anatomical-anthropological collection, and the Academic Film Club.

 

Special exhibition "Plague Escape to Villingen“

Although the current pandemic caused by SARS-COV-2 poses challenges for the University, changing processes due to epidemics are nothing new, historically: Until the beginning of the 17th century, the University of Freiburg repeatedly fled from plague outbreaks and sought shelter elsewhere, for example in Villingen. The new exhibition unit is dedicated to these escapes of the University to Villingen and the handling of the plague epidemics.

 

Exhibition table on the anatomical-anthropological collection

The unit previously presented in the Uniseum on Alexander Ecker, an anatomist and anthropologist working in Freiburg from 1850, and the anatomical-anthropological skull collection he founded has been redesigned. The collection partly contains human remains, the acquisition of which is ethically and scientifically problematic from today's perspective. Against this background, students initially developed a concept for the redesign of the exhibition wall as part of an interdisciplinary advanced seminar. Thanks to the financial support of the association Alumni Freiburg e.V., the Burckhardt Foundation from the Consolidated Academic Foundation Administration of the University of Freiburg and the Dr. Rolf Böhme Foundation of the bank Sparkasse Freiburg-Nördlicher Breisgau, a hexagonal exhibition table could now be added to the exhibition unit. It illuminates the problem concerning the skull collection from various perspectives and incorporates new findings.

 

Exhibition object "Cinema out of the suitcase“

The cinema projector "Zeiss Ikon Kinobox" from the 1930s is on permanent loan to the Uniseum from the Academic Film Club. Film projectionists used to travel with it from place to place, transforming each room into a cinema. In 1962, the Academic Film Club purchased the projector, which was used to screen films in the University's standard 35mm cinema format. Although the box was only in use for about three years, it marked the beginning of a new era of student film screenings.

Sandra Haas, curator of the Uniseum, points out that due to current hygiene regulations, guided tours are not possible yet and audio guides cannot be used.

 

Published in German on the website of the University of Freiburg on September 16, 2020.