and not just because we celebrate a special anniversary of the “man of the millennium” (it is his 622. birthday and the 522. anniversary of his death).
2022 will be the Year of Gutenberg because all signs point to the construction of the new Gutenberg Museum. Finally, the realization of this project seems to be close at hand. Even if there hasn’t been an expansion of sponsorships, even if it is still a municipal museum. The government of Rhineland Palatinate has signaled a willingness to sponsor the museum in the coalition agreement and the federal government supported the feasibility study for the new building financially – good signs, but no concrete commitment yet.
Considering Biontech’s massive success and the accompanying tax income, though, many things seem possible. In 2018 the 50 million Euro required for the renovation of the museum posed an unsolvable problem which provoked the first referendum in Mainz’s city history. Today, the 60 million Euro required for the new museum seem like a conquerable obstacle. Therefore, the greatest inventor of the early modern age might owe his new museum to Mainz’s great scientists of the present.
The architectural competition for the new Gutenberg Museum will be announced in the upcoming weeks – the texts just need to be approved by the city’s building department. Results of the competition will be announced in summer. Then we’ll be able to see the future of the museum more clearly.
A good, or even great museum will be built that Mainz can be proud of. A museum that explains to everyone – big or small – what was so revolutionary about the invention of movable type printing and why the digital revolution of today would be unthinkable without it. A place to experience modern cultural mediation in which history comes alive and becomes a figurehead for the city of Gutenberg.
Everyone who wants to accompany and support the Gutenberg Museum in its development in the upcoming years should join the Friends of Gutenberg and unite with likeminded people. The Good Friends are informed regularly about all the happenings concerning the Gutenberg Museum. Informational events and get-togethers give room for regular exchange.
The Gutenberg Museum was founded in 1900 by the citizens of Mainz, accordingly, the new building shall also have a firm foundation in the city and be supported by today’s citizens. Join the Friends of Gutenberg! And bring along your friends and family.