August 28 | Summer Festival
Summer Festival Under the Trees
The Gutenberg Foundation invites you!
This year, young researchers from around the world will be joining us. They are participating in the Children’s Media Summer School, organized by JGU Mainz and Goethe University Frankfurt, where they explore current cultural and digital perspectives on children’s and youth media.
Take the opportunity to engage in conversation in a relaxed atmosphere – with cool drinks, engaging discussions, and a view of a beautiful summer evening in Mainz!
LOCATION: Gutenberg Museum MOVED Pavilion
TIME: 6:00 PM
September 18 | Treffpunkt Gutenberg
Academic Lecture with Drinks Afterwards
Prof. Dr. Soon-Chim Jung (University of Münster), German honorary ambassador for the Jikji
Moderator: Anett Göthe, Curator of the East Asian Collection
Roughly 400 years before Gutenberg’s famous Bible, books were already being printed with movable type in the Far East. In China, Bi Sheng developed movable clay type around 1040. In Korea, the oldest surviving book printed with cast metal type was created in 1377: Baegun hwasang chorok buljo jikji simche yojeol, commonly known as Jikji.
This lecture offers an introduction to this extraordinary work – its author, structure, and content, as well as the story of its rediscovery. The printing techniques of movable type in East Asia will also be discussed to place Jikji in a broader cultural and technological context.
LOCATION: Gutenberg Museum MOVED Aula
TIME: 6:00 PM
October 15–19 | Frankfurt Book Fair
LOCATION: Hall 3.1, Booth K142/143
October 25–26 | Mainz Book Fair
October 29 | Treffpunkt Gutenberg
Public Lecture with Drinks Afterwards
Dr. Kai Sprenger: Gutenberg and the History of Democracy – A Search for Traces
The historical reception of Johannes Gutenberg stands in stark contrast to the limited historical sources about his life and work. Since the 18th century, the most famous citizen of Mainz has increasingly become a symbolic figure – representing freedom of the press, equal access to education, and democratic progress.
This lecture explores how Gutenberg has been used in various political contexts – from the French Revolution to the democratic banquet in Mainz in 1849, and even the way the GDR portrayed him. Even the 2018 local referendum about the future of the Gutenberg Museum can be seen as a modern example of how democracy is linked with Gutenberg’s legacy.
LOCATION: Gutenberg Foundation
TIME: 6:00 PM
November 13 | Treffpunkt Gutenberg
Photography, Film, and Panel Discussion with Drinks Afterwards
Even a Museum Has a Life – From the Schell Building to a New Vision
The Gutenberg Museum Mainz is on the verge of a new beginning. After more than six decades, the move out of the building designed by Rainer Schell marks the end of a significant chapter in the museum’s history.
Photographs by Jürgen Hill and Thomas Dang, taken during the move and in the now-empty building, as well as early clips from a documentary currently in production, offer a look back. At the same time, they provide a glimpse into the upcoming transformation – the start of a new phase in the museum’s design and future.
LOCATION: Zentrum Baukultur
TIME: 6:00 PM
December 4 | Treffpunkt Gutenberg
Panel Discussion with Drinks Afterwards
Participants:
Andrea Baron (Beltz Verlag)
Prof. Dr. Eva Maria Kohl (University of Halle)
Prof. Dr. Jörg Meibauer (JGU Mainz)
Moderator: Dr. Anke Vogel (JGU Mainz)
Mirrored Worlds? Children’s Book Publishing in East and West
Children’s books shape our view of the world – often for life. But what distinguishes children’s literature from East and West? What stories, values, and illustrations defined childhood in the GDR and the FRG – and what traces remain today?
This panel brings together two perspectives: Andrea Baron of Beltz Verlag, which carries on the legacy of a major GDR children's publisher, and children's literature experts from both East and West. Together, they explore beloved classics, forgotten gems, and the question of why children’s books remain a key to understanding history. An invitation to remember, marvel – and rediscover.
LOCATION: Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Philosophicum Faculty Hall
TIME: 6:00 PM
December 11 | Lift Up the Gates!
Mulled Wine & Printing
Our traditional year-end gathering – this time with a festive twist: very Christmassy and delicious. More details to follow.
LOCATION: Zentrum Baukultur
TIME: 6:00 PM
November 28, 2025 – February 22, 2026 | Exhibition
Exhibition by the Gutenberg Museum in cooperation with Johannes Gutenberg University
“I Print! – Emblems, Marks, and Printer’s Devices Since the Age of Gutenberg”
Did Johannes Gutenberg, the inventor of the printing press, have a business card? Probably not. But his successors soon introduced so-called printer’s marks – the forerunners of today’s publishing logos. These clever and creative “calling cards” adorned the first or last pages of early printed books and identified the printers responsible.
They were a way to present and promote both the printer and the product.
To celebrate Gutenberg’s 625th birthday, the Gutenberg Museum Mainz is dedicating a special exhibition to the visual genre of printer’s devices for the first time.
LOCATION: Gutenberg Museum MOVED