To celebrate its 170th anniversary, Colmar’s Musée Unterlinden is offering its visitors a festive anniversary exhibition from October 14, 2023 to March 4, 2024. A tour of the permanent collections, an exhibition of previously unseen works from the reserves or on loan from partner museums, innovative mediation tools and a wide range of activities invite Colmarians, Alsatians and visitors alike to travel back in time to the heart of the Musée Unterlinden.

What was the museum yesterday, what is it today, and what will it be tomorrow? A fun-filled tour takes visitors to meet eleven key figures who have shaped the museum’s history since it was founded in 1853. Emblematic works retrace the museum’s 170 years of existence, testifying to the essential role played by the museum and the Schongauer Society in the preservation and dissemination of artistic, historical and archaeological heritage. Festive and convivial events enable the public to play an active part in building the museum of tomorrow. The museum of the 21st century is no longer a silent, timeless sanctuary; it’s a place of life, exchange and sharing to be celebrated.

Eleven personalities in the spotlight

Each of the eleven personalities is presented in a dedicated space, whose contents will enable visitors to discover their stories, their eras and their links with the museum and its collections.

The first six personalities can be discovered in the museum’s permanent exhibition spaces:
Auguste Bartholdi, Théophile Klem, Madeleine Jehl, Edmond Fleischhauer, Jean-Paul Person and Jean-François Jaeger. Through the cloister, the chapel, the former convent cellar housing the archaeological collections, the underground gallery and the rooms devoted to modern art in the Ackerhof, visitors are led to meet the personalities who have shaped the museum’s history, and to rediscover emblematic works linked to them.

Exhibition curator: Chloé Héninger, curator in charge of archaeological collections
Exhibition assistant: Léa Rosenfeld