Städtisches Museum in Rosenheim

Franz Zell worked for the Städtisches Museum (Municipal Museum) in Rosenheim for 50 years. He conceived the first list of "rural antiquities" in 1902. Thirty years later, he was responsible for redesigning and expanding the local history collection. In 1952 he arranged the new Roman collection.

In 1953, Franz Zell wrote a letter to the mayor of Oberammergau about his collaboration with the Städtisches Museum: "You will be aware that last summer the museum in Rosenheim celebrated its 50th anniversary and that I was able to celebrate 50 years of collaboration. I was awarded the German Order of Merit Cross of Merit for this."

The Städtisches Museum was founded by the City Council in 1895. Four rooms were available for the new museum in the Mittertor, the last surviving city gate.

Ludwig Eid (1865-1936) was the museum director until 1903. Eid worked as a teacher in Rosenheim until 1903. As head of the municipal collections on site, he conducted a planned search for household effects and furniture. With a one-off collection campaign in the summer of 1902, he called on Rosenheim’s middle-class families to donate disused household effects to the museum.

Through this targeted collection of household goods and popular furniture, the museum’s collection had grown from the original 640 to 4,000 exhibits. Franz Zell was able to creatively design six rooms with it in 1902.

Michaela Thomas