Mathematikum, Science museum in Gießen, Germany
The Mathematikum occupies the former main customs office in Gießen, a cream-coloured stucco building with a dark pitched roof and round-arched windows. Its entrance has a flat concrete canopy on four tall pillars, a glass curtain wall and wide stone steps with metal handrails. Inside are around 200 experiment stations, including soap films, mirrors and a Leonardo bridge built from wooden blocks.
The museum occupies the former main customs office (Hauptzollamt) of Gießen, which the city bought in early 2001 and made available free of charge to the sponsoring association. The first sod was turned in February 2002, and after nine months of construction Federal President Johannes Rau opened the Mathematikum on 19 November 2002. It grew out of Albrecht Beutelspacher's 1993 seminar at the Justus Liebig University, whose student-built geometric models were shown from 1994 as "Mathematik zum Anfassen".
The museum's motto is "Mathematik zum Anfassen" (mathematics to touch). At around 200 experiment stations visitors stand inside a soap film, build the Leonardo bridge from wooden blocks, or recreate geometric solids. A separate Mini-Mathematikum floor, opened 1 May 2009, is designed for children aged four to eight with experiments on numbers, shapes and patterns.
The museum occupies the former Hauptzollamt (main customs office) in Gießen, with the entrance reached by wide stone steps and a flat concrete canopy on four pillars. It is closed on Sundays and Mondays, so plan a visit on a weekday. Exhibits are spread over several floors, including the Mini-Mathematikum on the third floor for children aged four to eight.
The founder Prof. Beutelspacher regularly appears in a monthly conversation format where he discusses mathematical topics with guest speakers. These informal discussions reveal how living and present mathematics is for those who research it daily.
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