Kunstmuseum Bayreuth, Art museum in baroque town hall of Bayreuth, Germany.
The Kunstmuseum Bayreuth is located in the Old Town Hall, a baroque building in the city center. Its rooms display contemporary and modern art with a special focus on works on paper, including prints, drawings, and graphic works.
The building's origins reach back to the Middle Ages; it was destroyed in the Hussite Wars in 1430 and by fires in 1605 and 1621. In 1721 the hospital foundation acquired the town palace and made it Bayreuth's town hall, remodelled in baroque form from 1722 to 1727 under the margrave's architect Johann David Räntz. It served as town hall until 1916 and again from 1945 to 1972, then housed the state police until 1996. After a renovation costing around 13 million DM, it opened as the Kunstmuseum Bayreuth in December 1999.
The museum's name comes from its home in the former town hall, and its collection grew from the Dr. Helmut and Constanze Meyer Kunststiftung and the Caspar-Walter-Rauh-Sammlung, joined in 1992 by a donation of works by Expressionist Georg Tappert. The Kleine Plakatmuseum, taken over in 2012, holds around 22,000 posters, and the museum also keeps a collection of Outsider Art.
The museum occupies the baroque Old Town Hall at the junction of Brautgasse and Maximilianstraße, in Bayreuth's pedestrian centre. It is accessible without steps for wheelchair users, and the programme under the heading BarriereFREI invites visitors with and without disabilities to events. Guided tours, educational activities and lectures accompany the exhibitions.
The museum's poster collection, the Kleines Plakatmuseum, holds around 22,000 posters, taken over in 2012. Their motifs focus on cultural themes such as literature, theatre and exhibitions, but also cover contemporary history, sport, travel and gastronomy.
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