Exhibitions and events

There is no exhibition space in the Westphalia department. Therefore, we are presenting a few online exhibitions here. You can find information about current events on the homepage of the Landesarchiv or the Westphalia department.

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Exhibitions and events organised by the Landesarchiv NRW
Führung einer Besuchergruppe in der Abteilung Westfalen
Jochen Tack

Online exhibition: SCHNELLER, HÖHER, WEITER – SPORT, SPIEL UND LEIBESÜBUNGEN

120 years after the founding of a football club that would later become famous in a district of Gelsenkirchen, 115 years after the founding of its later favourite rival in Dortmund, 70 and 50 years after the first two World Cup titles won by the (Federal) German men's football team, and 35 years after the (Federal) German women's football team won its first European Championship, the year 2024 off...

120 years after the founding of a football club that would later become famous in a district of Gelsenkirchen, 115 years after the founding of its later favourite rival in Dortmund, 70 and 50 years after the first two World Cup titles won by the (Federal) German men's football team, and 35 years after the (Federal) German women's football team won its first European Championship, the year 2024 offered several occasions to reflect on (West) German football history.

To mark these anniversaries, the Archive of the Month of the Westphalia Department of the Landesarchiv is offering selected insights into various (minority) sports in 2024...

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Online exhibition: SCHNELLER, HÖHER, WEITER – SPORT, SPIEL UND LEIBESÜBUNGEN

Online exhibition: GELD, KREDIT UND WERTPAPIERE

One hundred years ago, the German Empire's war debts and the reparations stipulated in the Treaty of Versailles of 1919 led to hyperinflation, which contributed significantly to the loss of prestige and destabilisation of the Weimar Republic. The Second World War was also followed by a serious financial crisis, which led to currency reform and the introduction of the Deutschmark 75 years ago, on 2...

One hundred years ago, the German Empire's war debts and the reparations stipulated in the Treaty of Versailles of 1919 led to hyperinflation, which contributed significantly to the loss of prestige and destabilisation of the Weimar Republic. The Second World War was also followed by a serious financial crisis, which led to currency reform and the introduction of the Deutschmark 75 years ago, on 20 June 1948.

To mark these two anniversaries, the Archive of the Month of the Westphalia Department of the Landesarchiv in 2023 focuses on money in all its forms and traces the history of coins, banknotes, savings, debts, shares, stamps and even safes through the centuries.

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Online exhibition: GELD, KREDIT UND WERTPAPIERE

Online exhibition: Kunst und Kultur in Westfalen

Seventy-five years ago, opera and theatre performances took place in Recklinghausen, with which Hamburg's state theatres thanked the miners of the König Ludwig colliery in the summer of 1947 for their...

Seventy-five years ago, opera and theatre performances took place in Recklinghausen, with which Hamburg's state theatres thanked the miners of the König Ludwig colliery in the summer of 1947 for their spontaneous (and illegal) coal deliveries during the previous winter, thus laying the foundation for the Ruhrfestspiele. 150 years ago, on 28 January 1872, the Westphalian Provincial Association for Science and Art was founded with the aim of consolidating state cultural funding in the province of Westphalia. 200 years ago, on 27 February 1822, the statutes of the Münstersche Liedertafel were approved, establishing the first male choir in Westphalia.

Against the backdrop of these anniversaries, the online exhibition, which was originally conceived as the Archive of the Month for 2022, highlights some aspects of art and culture in the Westphalian region – without, of course, being able to even begin to suggest the diversity of its forms.

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Online exhibition: Kunst und Kultur in Westfalen

Online exhibition: "BAUER, PFLUG UND SCHOLLE"

After the first local farmers' associations were founded in Wettringen and Westerholt in 1862 and 1868, the ‘Westfälischer Bauernverein’ (Westphalian Farmers' Association) was established 150 years ag...

After the first local farmers' associations were founded in Wettringen and Westerholt in 1862 and 1868, the ‘Westfälischer Bauernverein’ (Westphalian Farmers' Association) was established 150 years ago, on 30 November 1871, the ‘Westfälische Bauernverein’ (Westphalian Farmers' Association) was formed on the initiative of Baron Burghard von Schorlemer-Alst (1825-1895), thus creating the first agricultural trade association in the newly proclaimed German Empire. To mark this occasion, this year's Archive of the Month from the Westphalia department is dedicated to the farming profession, its work, its environment and, last but not least, the images that circulated in public and were sometimes exploited for political purposes.

In 2021, the online exhibition highlighted rural life in Westphalia as the Archive of the Month.

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Online exhibition: "BAUER, PFLUG UND SCHOLLE"

Online exhibition: Von Recht-, Anders- und Ungläubigen

1235 years after the baptism of Widukind, Duke of Saxony, 1215 years after Liudger was consecrated as the first bishop of Münster, and 485 years after the end of the Münster Anabaptist sect, the Westphalia department of the Landesarchiv Nordrhein-Westfalen provided insights into the countless traces left behind in writing and images by religious and ideological thinking, actions and suffering in its Archive of the Month for 2020. On the one hand, the selected documents highlight what people (primarily) in Westphalia believed and therefore did or endured. On the other hand, they also remind us that it always remains a question of perspective as to who is considered orthodox, heretical or even unbelieving.

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Online exhibition: Von Recht-, Anders- und Ungläubigen

The oldest surviving document in Westphalia

A diploma issued by Charlemagne in 813 – the oldest surviving document in Westphalia – bears witness to the conquest of Saxony by the Franks...

A diploma issued by Charlemagne in 813 – the oldest surviving document in Westphalia – bears witness to the conquest of Saxony by the Franks:

During the conquest of the Saxon tribal territories by the Franks, the Saxon nobleman Hiddi fought on the side of Charlemagne. Hiddi then took possession of a piece of forest between Fulda and Werra, in Havucabrunno, and bequeathed it to his son Asig. In this document, Charlemagne returned the area, which had been confiscated by royal messengers as was customary, to Asig.  The royal diploma dated 9 May 813, kept in the Westphalia section of the Landesarchiv Nordrhein-Westfalen, is not only the oldest document in Westphalia, but in the whole of northern Germany. It is also the last document issued by Charlemagne – eight months before his death. (9 May 813) 

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LAV NRW W, W 701/Urkundenselekt, KU 1

Online exhibition: 100 Jahre Wahlrecht für das „andere Geschlecht“ in Deutschland

In the election for the Constituent National Assembly on 19 January 1919, women were allowed to exercise their right to vote and stand for election for the first time in Germany. To mark this occasion – and at the same time exactly 70 years after the publication of Simone de Beauvoir's groundbreaking work ‘Le deuxième sexe’ – the Landesarchi...

In the election for the Constituent National Assembly on 19 January 1919, women were allowed to exercise their right to vote and stand for election for the first time in Germany. To mark this occasion – and at the same time exactly 70 years after the publication of Simone de Beauvoir's groundbreaking work ‘Le deuxième sexe’ – the Landesarchiv Nordrhein-Westfalen dedicated itself to the ‘other sex’.

The online exhibition was presented as ‘Archival Document of the Month’ in 2019 and accordingly contains 12 selected archival documents that cannot and do not intend to offer a systematic or even representative view of Rhineland-Westphalian history from a feminist perspective. However, they are intended to highlight discrimination and the emancipation of women, primarily in the 20th century, using examples that are as expressive as possible.

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Online exhibition: 100 Jahre Wahlrecht für das "andere Geschlecht"

Online exhibition: 100 Jahre Kriegsende und Revolution

In 2018, the Westphalia department focused on the ‘catastrophe of the 20th century’ in its ‘Archive of the Month’ series, marking the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War and the November Revolution with its consequences. The selected documents reflect the complex intertwining of different levels of action in that they highlight events at the imperial level as well as events in Westphalia. Chronologically, they also extend beyond 1918 to shed light on the further turbulent period of upheaval.

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Online exhibition: 100 Jahre Kriegsende und Revolution

Online exhibition: Architektur in Westfalen

In 2017, the Westphalia department took the 250th anniversary of the laying of the foundation stone of the Prince-Bishop's Residence Castle in Münster on 26 August 1767 as an opportunity to look at Westphalian architectural history in twelve examples as ‘Archival Document of the Month’. Without claiming to be representative, the exhibition focuses on views and plans of buildings of various types and from different periods, ranging from 17th-century castles to 20th-century social housing.

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Online exhibition: "Architektur in Westfalen"

Online exhibition: Die belebte Natur der Vergangenheit

Even though the documents stored in an archive generally deal with human deeds and destinies, plants and animals also appear here and there in the collections – and we are not (only) referring to mice and their gnaw marks on documents, dead spiders and flies in files, or blooming mould. Beyond these unwanted representatives, fauna and flora also play a substantive or at least decorative role in quite a few archival sources.

In 2016, the online exhibition highlighted ‘the living nature of the past’ as the archive item of the month.

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Online exhibition: "Die belebte Natur der Vergangenheit"
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