Munich - State Museum of Ethnology Völkerkundemuseum

The State Museum of Ethnology in Munich occupies an imposing building in Maximilianstrasse designed by E. Riedel and completed in 1865. With its extensive collection of art and artifacts from all over the world it ranks as one of the principal museums of its kind in Europe.

Having begun as a collection of curios assembled in the 16th C. by the Dukes and Electors of Bavaria, the museum started to develop in its present form during the reign of Ludwig II, when all the items of non-European origin were placed together in a separate gallery of their own.

East Asia, West and Central Africa and South America (especially Peru) are particularly well represented in the museum.

The collections

Asia

Near East: weapons and booty from the Turkish Wars.

Far East: lacquerware, Buddhist art, Preetorius Collection with some outstanding works of art, mainly from China and Japan.

America

South and Central America: Peru (grave goods, textiles, vessels, masks, figures and jewelry), Mexico (various items).

North America: craftwork and cult objects of the Northwest Coastal Indians and the peoples of Alaska (including furs, implements, masks and paintings).

Africa

West Africa: masks, carvings, weapons.

Benin and Upper Guinea: ivory carvings, bronzes; East Africa: silver from Abyssinia; Southern Africa: body jewelry.

At the present time the museum is undergoing refurbishment and only temporary exhibitions are being held.
This museum houses one of the foremost collections of pre-Columbian textiles in Europe. German archeologists were busily excavating tombs in the Peruvian highlands at the end the 19th C. when these textiles were discovered.