Sonderausstellung: Glanz & Gloria

In the organizer's words:

New special exhibition at the Brewery Museum:

From magnificent brewery buildings and imposing pubs and restaurants to artistically designed business papers, factory photographs and postcards: the modernization of the brewing industry, which began in the 1870s, also seems to have ushered in times of "glitz and glory" for Dortmund's brewers. During this phase of the industrial boom, the traditional breweries were replaced by large-scale and joint-stock breweries and the simple brewers rose to become respected entrepreneurs in the city's society.

Technical progress in the brewing process, the steadily improving transport links to the railroads and the influx of workers into the Ruhr area boosted the rapid increase in beer sales. From 1900, Dortmund was one of the largest German brewery cities after Munich and Berlin. These successes had to be confidently presented to the outside world - be it architecturally in the form of magnificent buildings such as the stately Kronenburg or through the effective design of business correspondence, company photographs, prestigious photo albums on the occasion of company anniversaries and the first advertising materials such as postcards or beer mugs.

However, the common image of the brewing industry in the "splendid" German Empire is rather one-sided due to the focus on growth, success and representation. The exhibition therefore takes a differentiated look at the period and its self-portrayal: How did brewery workers actually fare in the Empire? What impact did the First World War, which began in 1914, and its drastic cuts in raw materials have on the brewing industry? By looking at the glorious times, but also at the less noticed or reluctantly remembered aspects of Dortmund's brewing industry, a more balanced - albeit still incomplete - picture of the development of Dortmund's breweries in the German Empire emerges.

The exhibition project is a cooperation between the Stiftung Westfälisches Wirtschaftsarchiv and the Brauerei-Museum Dortmund.