Museum für Sepulkralkultur

In the location's words:

The Museum for Sepulchral Culture was founded in 1992 and is dedicated to the topics of dying, death, burial, mourning and the culture of remembrance. With a varied program of exhibitions and events, supplemented by education, advice and mediation, it stimulates social discourse. On the one hand, these accompany the change in sepulchral culture and, on the other, open up the opportunity to consciously deal with one's own finiteness.

The main tasks of the museum and the associated central institute are to research, promote and communicate cultural heritage in the areas of burial, cemeteries and monuments. They inform the public about both social consensus and existing conflicts in dealing with dying, death and mourning. The cultural-historical background and its developments are vividly conveyed. The museum is based on the sepulchral culture that has developed in German-speaking countries. Exhibits from the 15th century to the present day show how burials were carried out in Germany, how the dying were accompanied and how the deceased were commemorated. Social changes that influence funeral culture are also taken into account.

An essential part of the work of the museum, the Central Institute and the supporting association is the care, preservation, research and communication of German funeral and cemetery culture. These efforts led to cemetery culture in Germany being added to UNESCO's national list of intangible cultural heritage on March 13, 2020. The federal government, the state of Hesse and the city of Kassel are recognizing this important work and supporting the museum's redesign with financial assistance.

The new concept aims to expand the cultural education and outreach program and redesign the permanent exhibition in order to present the cultural heritage more effectively. The permanent exhibition in particular is to become more of a focus in future, having previously taken a back seat to the changing special exhibitions. It is crucial for communicating the history, significance and development of sepulchral culture in Germany to the public. The new concept also takes account of social change and increasing diversity. It promotes a common understanding of sepulchral culture and contributes to the inclusion of people of different origins and world views.