With over 50,000 objects, the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation has the second largest historical collection of Bauhaus artefacts in the world after the Bauhaus Archive in Berlin.
The focus of this collection is on the Dessau period of the Bauhaus from 1925 to 1932, its roots, influences and worldwide reception up to the present day. The establishment of this collection began in 1976 with the founding of the “Wissenschaftlich-Kulturellen Zentrums” (Scientific and Cultural Centre) of the GDR in the newly renovated Bauhaus Building.
The historical collection can be used for research purposes by prior arrangement. You can contact us at: archiv@bauhaus-dessau.de
This archive is dedicated to the institute’s own history from the founding of the Bauhaus Dessau in 1976 to the present day. The collected objects and documents, including eyewitness accounts, are more than just a reflection of the institution’s own history. They are also unique testimonies to the societal, social and creative changes in the times before and after the fall of communism up to the present day. The foundation’s archive is currently under construction and is not yet accessible to the public.
The construction research archive collects objects, documents and results from construction research and the renovation of Bauhaus and modernist buildings and makes them accessible for research purposes. The archive focuses on building components such as windows, doors, electrical switches, but also examples of building materials and building products such as concrete blocks, bricks, plaster fragments, colour samples, samples of screeds and floor coverings, fragments of technical installations, etc. Historical and current photographs and plans, reports from contemporary witnesses and literature on historical building constructions, construction techniques and building materials round off the archive’s holdings.
The construction research archive can be used for research purposes by prior arrangement. You can contact us at: archiv@bauhaus-dessau.de