Dauerausstellung
Subterranean!
Ebene -1
Hidden underneath the Minster Square

Subterranean! Hidden underneath the Minster Square. Visitors in the Exhibition
In the Exhibition
The Minster Square is the perceived centre of Ulm. It's where people left behind traces of their respective civilisations. These traces, which that are more than four millennia old, are much older than the Minster itself. Archaeologists found them when they studied the excavation pit and the Minster Square prior to the construction of the Stadthaus from 1986 to 1993.
What they found includes human and animal bones, tools, everyday objects, and toys. These objects, pulled from the rubble of the Stadthaus excavation pit, cover all aspects of city life.
Replica of the so-called 'Bell Beakers Grave'. Photo: Felix Nolze
Replica of the so-called 'Bell Beakers Grave' (ca. 2,300 B.C.)
Foto: Felix Nolze

This exhibition displays selected finds from these excavations in seven stations. They guide us through the topics that were – and still are – relevant for life in this location throughout the ages. The eighth station is dedicated to the Stadthaus and its history.

Monitors on all stations, equipped with slide-shows and movies, provide further information and references about which cultural and other locations in Ulm offer more insights about the respective topics.

The fifth chapter, for example, presents things of leisure activities of past centuries The beautiful glass beakers from the 15th/16th centuries are called “Krautstrunk”. Those who were able to afford them may have used them every day. What is certain, is that they have been used for special occasions. Toys for adults always included dice. A tobacco pipe from the early modern period bears witness to the fact that the Ulm citizens enjoyed not only drinks and dice, but liked to smoke as well.

20 clay marbles and a small clay puppet are exemplary for how the young inhabitants of Ulm spent their pastime in the late Middle Ages.

Look into the showcase "Crafts, trade, city society ": Spidle whorls, Sewing needle, Loom weight and Casting mould
Look into the showcase "Crafts, trade, city society ": Spidle whorls, Sewing needle, Loom weight and Casting mould
Foto: SP/Stadthaus. Loan from ALM BW

2016 the exhibition was conceived by Stadthaus Ulm in cooperation with Museum Ulm, the House of the history of Ulm - Stadtarchiv Ulm, the Touristinformation Ulm / Neu-Ulm, the Ulmer Minster Cathedral and Landesamt für Denkmalpflege Baden-Württemberg. Text: Historian and Journalist Dr. Wolf-Henning Petershagen and Stadthaus-Leader Karla Nieraad, Exhibition Design and Graphics: Felix Nolze, Christian Eckelmann and Tim Jolas, Agentur "Rotes Pferd", Berlin.

Projektmanagement: Dr. Sabine Presuhn

The Exhibition is kindly supported by
Stadt Ulm, Josef Gartner GmbH, Gundelfingen, Richard Meier & Partners Architects, New York, Protel film & media, Ulm, the Erste Ulmer Bestattungsinstitut Helmut Streidt and the pro ulma STIFTUNG.