facts and fiction - Freudenthaler Sensenhammer

Förderverein

Freudenthaler Sensenhammer

200 years of industrial history to be displayed at a very restricted space – facts and fiction gladly accepts this assignment and develops a concept covering all aspects of architecture, museum-related issues, and design in order to illustrate a piece of cultural history with the help of an essential tool used in the long history of human development – the scythe.

The Freudenthaler Sensenhammer is a group of buildings composed of dwellings and places of production having its origin in the 18^th century. 200 years of industrial history to be displayed at a very restricted space – what a great pleasure for facts and fiction to present all facets of this topic to a broad range of visitors.

We develop a concept covering all aspects of architecture, museum-related issues, and design by making allowance for a number of different requirements. The edificial ensemble with its rich pool of objects needs to be conserved ‘as is’. The old work places marked by handicraft as well as by mechanized work are to be used furthermore for demonstrations. And, in addition, some scopes of application alien to the field of industry have to be taken into account, e.g. the museum’s function as the home of the Leverkusen Jazz Festival.

Nomen est omen: the Freudenthaler Sensenhammer revives a piece of cultural history with the help of an essential tool used in the long history of human development – the scythe. The visitors travel through the last 2000 years, a period of time when scythes and sickles were indispensable harvesting tools of our ancestors.

Six lead figures – from the rivet heater up to the entrepreneur – illustrate the 24 work steps involved in scythe manufacturing. Films allow the visitors to get an authentic impression of the production of long ago. Interactive elements provide for better understanding. Orange-coloured exhibition boxes in the production hall set an additional visual accent and add the symbolic cultural function of tools to the presentation.

By re-arranging the scythe museum, a highlight among the row of industrial museums along the river Rhine has been created. Being additionally informed by decent graphics, the visitors learn about history and a complex production. And, with regard to the museum’s conception, the close interlinking of the production processes with different forms of energy generation – from water power up to electric current – has also not fallen prey to a sickle anyway.

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