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Icon Museum

Dr Jörgen Schmidt-Voigt's foundation

Newly opened Ethiopian collection at the Icon Museum

The Icon Museum in Frankfurt opened its newly designed Ethiopian collection.
The exhibition on Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity is notable for the diversity of the Aethiopica on display and the uniqueness of its presentation. 500 years of Christian Ethiopian art and cultural history can be discovered here in exemplary fashion. In addition to sixteen large- and small-format icons, visitors can discover a wide variety of neck, hand and processional crosses in a wide range of forms and materials, as well as eight parchment manuscripts and several objects used in the liturgy, including rattles, water jugs and ear spoons.


New concert series at the Icon Museum
Brückenkonzerte begin 31 March, 2023.

From March to November 2023, the Ikonenmuseum, a department of the Museum Angewandte Kunst located in Frankfurt’s Brückenstraße, invites to concerts with various ensembles and soloists in the exhibition hall. Developed by pianist Leonhard Dering and with the assistance of curator Dr. Konstanze Runge, the concert series brings together musical works of European and Ukrainian contemporary and modern music.

Next dates: 22 September, 2023 and 23 November, 2023

The concert series is sponsored by the Department of Culture and Science of the City of Frankfurt.


After more than a year of alterations and renovations, the Icon Museum in Frankfurt am Main is reopening with an entirely new exhibition space and concept. Under the direction of Prof. Matthias Wagner K and the curatorial leadership of Dr. Konstanze Runge, who has held the position since September 2019, the museum places the relationship between people and icons at the centre of focus in its completely renewed exhibition.

Following extensive conservation and restoration measures, the 130 selected icons and religious objects reveal an entirely fresh magnificence. At the same time, the rather typical traces of use were carefully conserved as a sign of the relationship between people and their icons. The icons are presented mostly without glass and at eye level. It is mainly the valuable and metal icons as well as small objects that are protected by glass and showcases.

In a city with more than 14 Orthodox Christian churches and characterised by rich cultural diversity, the Icon Museum wishes not only to be a place for the preservation of cultural heritage, but also to be a space of encounter to which all are invited and which contributes to a successful coexistence of peoples from different cultural, religious and non-religious backgrounds.

As of now, the Icon Museum in Frankfurt has a free smartphone app that allows visitors to get to know the contents of the exhibition digitally in German, English and Russian. The heart of the app is the multimedia guide. Here, users can listen to audio contributions and read texts that refer to different contents and icons.

Download for iOS / Download for Android

Press Release


Press Conference Reopening of the Icon Museum (in German)

The digital press conference from 4 March, 2021 with the speakers:

Dr. Ina Hartwig
Head of the Cultural Department of the City of Frankfurt am Main

Prof. Matthias Wagner K
Director
Icon Museum Frankfurt
Museum Angewandte Kunst

Dr. Konstanze Runge
Head Curator and Custodian
Icon Museum Frankfurt


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