„The hidden magnificence – life behind the monastery walls“. This is the title of a permanent exhibition which is presented in the newly established museum Kloster Schussenried (Monastery Schussenried) since May 2010. The monastery building owned by the “State Castles and Gardens” of Baden-Wuerttemberg presents an exhibition in five rooms. The emphasis of the exhibition, which was arranged by a team of the State Museum in Stuttgart, is the church history of the Canonical Order of Premonstratensians which was resident there till 1803. Another focus of the exhibition is on the secular use of the monastery, the iron melting factory “Wilhelmshütte” and the Royal Asylum Schussenried (Königliche Heil- und Pflelgeanstalt Schussenried) where mentally ill people have been treated since 1875. During 120 years, the hospital´s everyday life also took place in the rooms of the former monastery building, most recently till 1996 in the field of rehabilitation and social therapy.

By means of the professional support on the planning and conception by the Research Unit for the History and Ethics of Medicine of the Centre for Psychiatry Suedwuerttemberg / Clinic of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy I of the University of Ulm, almost one fifth of the whole exhibition area deals with the history of psychiatry in Schussenried. The numerous exhibits and the varied historic visual material are from the in-house fund of the State psychiatric hospitals. The different aspects on the history of psychiatry are presented and analysed in the exhibition. The spectrum of issues ranges from the placement of the patients in the hospital to their physical care and the diverse therapies, leisure activities and employment opportunities for patients.

According to modern pedagogical concepts presented in a clear and informative way, the visitors of the exhibition are introduced to all aspects which were relevant to the “salvation of the soul”. Inglorious oppressive times like the so-called Third Reich also are presented (this issue is developed and described in detail in the Wuerttemberg Museum of Psychiatry in Zwiefalten). The question at the end of the exhibition is a touching one: “What remains?” – of the human, of the individual and his personality?

Cooperation partners of the „Castles and Gardens of Baden-Wuerttemberg“. PD Dr. Thomas Müller, Dr. Uta Kanis-Seyfried (responsible for the contents presented in the room “secular use of the monasteries in the Upper Swabia”).
 

Further Information about the Wuerttemberg Museum of Psychiatry Schussenried

www.forschung-bw.de/history/psychiatricmuseum.php
infokloster-schussenried.de
www.kloster-schussenried.de
www.schloesser-und-gaerten.de
infolandesmuseum-stuttgart.de