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EXHIBITIONS

Renaissance and Reformation: German Art in the Age of Dürer and Cranach – masterpieces of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (National Museums in Berlin) visit the Los Angeles County Museum of Art 

On the occasion of the anniversary of the Reformation in 2017, key works of German 16th-century art from the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, and the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen in Munich are being shown at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) from November 20, 2016, until March 26, 2017. Among other pieces, masterpieces by Dürer, Cranach, Holbein, Riemenschneider, and Grünewald will be on show. The exhibition gives insight into the religious, social, and political upheavals of the period.

• November 20, 2016, to March 26, 2017
• Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), LA, USA

Bible-Theses-Propaganda – Reformation exhibition in 2017 at the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin (Berlin State Library) 

Writings were a constituent part of the Reformation, be it in the shape of Luther’s Theses, the vernacular translation of the Bible, or leaflets spreading the new reform ideas. It is therefore small wonder that the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – as a repository for publications and manuscripts – has an abundance of material concerning the Reformation. Indeed, those wishing to see Luther’s original Theses of 1517 can do so at the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin. The exhibition Bible-Theses-Propaganda narrates the story of the Reformation with 95 objects. Besides Luther’s Theses, these objects include Johann Sebastian Bach’s score for the 1725 Reformation celebrations and the first Chinese translation (by Fung Asseng) of the Luther Bible’s Gospel according to Luke in 1828, among other exhibits.

• February 3 to April 2, 2017
• Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Dietrich-Bonhoeffer-Saal, Potsdamer Straße 33, 10785 Berlin

A blog of the same name accompanies the exhibition: here the curators present the exhibits one by one and explain their relevance to the Reformation.  

Blog "Bibel-Thesen-Propaganda" (in German)

Stations of the Cross – The House of Hohenzollern and the Christian Denominations. An exhibition by the Geheimes Staatsarchiv Preussischer Kulturbesitz (Prussian Secret State Archives) and the Kunstgewerbemuseum (Museum of Decorative Arts) of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin  

The House of Hohenzollern was an influential power during the Reformation period. In the following two centuries it rose to be the second greatest German power besides the House of Habsburg and formed the vanguard of the Protestant territories of the old empire. The exhibition offers a wide-ranging historico-cultural panorama in which it trains its lens on the religious convictions of the members of the Hohenzollern dynasty in the decades and centuries subsequent to the publication of Luther's Theses (1517). It presents objects that reflect the relationships existing between the House of Hohenzollern and the Reformers. Additionally they disclose the religious convictions of the Hohenzollern princes and reflect the ramifications of their denominational policy for the territories over which they ruled.

• April 6 to July 9, 2017
• Kunstgewerbemuseum, Schloss Köpenick, Schloßinsel 1, 12557 Berlin

For information on the exhibition Stations of the Cross – The House of Hohenzollern and the Christian Denominations see the website luther2017.de (in German)

Anna Weaves the Reformation: A Tapestry and its Narratives. An exhibition at the Museum Europäischer Kulturen (Museum of European Cultures, MEK) 

In 1667 a tapestry was woven in Dithmarschen for the 150th anniversary of the Reformation. It transports its beholders back in history to the everyday world of its donor, Anna Bump. The textile images woven into the fabric also display how contemporary theology viewed the world. The weave reveals the artisanal skills and artistic influence of Flanders and the Northern Netherlands. This was owing to the fact that many people had fled those regions because of their religious beliefs and found a new home in northern Germany, bringing their skills and prowess with them. Completing the exhibition are valuable contemporary objects belonging to an early church in the region, comparative textiles, and various everyday objects. They bring the rural world of Dithmarschen in the latter half of the 17th century back to life and make it emotionally accessible to the people of today.

• July 14, 2017, to January 28, 2018 
• Museum Europäischer Kulturen (MEK), Lansstraße 8 / Arnimallee 25, 14195 Berlin-Dahlem 

EVENTS

“War and Peace – The Thirty Years’ War in Germany”: a concert in the live early music series “Alte Musik – live” for the 2017 Reformation anniversary celebrations at the Staatliches Institut für Musikforschung (State Institute for Music Research) 

The Oltremontano Ensemble plays works by  Heinrich Schütz, Samuel Scheidt, Adrian Valerius, and Johann Hermann Schein.  

The program of the concert is based on the Thirty Years’ War, in which the Reformation largely determined the lines of conflict. Pieces such as “Galliarda Battaglia” composed by Samuel Scheidt, and “Das ist je gewisslich wahr” (That is surely true), by Heinrich Schütz, address the bitter experiences people endured during this long, ghastly war. Following this, the program presents a series of diverse musical renderings thematically based on “Verleih uns Frieden” (Give peace in our time) as interpreted by Martin Luther in order to illustrate how peace is still a burning issue in the world today.

• May 14, 2017, 11:00 a.m.
• Musikinstrumenten-Museum (Museum of Musical Instruments), entrance: Ben-Gurion-Straße
• Staatliches Institut für Musikforschung, Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Tiergartenstraße 1, 10785 Berlin, Kulturforum
• Concert tickets: € 14.00 | concessions € 8.00

Links for Additional Information

• Exhibition „Renaissance and Reformation: German Art in the Age of Dürer and Cranach“ at LACMA 
• Exhibition "Bible-Theses-Propaganda" at the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin (in German)
• Blog „Bible-Theses-Propaganda “ (in German) 
• Exhibition "Stations of the Cross" at Kunstgewerbemuseum / Schloss Köpenick (in German) 
• Exhibition „Anna Weaves the Reformation“ at MEK