Foundation Board lays the groundwork for management positions at the Staatliche Museen
News from 11/24/2020
Gemäldegalerie director's position to be advertised – Nationalgalerie management to be split into three positions – Grütters and Parzinger thank Michael Eissenhauer
On November 23, 2020, the Foundation Board of the Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbesitz, chaired by Minister of State for Culture Monika Grütters, laid the groundwork for leading management positions at the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (National Museums in Berlin).
The management of the Nationalgalerie will be divided among three new positions. The Alte Nationalgalerie (with Friedrichswerder Church), the Neue Nationalgalerie (with the future Museum des 20. Jahrhunderts, the Berggruen Museum, and the Scharf-Gerstenberg Collection) and the Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwart – Berlin will each have a director of their own, responsible for the art of the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries respectively. Now the organizational prerequisites for this new management structure have to be put in place.
The post of director of the Gemäldegalerie (Old Master Paintings) together with the Skulpturensammlung und Museum für Byzantinische Kunst (Sculpture Collection and Museum of Byzantine Art) of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (National Museums in Berlin) has been redefined and will be advertised on February 1, 2021. The tenure of the current director, Michael Eissenhauer, ends as agreed on January 31, 2021. He has run the Gemäldegalerie in addition to his duties as Director General since August 1, 2016. In this, the Foundation Board is following the Scientific Board’s recommendation to separate the management of the Gemäldegalerie from that of the Directorate General of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin.
Minister of State for Culture Monika Grütters: "We have constantly sought to strengthen the museums in terms of their autonomy and effectiveness, even before the presentation of the Scientific Board's report. Dividing the existing overall responsibility and assigning it to the three proposed positions will assist the three current directors of these institutions in their work under the umbrella of the Nationalgalerie.
So it is good news that the management of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin will have a broader base in the future. This will enable the various institutions of the Nationalgalerie to develop their collections and profiles even better than before. Furthermore, the new director of the Gemäldegalerie will be able to concentrate entirely on the gallery’s own collection. I would like to thank Michael Eissenhauer right now for running the Gemäldegalerie so successfully for the past few years. As the chair of the Foundation Board, working in close coordination with everyone involved, I will continue to move the process of reforming the SPK forward with determination, but also with prudence and a sense of proportion."
SPK President Hermann Parzinger: "I welcome the decisions of the Foundation Board. They are in line with our stated aim that the reform of the SPK should dismantle duplicate structures and encourage individual responsibility on the part of the institutions. I am sure that the association between the Nationalgalerie and the Gemäldegalerie will flourish along the lines that have been laid out. My thanks are due to Michael Eissenhauer, who has enhanced the profile of the Gemäldegalerie with highly successful exhibitions."