The Augustiner Museum is a museum in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany. It is currently undergoing an extensive renovation and expansion, the first phase of which ended in 2010.[1][2][3]
The museum is located in a former monastery which was rebuilt between 1914 and 1923. The First World War not only interrupted the rebuilding but also severely restricted it compared to the original plans,[3] due to lack of funds. The current total renovation, which is planned to include the addition of new exhibitions rooms,[4] began in 2004. The museum's collection, which was begun by the city of Freiburg in the 1880s,[5] can be only partially exhibited due to the building work.
The visual art and sculpture collection includes works by Lucas Cranach the Elder, Anselm Feuerbach, Hans Baldung Grien, Matthias Grünewald, the Master of the Housebook, Hans Thoma, and Franz Xaver Winterhalter.[3][4] There is also a sculpture hall with four-metre-high stone prophets from Freiburg Cathedral,[6] a church organ from Welte & Sons with an exterior from the 1730s, and a library of art and cultural history. The Museum of Municipal History (Museum für Stadtgeschichte) is a department of the Augustiner Museum.
The collections that are currently not on display, or only partially, include a large graphics collection,[7] decorative art,[8] domestic artefacts from the Black Forest region, collections of coins and timepieces, and a 14th-century carpet.
In 2010 the museum did not make it to the final stage of the Awards for Innovative Developments in Tourism by the British Guild of Travel Writers, but came in sixth.[9]