Record visitor numbers and sensational new additions in the 150th year: The Grassi Museum

By Birgit Zimmermann

Leipzig – The Leipziger The Grassi Museum of Applied Arts has achieved a record number of visitors in its 150th year of existence. There were significant new additions to the festival year – including a special figure.

As director Olaf Thormann (63) said, around 109,000 guests came to the traditional house in 2024. Around 92,000 visitors were counted in 2023. The Grassi Museum celebrated its 150th anniversary last year.

The museum’s collection of around 230,000 objects was expanded to include several important new additions during the festival year.

Among other things, a bronze copy of the Venus Medici from the Uffizi in Florence can now be seen in the Grassi.

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The special feature of this figure is that it lay at the bottom of the Großer Döllnsee in Brandenburg for 45 years. It was once owned by the Nazi criminal Hermann Göring and was sunk into the lake in 1945. She was only born in 1990.

According to the director, the museum recorded 2,184 new additions last year worth around 1.5 million euros. Most of these exhibits came to the museum as donations, a small number as purchases.

In 2025, in addition to smaller foyer exhibitions, four special shows are on the program. One of them will be entitled “Vessel | Sculpture” revolves around German and international ceramics since 1946. It will be shown from November 8, 2025 to October 4, 2026.

Another special show takes a closer look at handicrafts during National Socialism and, under the title “Forms of Adaptation”, examines how political influence affected design and handicrafts.

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This requires sensitivity, but also courage, because you also have to deal with the museum’s own history, said curator Sabine Epple. The show can be seen from November 26, 2025 to April 14, 2026.