Help
for German museums
damaged by floods
Kreismuseum Grimma: Was nicht mehr zu retten war
Kreismuseum Grimma: Vorbereitung zum Tiefgefrieren
Information Service of
Saxon Museums Association
HELP- Pages: INDEX
 

You are also invited to visit our detailed German site.
(with an additional index in English)



INDEX 2002

final report 2003

INFO-Pages
MUSEUM-Pages
Index  - Home  -  German Site


 How YOU may help
Donations Accounts of Damaged Museums

see our special page

Antonsthal: Museum of Silver Mining ("Silberwaesche")
Bad Dueben: Dueben Heath Countryside Museum - Castle Dueben
Bad Schandau: Local History Museum
Braunsdorf: Historic Weaving-Factory ("Tannenhauer")
Chemnitz-Klaffenbach: Saxon Vehicle Museum
Dippoldiswalde: Tannery, Dippoldiswalde and District Museum
Dresden: German Hygiene-Museum
Dresden: Kraszewski-Museum
Dresden: Dresden State Art Collections
Dresden: City Museum
Dresden: Transport Museum
Eilenburg: Eilenburg Museum
Grimma: Grimma District Museum
Klosterbuch: Buch monastery
Meissen: Meissen Museum
Pirna: Pirna Museum
Pockau: Historic Oil Mill
Rittersgruen: Saxon Narrow Gauge Railway Museum
Woerlitz: Garden World (UNESCO World Heritage)
Zwoenitz: Historic Paper Mill Niederzwoenitz
 

Contact: 
Dr. Thomas Schuler
Saxon Museums Association

Phone: +49 / 371 / 488-4500 (english, french, italian)
Fax: +49 / 371 / 488-4599 (english, french, italian)
E-Mail: th.schuler <at> t-online.de


Federal Cultural Foundation
(Kulturstiftung des Bundes)

Account No.: 7676000
Bank: Deutsche Bank Halle
Bank Code: 860 700 00
Keyword: Flut 2002 (flood 2002)
Recipient: Kulturstiftung des Bundes, Franckeplatz 1, D-06110 Halle an der Saale 

Hotline: +49  /345 / 29 97 222 
E-Mail: info@kulturstiftung-bund.de
Site: http://kulturstiftung-des-bundes.de/


Cultural Foundation of Federal States
(Kulturstiftung der Länder)

Account No.: 730 8000 00
Bank: Commerzbank Berlin
Bank Code: 100 400 00
Keyword: Flut 2002 (flood 2002)
Recipient: Kulturstiftung der Länder, Lützowplatz 9, D-10785 Berlin 

Phone: +49  / 30 / 893635-0 
E-Mail: kontakt@kulturstiftung.de
Site: http://www.kulturstiftung.de/


Museums in the Czech Republic

The Museums and Galleries Association of the Czech Republic has launched a public fund-raising campaign to help Czech museums damaged by the flood. The gathered finances will be distributed by the Association's Senate (upon recommendation of an expert working group) directly to the museums in need. The bank account number is 27-7705500277/0100, at Komercni banka in Prague (designation of payment: constant symbol 0558, variable symbol 9999).

For the Jewish Museum in Prague
195420830257/0100 (U.S. dollar account) SWIFT CODE: KOMB CZ PP 
510091870297/0100 (Euro account) SWIFT CODE: KOMB CZ PP
Recipient: Jewish Museum in Prague (Zidovske muzeum v Praze)

For Jewish Heritage and Monuments in Prague
Account: 179139212/0300 (U.S. dollar account)
Bank: CSOB, Prague 7   SWIFT CODE: CEKO CZ PP
Recipient: Prague Jewish Community (Zidovska obec v Praze)

National Technical Museum in Prague:
Account: 51 - 2500450277/0100
Bank: "Komercni banka" (Commercial Bank) 
Recipient: National Technical Museum (Floods)

Terezin:
Flood relief account: 161850292/0600
Bank: GE Capital Bank Litomerice (address: Mírové nám. 1, 412 01 Litomerice, Czech Republic)
SWIFT: AGB ACZ PP

other foundations:
http://www.floods.cz/ (engl.)

Index  -  Home More Details (in German)


 How museums are helping each other
General  -  Immediate support  -  Information
Damage assessment  -  Relief funds  -  Continuous support

 
Index
General Immediate assistance Spreading information Damage assessment


General
Aims  -  Organisation
Aims

Most of the over 300 museums in Saxony are members of the Saxon Museums Association (founded 1990). Among our members as well as in our executive board a spirit of collegial cooperation had develloped well. When it became evident, that most of our museums had not been affected by floods, we decided to organize very quickly mutual help. We established the project "Partnership after floods - museums are helping museums"

Museums in Saxony have a long tradition and good reputation. Museums of  Dresden or Leipzig are are among the best in Germany, but also mining and industrial heritage sites are well known. Therefore many colleagues in Germany and abroad were very concerned about Saxon museums threatened by floods. Our website informed them on damages as well as on our calls for help and donations.


Organisation

As Dresden was severely flooded, the chairman of our association (Friedrich Reichert, Dresden City Museum), the big State Museums and Collections in Dreden and the Ministry of Science and Art had to protect themselves and were cut off from communication by flood. So three museums in Chemnitz (fomerly Karl-Marx-Stadt) took the initiative. Soon it became evident, that crisis management could not be done properly in a broad teamwork; so a member of the executive board, Dr. Thomas Schuler (Schloßbergmuseum Chemnitz) was authorized to organize partnerships and to co-ordinate flood help. 

Index  -  Home More Details (in German)


Immediate Assistance
First Contact and Survey  - Regional Museum Partnerships  -  Individual Assistance

regional museum partnerships

no English text available; see German text

synopsis of partners (in German language)

Index  -  Home More Details (in German)


Spreading Information
Museums Survey  - Local Reports  -  Media  -  Web

Local Reports

Our German website publishes reports from different museums:



Media

Press release of Saxon Museums Association (in German language)

Reports (in German language)

Web

Our special website on floods became - unexpectedly for us - a key factor in communcating after the floods as well as in organizing help. The Saxon Museums Association started this service already on august 17th; since september 7th an English version is available. Every evening these pages were updated.

Like all other actions during these dramatic days, our web service was not planned and we had no pattern that could be copied. There was no time to cooperate with web professionals; an emergency site has to be produced immediately and with simple means. In trying to cope with an unexpected catastrophe we just had to react and to find out day by day what is needed most. According to the changing needs we quickly developed  this site and added many new elements. 

When tried to re-establish communication, e-mails were helpful for several reasons: 
As most people in affected areas were helping and working outdoors, e-mails were the best way to send them longer messages.
Only few museum colleagues could recieve fax messages at home, and museum offices were situated in flooded town centres. For many days therefore exchange of texts was possible only via e-mail attachments.

Libraries and bookshops in flooded towns cannot be used. So if  museum professionals need information, web sites are the best available. Especially if you have to cope with a problem you never before had to deal with, you are glad to get very detailed advice. Some associations of  archives and libraries permanently offer on their sites special pages on "first aid" for books, paper documents and photos as well as checklists for emergency situations and rescue operations; other instituts quickly supplied the most needed information including addresses of specialists and firms. As time is a very important factor, when you try to rescue soaked books or files in a hot summer, this service was extremly helpful. Our website offers a link list to these professional services.

Our site informed on partnerships beween museums. So every museum wanting to help could see which museum is still without a partner. (Fortunately it soon went the other way round: We had far more museums ready to help than museums in need.) We also compiled and published a catalogue of damages, so everybody could see, what kind of help is needed at the different museums.

Watching horror pictures on TV, museum professionals all over germany were very worried about their colleagues in Saxony. Therefore a listing of affected and not affected museums was one of the first sections in our site. In the beginning this list was dominated by question marks, but they disappeared day by day. 

Later on we decided to present the most damaged museums. Unfortunately the offical Website "Museums in Saxony" with its "Guide to Saxon Museums" as well as the website of Dresden State Art Collections were not available in the first weeks, because their Dresden based server (Ministry of Art and Science) was out of service. As substitute we collected basic information on the 20 most damaged museums. Because many people, museums and associations in Germany asked, how they could help with direct donations, we added donation accounts of all damaged museums. As we noticed, that tourism in Saxony is heavily declining, we collected and published the date of reopening of our museums.

Federal Republic and some national cultural foundations developed schemes for financial support. As this became a quite complicated and constantly changing matter, we supplied precise information on this vital issue for the affected museums.

When we had solved our main information problems in Saxony, we turned our view across the border and compiled infomation on museums in Sachsen-Anhalt, Brandenburg and the Czech Republic.
 

Index  -  Home More Details (in German)


Damage assessment
First Estimates  -  Criteria for Precise Assessment
First Estimates

Regional and federal authorities were eager to get quickly first estimates of damage. To provide these figures in time was difficult enough for big museums and cities, but nearly impossible for small museums and for towns and villages  - especially because in those communuties not only museums, but most public buildings, streets and bridges were severely afffected. And the few countryside experts couldn't master this immense task of assessing damages.

But the authorities had very good reasons to ask for quick estimates. First of all the Federal Republic had announced an instant support scheme for cultural institutions of 3 Mio €; foundations added 2,5 Mio €.  In order to distribute these very urgently needed grants, a quick assessment of damage was  indispensable. 

By august 23rd - 10 days after the mountain flood and only a few days after receding of Elbe floods - the estimates had to be ready. It was hard work for our coordinator as well as for museums, communities and experts - but we managed it. It was worth wile: Half of the fresh federal money went to Saxon museums (and most of it to smaller museums)


Criteria for Precise Assessment

How much does cost a flood catastrophe?

There are many costs one doesn't think of - at least not in the first critical days. So we tried to compile a catalogue of all the different issues you have to pay for.

A) During catastrophe

1) rescue actions
2) transports
3) additional emergency depots (preparation, rent, security)
4) minimizing damage (water pumping) 
5) additional operating costs (generator, security)

B) After catastrophe

1) clearing away: mud, rubble, furniture
2) disinfection
3) cleaning
4) transport costs 
5) disposal fee (rubble, contaminated mud and furniture)

C) Reduced takings

1) total closing period
2) few local visitors (for economic and mental reasons)
3) foreign visitors stay away

D) Preparation of reopening

1) temporary constructions (entrance, staircase)
2) additional operation costs
3) cost and losses due to cancelling or postponing of prepared exhibitions and events
4) spontaneous scecial exhibitions

E) Repairing the building

1) grounds (entrance, parking space, yards)
2) building construction
3) basic installations (heating, wiring and plumbing)
4) communication installations
5) furniture and equipment

F) Renovating the museum 

1) outdoor (exhibits, historic reconstructions, action zones)
2) special installations (air conditioning, security)
3) visitor service
4) permanent exposition 
5) temporary exibition
6) depots
7) particular rooms (library, workshops, educational activities)
8) replenish stocks (shop, storage rooms)

G) Care for museum objects

1) damages directly caused by water
2) damages caused by rescue actions
3) damages caused by unfavourable conditions in emergency depots

H) Loss of museum objects

1) complete loss due to the floods
2) loss due to emergeny conditions (breakage, theft)
3) drop in value due to heavy damages

I) Prevention

1) expert opinions (causes, prevention)
2) planing costs
3) improvement of flood protection
4) improvement of rescue and evacuation facilities
5) changes in basement and ground floor (no museum depots, no costly equipped workshops, no central plants)
6) new museums depots in safe places
 

Index  -  Home More Details (in German)

 


 How state and foundations are helping
Federal Republic of Germany
  • State Ministry of Culture and Media: 3 Mio € immediate support
  • Federal Trust: Reconstruction after floods
    • 2002: 10 Mio € 
    • 2003: 100 Mio €
Foundations
  • Federal Cultural Foundation (Kulturstiftung des Bundes)
  • Cultural Foundation of Federal States (Kulturstiftung der Länder)
  • Cultural Foundation of Free State of Saxony
    • additional entrance fee of  Dresden State Art Collections (50 Cent per person)
Index  -  Home More Details (in German)



English Index 2002
of the German Site
INFO-Pages Damaged 
Museums
HELP-Pages

News
Information
New on the site

Antonsthal
Bad Düben
Bad Schandau
Braunsdorf
Chemnitz-Klaffenbach
Dippoldiswalde
DD: Hygiene-Museum
DD: Kraszewski-Mus.
DD: State Art Collect.
DD: City Museum
DD: Transport Mus.
Eilenburg
Grimma
Kloster Buch
Meißen
Neuhausen
Oederan
Pirna
Pockau
Rittersgrün
Zwönitz

How YOU may help
Donation to funds
Donation to museums
Helping direcly
Our neighbours

Information
General report
Local stories
List of all  museums
Links

Museums are helping
Regional partnership
List of  partners
Network (Info+Help)
Coordination
Advice (Links)

Dokumentation
Press release
Reports

State and foundations
Summary
Federal  resources
Foundations
Contact / Impressum, Site Map, Home
Index  - Home  -  German Site


Contact / Impressum
Saxon Museums Association  (Sächsischer Museumsbund e.V.)
task force "flood" (manager: Dr. Thomas Schuler)

c/o Schloßbergmuseum Chemnitz
Mail: Schloßberg 12, D-09113 Chemnitz
Phone: +49 371 488-4500 / Fax: -4599; Mobile Phone: +49-163-SCHULER
English Website: http://www.schlossbergmuseum.de/smb/flood.html
German Website: http://www.schlossbergmuseum.de/smb/flut.html
E-Mail: th.schuler <at> t-online.de
 


Copyright Sächsischer Museumsbund 2002

Text, Design and Editing: Thomas Schuler

Issue of this document: 2002, September 14th - Oktober 9th
Last revision: 2006 - 07 - 24

Webmaster: th.schuler <at> t-online.de

Verantwortlich im Sinne des IuKDG (Informations- und Kommunikationsdienste-Gesetz):
Dr. Thomas Schuler, Schloßbergmuseum Chemnitz, D-09113 Chemnitz, Schloßberg 12, Tel 0371-4884500

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