The museums in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania are fighting their way out of the Corona low. In the new year, visitors can look forward to some exciting exhibitions. The topics range from love with Ernst Barlach to the controversial weekly crèches in the GDR.

Schwerin/Rostock (dpa/mv) – The museums in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania have slowly fought their way out of the Corona low over the past year. According to estimates by the State Museum Association, the total number of visitors reached around 60 percent of the level before the corona pandemic. According to their own statements, some houses were already able to build on the numbers before Corona, such as the Ozeaneum in Stralsund or the Schwerin Castle.

“The situation is very different in the individual houses, but basically things are looking up again,” said André Quade from the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Museum Association of the German Press Agency. There is hope of reaching the numbers before Corona again in 2024. At that time, the total number of visitors to the more than 200 museums in the country was around three million.

In the new year, museum-goers can look forward to some exciting special exhibitions. The Kunsthalle Rostock is organizing a show all about the weekly crèches, which thousands of children in the GDR attended – but not only there. This controversial form of childcare was widespread throughout Europe, writes the Kunsthalle on its website.

An interdisciplinary exhibition is planned from March 5th to May 1st with texts as well as audio and film contributions from contemporary witnesses and with artistic contributions from collages to installations. According to the Kunsthalle, the show, which should provide a topic of conversation, will be supplemented by selected works from its own collection.

Visitors to the Ernst Barlach Foundation in Güstrow, where the special exhibition “Facets of Love” can be seen from February 12 to May 7, can indulge in the beauty of love. The exhibition is dedicated to this thematic complex that has received little attention up to now and, according to the exhibition organizers, uses numerous examples to highlight the facets of love Barlach depicted in his art. The spectrum ranges from conventional depictions of couples to the subject of love for sale. “Aspects such as temptation, longing, caring, solidarity, but also farewell and grief play a large role.”

Visitors to the Hanseatic city’s cultural history museum can indulge in Rostock’s historical city views from 16 June to 8 October. The exhibition “Focus Cityscape Rostock” is dedicated to historical views of Rostock from the 16th to the 19th century, the museum said. Prints, drawings, reconstructions and rare historical photographs enabled comparisons and brought the history of the city to life. The oldest printed view of Rostock was created by Nuremberg native Hans Weigel in 1560.

The Schwerin State Museum is undergoing further renovations and is closed. It will therefore also be a guest in 2023 at various locations in the state capital as an “outside museum”, for example in the state library, according to the state palaces, gardens and art collections. The exhibition “Glanzstücke im Dialog” is still running in Schwerin Castle, which has been showing the most beautiful pieces in the closed museum since July and has already attracted more than 50,000 visitors.

In addition, new event formats would be developed and tested, which should then enrich the program offer after the reopening. Among other things, it is about paying homage to Picasso with events at different locations in Schwerin