Highlights of the Ethnological Museum in the DLM are
the newly opened, expanded African Department, the Asian Department
with its worldwide distinguished collection of shadow-play figurines
and a remarkable stock from the cultures of Japan, China, Tibet and
the Polar regions.
So, the search of those who wish to study an original Inuit kayak or
the complete armour of a Japanese samurai, will be as successful as
the lover of African mask costume from Nigeria and Angola or the admirer
of a completely furnished Tuareg leather tent.
The DLM’s American Department was compiled in cooperation with
museums in Darmstadt (HLMD) and Frankfurt (MDW) as a focus collection
on the cultures of Native Americans, and is known beyond the region.
It is also famous among the indigenous peoples of the USA and Canada
- and so it can happen that German visitors suddenly meet a Navajo,
Hopi or Blackfoot who is studying the heritage of his ancestors in Offenbach.
In ever new events the DLM offers all those interested - be they children
or adults - an insight into the current culture of the ethnicities shown
in the museum.
Thus, for example, the members of the Rhine-Main region’s Indonesian
community performed Javanese shadow-drama and dance to original music
by its gamelan orchestra, or a Nigerian princess staged fashion shows
with classical music of the Griot and specialities from her West African
homeland. Mexican Aztecs and Hopi from the USA organised a children’s
festival with Indian fairy tales, dances and acrobats, and Turkish-German
friendship clubs presented Anatolian folklore, cuisine and shadow-play
with the famous main protagonist Karagöz.
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