Dominican Monastery Prenzlau
In 1275, another spiritual center, the Dominican Monastery, emerged in Prenzlau, playing a significant role in the city’s importance and prosperity during the Middle Ages. Today, the Dominican Monastery consists of the monastery church and the originally single-story cloister. The latter, with its surrounding cloister on the ground floor, encloses an almost square burial garden.
Following an extensive restoration in the late 1990s, the sacred structure is now among the best-preserved medieval monastery complexes in Northeast Germany. The monastery church, the cloisters, the refectory (the former monks’ dining hall), the sacristy, the women’s chapel, and rooms on the first floor have been designed as exhibition spaces and made accessible to the public.
Concept and design of the permanent exhibition (all HOAS-phases): Exhibition design with graphics, lighting and media, production management, cost controlling.
Szenography
The outstanding exhibit is the building itself, serving as a historical source. Furthermore, the original exhibits, some of which are from the context of the monastery, require an appropriate presentation that is both content-wise and conservatively suitable. In designing the exhibition, both the content structure and spatial conditions were taken into account. Out of respect for the historical substance of the monastery, all display cases and furniture were set back from the existing structure. Especially in the cloister, they were arranged as low table cases or flat platforms for freestanding exhibits to avoid compromising the historical spatial configuration. Sun protection mesh was installed on the many large window surfaces, and the lighting concept was redesigned.
The new modular display system was developed specifically considering the structural conditions of the cloister. Heights, colors, and proportions were carefully coordinated. The delicate legs and simple, rectangular display case bodies visually harmonize with the existing architecture. They were also designed to match the respective room colors and serve the presentation of exhibits and graphic elements.
