20th anniversary of Filmmuseum Potsdam
The youngest art from Babelsberg and from around the globe in Potsdam′s oldest house
Since autumn 2000, the youngest German film museum has been showing its treasures in the Sony building at Potsdamer Platz in Berlin. Since 1981, the oldest German film museum has been residing in a royal horse stable: Filmmuseum Potsdam.

The history of the museum began in the 1960s with a debate about the development of the city centre, which has not come to a conclusion so far.
Potsdam, former residence the Prussian kings, lost its city centre during massive air raids in April 1945. The damaged Nikolaikirche was rebuilt; the ruins of the City Castle, however, were demolished and removed due to a mixture of economic and political reasons.
The Marstall (i.e. the royal stables), which belonged to the castle complex, consequently became Potsdam′s oldest building. It was built as an orangery in 1685 but served as a horse stable already in 1712 under King Friedrich Wilhelm I (the "soldier king"). By order of Friedrich II., the building was magnificently remodelled in 1746 by master builder Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff and decorated with sculptures by Friedrich Christian Glume. When the last Prussian Emperor had lost his office and honours in 1918, the stables were used alternately or simultaneously as exhibition, storage and office facilities. The appartments on the first floor were let until the 1960s.
After the end of the war, the Marstall stood alone at an empty crossroad – the Lustgarten (the "pleasure grounds"), built simultaneously with the royal stables during the Baroque period, had also disappeared. The long, narrow building did suffer some damage, but at least it was preserved as a whole. At first, Potsdam Museum used the facilities; in the mid-1960s, a last exhibition of paintings by uniform wearers with the title "We are the soldiers of the people" was shown. Then, the construction headquarters for the "new Potsdam" were set up in the Marstall, including a canteen for the construction workers. Nobody had a plan for the later use of the building, since a reasonable, financially realistic idea was lacking.

In the summer of 1968, a film museum was first mentioned in the meeting agenda of the municipal council members. More than two years later, in November 1970, they saw a small exhibition showing a film museum with film equipment and a cinema programme in front of their meeting room.

"Film museum in the Marstall"
The tasks of the film museum had not yet been defined. According to the existing ideas, a film museum – which was something entirely new at this point – should extensively inform visitors about social and technical aspects of film. The close connections to the State Film Archive in Potsdam, the DEFA feature and popular scientific film studios and the film college closed an important gap: not only in Potsdam, but also in the entire Republic. The excellent location in the city centre, the pedestrian flow caused by tourism and the museum′s uniqueness gave reason to expect good visitor responses. Possible tasks included the illustration of the various interconnections between film and society, technology and fashion, the screening of historical and contemporary films as well as the establishment of a central amateur film and photo studio under district / city administration.

On 20 january 1968, the film museum is first mentioned in the meeting agenda of the municipal council.
The former general manager of the State Castles and Gardens, Jochen Mückenberger, who had led the DEFA studios until 1966, tried to win supporters for the idea. Several years before, he had seen the exhibition "60 Years of Film" in Berlin, which was travelling Europe from Paris, and the idea of creating a place for national film history in the GDR would not let go of him. Together with the State Film Archive, which was completing its collections in view of the emerging museum, plans were made. Potsdam was a suitable location as Babelsberg, with its large film studios that had started producing in 1912, had been a part of the municipal area since the 1930s: film people of all kinds and professions lived in the city. On the other hand, the creative and administrative impulses had always come from Berlin. Also during GDR times, the Head Office for Film, a section of the Ministry of Culture of the GDR, was situated in Berlin. Film was considered a state and party task. Nonetheless, the idea of a film museum in Potsdam had supporters, which, in 1970, finally led to a concept for the setup of the building. Together, production designers and film historians from DEFA, the Babelsberg film college and the management of the State Film Archive in Berlin had thought about how to organise a house like this.
Still, a decade passed before thoughts were realised: The Marstall was in the way of socialist urban planning. There were considerations to move the building to another location, or even to tear it down, because it was disturbing the socialist civil works for a modern district capitol. Fortunately, the phalanx of preservationists and sensible people won, and the house remained where it was. Its facade was restored between 1977 and 1981 by Polish restorers according to Knobelsdorff′s plans; in the interior of the building, a cinema room and exhibition halls were constructed.
The completion procedure was a part of the existing planned economy and took place accordingly: The opening of the museum was planned for April 1981, as a present for the 11th plenary assembly of the SED. Therefore, the district administration of the party had set up the "Film Museum Working Group" under supervision of First Secretary Günther Jahn. But for the usual reasons – lack of materials, over-bureaucratisation and disorganisation – the exhibition was not finished. In order not to disgrace themselves, the comrades decided on a partial opening on 9 April.
The cinema and an exhibition on the history of film technology on the first floor were open to the public from this date. The exhibition on German film history until 1945 and the history of DEFA, which had been designed expensively and lavishly considering the conditions at that time, could not be presented to the public until February 1983, that is almost two years later. This time, even the Minister of Culture came to Potsdam, and the Film Museum of the GDR was finally complete. It showed permanent exhibitions on the history of art and technology plus, on some 100 square metres, small changing exhibitions on every genre of DEFA films. More than 100,000 visitors came to the museum each year until 1989. The cinema with its relatively varied programme especially became a centre of attraction for young, alert people.

In 1990, the GDR disappeared. The film museum, until then a section of the Castles and Gardens Potsdam-Sanssouci, had to find a new sponsor, which, like everything in these turbulent years, proved adventurous and strenuous.
First, the number of visitors fell to half as people had to find their way around their new living conditions in the year of the change – visiting a museum was the last thing on their minds. Not only did the museum itself come under a new management, but new employees were also added to the programme and the administration departments. The world was finally within reach and moved in: Films and guests from many countries came to the Marstall. In the 1990s, exhibitions from the USA, France, Ecuador and Italy could be seen. In the summer of 1991, the state of Brandenburg took over responsibility and financing of the house. In 1993, the first exhibition for children after the fall of the Wall, "Sandmann auf Reisen", became an attraction: Within a few weeks, 60,000 people visited the Marstall. During the tour in the following years, 2 million visitors saw the exhibition. The museum achieved a highlight in 1995 for the 100th birthday of film with the Fellini exhibition; here, the imaginative costumes from the master′s films were especially admired.
Among the most expensive projects of the museum are three books on DEFA history, all of which have become standard works by now. The book and the exhibition on the life and work of actress and director Leni Riefenstahl in 1998/99 achieved media coverage throughout the globe. The collections expanded as rapidly as exhibition activities. Finally, they were given their own facilities and are now taken care of by professionals because the museum was able to establish an archive section.
Empty coffers in the state of Brandenburg have, meanwhile, led to cutbacks in the cultural sector as well. Filmmuseum Potsdam keeps house with an insufficient budget; cooperations and inventiveness in the acquisition of means and sponsoring provide support. Some 80,000 visitors per year contribute to the good financial outcome of the house by paying entrance fees between 2 and 5 Euros.

Dr. Bärbel Dalichow
Museum Director
9 April 2001