20 years of Museum of the University of Tübingen MUT
The Museum of the University of Tübingen MUT celebrates its twentieth anniversary!
On Friday, October 23rd, 2026, under the motto ‘Unlocking the past. Shaping the future’, together with our sponsors, partners and visitors, we will look back on two decades of significant contributions to research, teaching, communication and public engagement by the MUT and the University’s academic collections.
Information on the anniversary event can be found on this website or in the folder (de) below.
To attend, please register until October 11, 2026, at sekretariat[at]museum.uni-tuebingen.de.
Open Collections
including short guided tours through selected collections of the University of Tübingen
The Museum of the University of Tübingen MUT manages and advises on around 80 academic collections in the natural and human sciences, more than at any other German university. This tangible heritage includes artefacts from two UNESCO World Heritage sites: the Caves and Ice Age Art of the Swabian Alb, and the Prehistoric Lake Dwellings around the Alps.
From 12.00 p.m. to 3.30 p.m., a selection of collections in Tübingen's Old Town and along Wilhelmstraße will be open to the public. Short guided tours are available for free at the times listed below.
Guided Tours
Highlights at the Museum Ancient Cultures
Burgsteige 11 | 12.00 p.m. and 1.00 p.m.
Highlights at the Museum WorldCultures
Burgsteige 11 | 12.00 p.m. and 1.00 p.m.
Sander. Legacy, exhibition, collection
Burgsteige 11 | 12.00 p.m. and 1.00 p.m.
Musical Instrument Collection
Schulberg 2 | 12.00 p.m. and 1.00 p.m.
Geographical Map Collection
Rümelinstraße 19–23 | 2.00 p.m. and 3.00 p.m.
Palaeontological Collection
Sigwartstraße 10 | 2.00 p.m. and 3.00 p.m.
Zoological Collection
Sigwartstraße 3 | 2.00 p.m. and 3.00 p.m.
Graphic Collection
Wilhelmstraße 32 | 2.00 p.m. and 3.00 p.m.
Collections of the Tübingen University Archives
Wilhelmstraße 32 | 2.00 p.m. and 3.00 p.m.
Mineralogical Collection
Wilhelmstraße 56 | 2.00 p.m. and 3.00 p.m.
Symposion
in the University of Tübingen's Audimax, Neue Aula
Marking its twentieth anniversary, the MUT is honoured to host an international panel of high-profile speakers at a symposion in the Audimax of the Neue Aula. The lectures will take place from 4.00 p.m. to 6.00 p.m. at the University of Tübingen's Neue Aula.
Greetings
Professorin Dr. Karin Amos
Vice-President for Teaching and Learning at the University of Tübingen
Professor Dr. Volker Wissemann
Chairman of the Gesellschaft für Universitätssammlungen e.V., Justus Liebig University Gießen
Introduction and moderation
Professor Dr. Ernst Seidl
Director of the Museum of the University of Tübingen MUT
Lectures
„Activating university collections for public engagement and outreach“
Professorin Dr. Silke Ackermann
Director of the Museum of the History of Science, Oxford, as well as professor and fellow of the Linacre College, Oxford University
„Objekte der Wissenschaft / Wissenschaft der Objekte: kunsthistorische Perspektiven“
Professor Dr. Philippe Cordez
Deputy Head of the Department of Museum Studies and Research Funding, and Head of the Research Funding Division of the Centre Dominique-Vivant Denon, Louvre, Paris
„Jenseits von Sammeln und Bewahren: Wie politisch ist das Depot?“
Professor Dr. Thomas Thiemeyer
Ludwig Uhland Institute of Historical and Cultural Anthropology, University of Tübingen
Reopening of the University Pavillion
opposite the Neue Aula
To celebrate the UT550 anniversary, the University Pavillion opposite the Neue Aula is being refurbished and will be put back into action. The redesign and refurbishment work is being carried out by Atelier für Formgebung, led by scenographer Stephan Potengowski and Leonardo Sarmiento. The pavilion is set to become a new focal point, again serving as a sales outlet for merchandise from the university and museum shop, as well as a central information hub for the university’s anniversary events.
Reception
in the foyer of the student cafeteria
Following the reopening of the University Pavilion, we would like to invite our anniversary guests to a festive reception in the canteen foyer. While enjoying refreshments in front of the display windows showcasing the University of Tübingen’s collections, guests will have the opportunity to chat about the university's two decades of history.
Opening of the MUT collection centre
in the basement of the refurbished student cafeteria Wilhelmstraße
After many years, the plans for the basement of the Wilhelmstraße canteen are finally coming to fruition: At the the anniversary, the new collection centre Wilhelmstraße of the Museum of the University of Tübingen MUT is to be officially opened. To celebrate this occasion, the doors will be opened to the public for guided tours of the new centre, which will house a seminar room with state-of-the-art technological equipment, offices, workshops, and depots for the university's scientific collections.
The reception will be held in the foyer of the student cafeteria, where the display windows showcasing the collections are located. Please note that access is not via the cafeteria’s main entrance, but via the red-paved footpath leading down from Wilhelmstraße to the rear of the building.
