Image: Museum Behnhaus Drägerhaus, Lübeck
Museum Behnhaus Drägerhaus in Lübeck is using the weekend of 14 to 16 August to draw attention to a dense programme of exhibitions and public events across the LÜBECKER MUSEEN. The newsletter places special emphasis on the museum’s current displays, while also listing a series of guided tours, literary walks, family activities and concerts that extend through the same period. The main exhibition focus includes ‘Festzug 1926’, ‘Dimensionen der Freiheit. Carl-Henning Pedersen und Else Alfelt’, and ‘Helme Heine – Es war einmal …’.
The museum newsletter opens by framing the weekend as part of a broader effort to invite visitors behind the scenes of the institutions’ exhibition and event work. It notes that the LÜBECKER MUSEEN also produce a podcast about exhibitions, readings and events, though the weekend listing itself is centered on on-site programming in Lübeck. Among the most prominent items is ‘Festzug 1926’, shown at Museum Behnhaus Drägerhaus until 22 November 2026. The exhibition looks back at the 700th anniversary of Lübeck’s “Reichsfreiheit” celebration in 1926 and, a century later, revisits the peak of those festivities through Alfred Mahlau’s artistic treatment of the procession.
According to the museum text, the historical procession was documented in photographs and film that provide a black-and-white record of the event. Mahlau’s first overall design, described as a more than 16-metre-long ‘Rolle’, is presented as a central feature of the exhibition. The museum says these detailed watercolor scenes are being shown again for the first time in 100 years, offering visitors a walk along the procession and a view of Mahlau’s artistic engagement with Lübeck’s past.
The weekend schedule also highlights ‘Dimensionen der Freiheit. Carl-Henning Pedersen und Else Alfelt’, which runs until 25 October 2026, and ‘Helme Heine – Es war einmal …’, which continues until 10 January 2027. On 16 August, the programme includes a children’s philosophy session titled ‘Was ist eigentlich Freiheit?’, which is based on questions raised by the exhibition ‘Dimensionen der Freiheit. Carl-Henning Pedersen und Else Alfelt’. The session is listed for 14:00.
Another activity tied to the weekend is a public guided tour on 15 August at 11:00. The 60-minute tour takes visitors through both the permanent exhibition ‘Das ist Grass’ and the temporary exhibition ‘Helme Heine – Es war einmal …’. The newsletter also includes a literary walk, the ‘Buddenbrooks-Spaziergang’, scheduled for 15 August at 14:00, described as a literary exploration of Lübeck and the fictional world of Thomas Mann’s novel ‘Buddenbrooks’.
Several additional events extend the museum’s cultural offering beyond exhibitions alone. The newsletter lists ‘St. Annen meets Buddenbrooks’ on 14 August at 15:00, a public tour titled ‘Die Schätze des St. Annen-Museums’ on 15 August at 14:00, and ‘Museumsmomente - ROMANTISCH’ at 15:00 the same day. On 16 August, visitors can choose among a nature walk on the Ruppersdorfer See, a public tour at Museum Behnhaus titled ‘Von Caspar David Friedrich bis Edvard Munch’ at 11:00, a morning matinee for the Museumsfreunde in the St. Annen museum quarter, a blacksmithing demonstration at noon, and a telephone-based programme, ‘Bei Anruf Kultur’, on medieval food culture at 17:00.
The newsletter also notes that ‘Festzug 1926’ is at Museum Behnhaus Drägerhaus, with ‘Dimensionen der Freiheit’ and ‘Helme Heine – Es war einmal …’ running in parallel during the same season, and that the weekend events are part of the LÜBECKER MUSEEN’s broader programme in Lübeck from 14 to 16 August 2026.
