Freiburger Münsterbauverein e.V.

The Freiburg Münsterbauverein’s Collection of Paintings

In order to finance the restorations of the Freiburg Minster, the Münsterbauverein Society for the Preservation of the Freiburg Minster (TN) held various prize lotteries from the year 1891 onwards. These were linked to the condition of the federal state of Baden that 45,000 gold marks, later 25,000 gold marks, would be used from every lottery for the purchase of artwork, in order to promote German art, particularly art from Baden.

As well as paintings, this also included graphic arts, sculptures and arts-and-crafts objects. Initially they were intended for the lottery but then stayed in the society’s possession because the artworks were not popular as prizes. Two art commissions made up of Münsterbauverein committee members and professors from the Karlsruhe Academy of Fine Arts purchased the works at art exhibitions in Karlsruhe, Mannheim, Baden-Baden and Freiburg. Many art objects were sold during the crisis years of the 1920s. The remaining works have been on permanent loan since 1917 from the Münsterbauverein to the "Städtische Sammlungen" City collections (of Freiburg) (TN), providing a representative cross-section of south-west German art at the turn of the 20th century.