The Alpine Hut
An original wooden house from the Bavarian mountains symbolises the image of ‘idyllic’ country life with traditional food production in the Deutsches Museum.
The alpine hut in the mountains (2022) by Deutsches MuseumDeutsches Museum
The Schlagalm in the Valepp
The alpine hut was built in 1830 in the Valepp (district of Miesbach) in front of an impressive panorama in the Schliersee mountains. The wooden building stood there until 1961.
It was used as a dairyman's hut from 1830 to 1926 and then as a cattle shed.
The year of construction was carved into the ridge beam.
Agricultural machines in the former exhibition (2008) by Deutsches MuseumDeutsches Museum
Moving into the museum
The Deutsches Museum had been looking for a suitable hut in Bavaria for some time for the ‘Agricultural and Food Technology’ exhibition - and finally found it in the Valepp.
In 1961, the alpine hut was bought by the Deutsches Museum for 1,300 marks, dismantled and brought to Munich's Museum Island. For years, it stood in the west wing of the exhibition building under the roof - in the ‘Agricultural and Food Technology’ exhibition in a small room behind the large hall with the agricultural machinery.
This is how the alpine hut was presented in the former exhibition.
The major modernisation of the exhibition building on Museum Island began in 2015. To this end, half of the exhibitions - including the agricultural and food technology - were initially closed and cleared out. The alpine hut was dismantled and stored in the depot.
Almhuette Baustelle 3 (2022) by Deutsches MuseumDeutsches Museum
The Reconstruction
After the room was completely renovated and modernised, the alpine hut was rebuilt for the new ‘Agriculture and Food’ exhibition from 2021.
Beam by Beam
Beam by beam, roof shingle by roof shingle: all the individual parts of the hut were labelled with barcodes so that it could be rebuilt true to the original.
The first part of the modernisation was completed in 2022 and 19 new permanent exhibitions opened on the Museum Island - including ‘Agriculture and Food’ with the original alpine hut from the Valepp.
Almhuette und Maisgebiss (2022) by Deutsches MuseumDeutsches Museum
‘Idyllic’ rural life
In the new exhibition, the alpine hut symbolises the image of ‘idyllic’ rural life. This is contrasted by the bright red maize corn shredder symbolising modern food production.
But the idyll is deceptive: life as a dairyman on a mountain pasture was hard. In the hut, you can see the original tools that were used to make cheese and butter with painstaking manual labour.
Cheese-making equipment on the left, butter churner on the right.
The alpine hut in the ‘Agriculture and Food’ exhibition.
In this video, curator Sabine Gerber presents the exhibition ‘Agriculture and Food’ with the alpine hut from the Valepp.
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