News
Structuring the International Running Sport Museum in Berlin
THE WEDNESDAY COLUMN
2001-04-18
Gerd Steins for theBERLIN SPORT MUSEUM, AIMS Marathon Museum of Running:
Founded in 1925 as a museum of physical exercise for Berlin
Reopened in 1970 as a sports-historical Berlin showpiece
Since 1990, museum of the Berlin county, from 1995, part of the city museum
foundation, Berlin
Since 1994, AIMS Marathon Museum of Running
Today, the great running sport events move millions worldwide to activity and attract enthusiastic viewers with their spell. Running, as a form of generally popular sport and recreational activity, plays an increasingly bigger role for ever more people of all age-groups. With a multitude of offers, from the city marathon to "snuffling-jog", the associations and organizers advertise the sport of running and stimulate and encourage young and old alike to get involved. Also the wheel-chair participants and roller-blade skaters have, for a long time, belonged to the large fan club.
Running as a mass phenomenon is a development of the last decades. The history of running sport, however, has many roots and traditions which date further back. It has gone through highs and lows, it is characterized by a large number of great performances and numerous legends, involving exceptional sportsmen and women, tireless organizers, countless helpers and enthusiasts, as well as a continuous input of new ideas. It has an international character and, in a special manner, combines the histories of popular and high-performance sports with each other.
This history has found a home in the Berlin Sport Museum. In the past five years, the foundation was laid by Horst Milde, in close cooperation with the organizers of the BERLIN MARATHON, for an International Running Sport Archive and an International Running Sport Museum. About 6000 race-time reports of the most varied type (among other things, shirts, running shoes, numbers, posters, medals, prizes, documents, advertising and organization material) from the most varied running sport events throughout the whole world, have been collected. Meanwhile, library and archives fill many meters of shelf space (national and international running times documents, starter and result lists, programs, press material, photographs).
Since 1990, the Berlin Sport Museum has had special annual exhibitions, at the Berlin Marathon Fair, on different subjects of the history of running sport. In 1994 and 1997/99 the traditions of the marathon race in Germany, as well as the marathon legends Paul de Bruytt (U.S.A.) and Waldemar Cierpinski (Germany), formed the central focus of two more presentations.
The planned running sport museum is to be located in the future continuous exhibition of the Sportmuseum Berlin at the Berlin Olympic Stadium. It should become a museum which is informative as well as attractive, a museum to house the "Hall of Fame", as well as personal memories of important and not so important friends of running.
We ask for assistance from all friends of running
1. In particular in the collection of facts and figures, as well as materials of all type from the history of the individual city marathons and the different road races worldwide;
2. With the documentation of the international running sport events, which are current in each case (the present is already history tomorrow!);
3. With the structuring of an international database of the best runners (international and national competitions, all distances);
4. With the search for particularly attractive, one-time exhibits e.g. from the oldest, the first running competitions of an area, a country, a city; or souvenirs, personal things, documents, photographs, autographs of famous runners.
We take as a grant, buy and borrow for an unlimited time: sports equipment sportswear and gear equipment for sports fields and gymnasiums training equipment competition equipment (i.e. starting numbers, finish tapes, stop-watches, starting pistols) flags, pennants, badges medals, certificates, cups posters, advertisements souvenirs, stickers objects of art (fine arts) photos, photo albums, slide series films, videos, audio tapes documents, archive material of all kinds library material, including programmes, invitations to tender, lists of results etc. (especially old sports journals and newspapers)
Address / Further information
Berlin Sport Museum
Deutsches Sportforum
Hanns-Braun-Straße
14053 Berlin
GERMANY
Telephone: 030-3058300 (Headquarters)
Fax: 030-3058340
E-Mail: Sportmuseum.Berlin@t-online.de
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