Die Neue Sammlung, the design museum at Pinakothek der Moderne, is superlative in many senses. It is the world’s oldest design museum.
Founded in 1907 in line with the ideas of the German Werkbund, it was inaugurated as an official state museum in 1925. From the very beginning it distinguished itself from the museums of arts and crafts of the day by committing firmly to espousing the Modernism of the times and thus contemporary design. To this day, the Neue Sammlung’s agenda pursue those initial objectives.
With over 100,000 catalogued items, Die Neue Sammlung is among the world’s largest design collections. It is very wide-ranging, with the collection covering over 20 different areas, embracing Product and Industrial Design or Furniture and Graphic Design as well as topics such as Mobility and IT Design. Ceramics and glass are focal areas, as are Jewelry and Appliances, not to mention selected objects in the field of crafted design. Die Neue Sammlung is considered to lead the way in the fields of Product and Industrial Design.
Previously located at Prinzregentenstrasse, since 2002 Die Neue Sammlung has been at home at Pinakothek der Moderne and together with Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Staatliche Graphischen Sammlung München and the Munich Technical University’s Architecture Museum forms a new neighborhood – with all the challenges and opportunities this entails.