In the exhibition of the Museum auf der Hardt in Wuppertal, objects from different cultures of Africa and Asia as well as from the everyday life of missionaries and missionary women from a history of almost 200 years are permanently displayed. The historical objects cover a wide range from everyday objects and utensils to clothing, jewelry, hunting and war weapons, musical instruments and religious artifacts.

Together, the exhibits give visitors an impression of life in Africa, Asia, Oceania and Germany against the backdrop of the work of two Protestant missionary societies - the Rhenish Missionary Society and the Bethel Mission.

Artefacts on 450 square metres

On around 450 square meters, the exhibits illuminate the history of the Protestant mission from its beginnings in Wuppertal and Bielefeld-Bethel to the present day of an international community of independent churches as well as the von Bodelschwingh Foundations. But they also arouse interest in different cultures and religious beliefs as encountered by missionaries in Africa, Asia and Oceania. For example, the two megalithic figures from the Indonesian island of Nias are interesting. Both figures are over one meter high and significant examples of ancestral honors on the small island in the Indian Ocean. But also selected documents, drawings, engravings, photographs and letters are carefully laid out in display cases; information on the history, cultural-historical contexts and outstanding personalities of the mission as well as its opponents are displayed on wall panels. They, too, impressively tell the story of the mission from its beginnings to modern times. Aspects and perspectives of this history are also critically questioned again and again: e.g. the involvement in the colonial expansionism of the European nations. Or the, from today's point of view, problematic attitude of some missionaries towards the local population they encountered and with whom they nevertheless lived together, often for many years.  

Special exhibitions

The museum will continue to present themed special exhibitions at irregular intervals. In addition, artists, especially from the region, will be offered a forum to present their works.

Founded in 1830

The name "Museum auf der Hardt" is intended to round off the new conception of the former ethnological museum as a museum for ethnology and mission in history and the present at the historical location of the museum collection in a pragmatic and sober way. The museum was founded in the 1830s in the old museum on Rudolfstraße in Wuppertal-Barmen. Due to a lack of space, the ethnographic collection then found a new home in the new mission house on the Hardt in the early 1920s, which became a training centre for applicants of future missionaries for service in Africa and Asia.