The History of the Museum The town of Anklam has had a local history museum since 1927.
Various objects belonging to the life and work of Otto Lilienthal,
among them a reconstruction of a glider from the year 1925, have been
part of the museum since it's founding. The
preparation of an independent Lilienthal Museum has been in progress
since 1980. In 1989 the "Museum im Steintor" became the
new regional museum of history. After a construction period of two
years the Otto Lilenthal Museum was opened in the building of the
former local history museum. To mark the occasion
of '100 years of human flight' in the year 1991, the town took on the
name of "Lilenthal-Stadt" (Lilienthal City). Exhibitions of all kinds
of aerial sports were organized on the local airfield,
and the town's theatre put on performances and premieres to celebrate
the jubilee, among them the play 'Moderne Raubritter' (Modern Robber
Barons) which Otto Lilienthal published in 1894. In 1996, to celebrate
the 100th anniversary of Lilienthal's death, the museum was expanded.
An additional 300 sq. meters of space was provided for the exhibition
of Lilienthal 's gliders.
In 1998 the museum celebrated the 150th birthday of Lilienthal
with the conference "From Lilienthal to the Wrights" with lecturers
from the United States (S. Short, G. Bradshaw)
and Great Britain (T. Prentice). The museum today
is a modern technical museum and houses the world's largest collection
of reconstruction of Lilienthal aircraft. 
In 1996 the International Organization of
Aeronautics FAI awarded the museum the title "FAI Recognized Museum".

In 1999 the museum was the first museum which in the former East
Germany to be awarded the "European
Museum of the Year Award" - Special Commendation" by the
European Museum Forum. 
The State Minister for Culture and Media of the
Federal Republic of Germany awarded the museum the title "National Memorial"
in 2001. This
website is listed as reference about Lilienthal in several websites
about aviation history, e. g. "Wikipedia - the Free Encyclopedia
and the "Aviaton
Pioneers Links". Other awards and
commendations: 
"website of the month" of the aviation
magazine: "Aerokurier" in 8/2000
"website of the day" Aug., 17, 2001 by yahoo-Deutschland
a high ranking in German "top-50-museums".
|