New exhibition at the Linden Museum

From 28 September 2025 to 7 June 2026, the Linden Museum presents the exhibition Cultural Heritage from Kilimanjaro. Celebrating Womanhood.

The museum holds around 450 objects from the cultural heritage of the Chagga people of northern Tanzania which found their way to Stuttgart between 1885 and 1918 during the period of German colonial rule, often in contexts involving violence. Many of them are associated with key stages in the lives of girls and women – occasions marked by celebrations, singing and dancing that strengthened community cohesion. Yet significant knowledge was lost during their transfer to Germany and over the course of time. This knowledge is now being reconstructed together with members of the Chagga community and related to the present.

Research was carried out into the collection from 2023 to 2025 by Dr. Valence Silayo, a Fellow of the Gerda Henkel Foundation, by means of archival work, focus groups and discussions with families who consider themselves descendants of those who experienced colonial rule and violence. In addition to featuring historical objects, the exhibition presents current knowledge and a wide range of perspectives, illustrating the continuing relevance of a cultural heritage that is now more than 100 years old.

For further information, see: https://lindenmuseum.de/celebrating-womanhood/?lang=en  

On 28 April 2025, the German Lost Art Foundation hosted a colloquium in Berlin on Chagga cultural heritage at the Linden Museum Stuttgart entitled Starting point, not the final point. Provenance Research on Chagga Cultural Heritage at the Linden-Museum Stuttgart and its Implications.