Deutsches Leather Museum

Saturday, 23 January 2010 was another day for the senior missionaries to get together for an activity relating to the land where we are working. They had planned to make a visit to the Leather museum that is on the Eastern side of Frankfurt. Sounds like it might be a bit about shoes doesn't it? Well, there were a few shoes in one of the rooms – one of the smaller rooms. The majority of the space, however, was devoted to the place of leather in the cultural expressions of various parts of the world.
The most interesting displays were of the cultural art work of several far-eastern countries where leather was carefully perforated to make representations of significant stories almost as silhouettes. These were made to be carried in parades through town. There were usually three long sticks attached so that the one carrying it could animate it in some ways. We might think of it as something like putting representations of Grimm’s Fairy tales into silhouettes that would be carried and animated. The stories represented in these Eastern art works, however, contained no „and they lived happily ever after“, but instead they told of the constant shift in the balance of power between good and evil. It makes a lot of sense to build a cultural heritage on such issues instead of the romanticism we grew up with. The stories are thus more useful in illustrating what to do in real-life situations. After all, how many times have you been able to augment your teaching of morality to your children by talking about a glass slipper, or a cat that wore boots?
Another part of the museum was dedicated to the processes of decorating and shaping leather that have been developed for use throughout the world. Making 3D images on leather was treated in one area, though there was nothing on display from the Western style of leatherwork that we have seen in America. I was sorry that that was not included, because when done well that can be very beautiful. Uncle Glen used to teach that, and he could make some extremely beautiful leatherwork. The objects displayed here were really art works in leather that imitated a frieze like those created in stone on the fronts of some buildings. Each piece was beautiful, but obviously extremely difficult to make.
One part of the museum showed how leather had been decorated with colors. Interestingly, the gold-color was produced by using metallic silver along with a number of layers of other natural materials that caused the silver to take on a gold color.
In another section they had a very long tusk or tooth from a Narwhal or a small white whale that has a long tooth which looks a lot like a unicorn's horn. Why in the world would they put this in a leather museum? Well, it is displayed in the museum because a very long leather case was created to protect the tusk as it was transported from Greenland, where the whale was found, to the curious audiences of Europe who would pay a lot to see it. However, as the tale goes, over the years the story of the tusk became altered until people believed it came from a horse-like animal instead of a whale. Thus the myth of a Unicorn was conceived and passed on.
An extremely interesting section was dedicated to the techniques used in Arctic areas whereby people could be able to endure the threats to life that are inherent in such cold environments. One of the techniques used was to make leather out of the thin gut tissues of animals and sew them together with a thread made of sinews. Both materials would crumble to pieces if they became dry, but when kept moist they provided a greater barrier to wetness and cold than any other, and they were an essential element of dress even when worn with other layers that were made of thick furs. These items were interesting to look at, but were encased in climate controlled glass cases, and we coiuldn't take any good pictures of them. This was the situation for many of the leather objects in the museum.
Another section was dedicated to the development of leather luggage. Have you ever wondered why the top of a lot of old luggage was rounded? Or have you ever considered what the luggage might be like for the actors and singers who traveled the world and had to carry everything they owned with them, including all of the clothes they needed for each and every performance they might be called upon to give. It is scary to think how much that might be.
What a great time we had to share with our Senior missionary friends.
There is always something to learn in a good museum. In case you were wondering, the curved top of old luggage was important because in former days the luggage was usually transported on the outside of the coach, and the curved top helped prevents rainwater from standing in a puddle and soaking through. What a great idea! I don't know how many suitcases I have thrown away because they developed a black mildew inside after they became wet.