Museum

August Kestner Museum

The August Kestner Museum shows 6000 years of applied art.

The August Kestner Museum displays 6,000 years of applied art from ancient and Egyptian cultures, as well as design and a valuable collection of coins and medals. It is named after August Kestner (1777–1853), who, as Hanover’s envoy to Rome, collected Egyptian and Greco-Roman small-scale art, paintings, and prints.

DRESSED - Rome. Power. Fashion. August 20, 2026 – January 31, 2027

Exhibitions

In addition to the permanent exhibitions, there are always themed special exhibitions.

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Guided tours & events

Every year, numerous special events and museum festivals provide information on selected themes and individual objects in the collections. The museum’s educational program ensures that guided tours are suitable for children and families, and that art history is taught in seminars in a way that is both fun and accessible even for the youngest visitors.
Special guided tours for hearing and deaf visitors are led by a sign language interpreter. In addition, there are guided tours designed specifically for blind and visually impaired people

Stocks

The Egyptian collection showcases ancient Egyptian culture and art from the 4th millennium B.C. through the Roman-Christian period. On display are reliefs, sculptures, stelae, and vessels, as well as amulets and funerary objects.
The collection of ancient cultures primarily features artifacts from the Greco-Roman Mediterranean region and the Near East. Greek vases, Etruscan art, bronze and terracotta statues, and everyday objects such as glasses, clay lamps, and bronze tools illustrate life in the Mediterranean region from 1500 B.C. to 500 A.D.
Medieval manuscripts, textiles, bronzes, and other works form a major focus of the collection of European applied arts. Exhibits spanning up to the present day are represented here.
With 100,000 pieces, the coin collection is the largest in all of northern Germany. The oldest pieces date from ancient Greece, the Roman Empire, and the Imperial period

Exterior of the August Kestner Panorama Museum — Parts of the interior of the house have even been preserved from the original museum building.

The history of the museum

The August Kestner Museum was founded in 1989 by diplomat August Kestner with a diverse collection. After Kestner’s death, his nephew was tasked with transferring the collection to the city of Hanover. Friedrich Culemann expanded this collection. To this day, these pieces remain part of the museum’s collection, which has been continuously expanded through acquisitions and donations.
The museum is the oldest municipal museum in the state capital. Since 1961, the museum has been housed in a historic, protected building with a glass-and-concrete facade. Parts of the stairwell and the side wings inside the building even date back to the original museum building