Religionskundliche Sammlung

The collection of the Museum of Religions at Philipps University of Marburg, founded in 1927, encompasses more than 10,000 objects with religious contexts from across numerous world regions. Approximately 500 objects are known to have originated in colonial contexts, specifically from South-east Asia, the Pacific region, and the African continent. For up to 8,000 additional objects originating in a wide variety of territories that were once colonies, this connection must still be reviewed through research. Since 2019, under the supervision of Prof. Edith Franke and Dr. Susanne Rodemeier, research projects have been conducted explicitly investigating objects from colonial contexts, into which students have also been incorporated. Preliminary findings regarding objects from the former German colony of German New Guinea will be published as research papers starting in late 2021 and also made available digitally on a rolling basis on the website of the collection of the Museum of Religions.