Staatliches Museum für Archäologie im ehem. Kaufhaus Schocken

In the late 1920s, the architect Erich Mendelsohn (1887–1953) planned and designed this impressive building for the Schocken brothers’ department store group. It is rightly regarded as an ‘icon of Classical Modernism’. In recent years, the ‘Schocken’ has undergone extensive renovation. The building’s façade now looks just as it did when the department store first opened in 1930.

On 16 May 2014, the Chemnitz State Museum of Archaeology opened at this extraordinary location. Across three floors, visitors embark on a journey through 300,000 years of human history. They gain an understanding of how Saxony gradually transformed from a natural to a cultural landscape. Archaeological finds are showcased using state-of-the-art multimedia technology. A visit to the museum becomes a sensory experience.

Three further exhibition areas are situated directly behind the curved window front. Here, the building’s architect, its client – the department store group’s founder, bibliophile collector and patron, Salman Schocken (1877–1959) – and the building’s eventful history are honoured in a permanent museum exhibition.