(c) by Forum Alte Post. All rights reserved.
Description [EN]
Forum ALTE POST: Art and culture in an extraordinary setting
Since its official opening in 2014, the Forum ALTE POST cultural center in Pirmasens has become a true landmark of the city. As an architectural gem, it successfully blends old and new as much as it brings together exhibitions of very different genres and an attractive program of events. The Forum ALTE POST in Pirmasens has an exciting history and, as the former "Royal Bavarian Post Office," rightly counts as a jewel of the late Gründerzeit era. The post building, erected in 1893, originally handled the city’s parcel traffic and telegraph service. Afterwards, the historicist building — in which architect Ludwig von Stempel combined motifs from the Italian and French Renaissance — served various purposes, such as a telecommunications and long-distance postal/coach office, a waiting hall, a telephone exchange, postal administration and storage.
From old to new
After the building stood empty from 1976 onward, the decision was made to convert the old post office into a multifunctional cultural and events center with an integrated museum. Thanks to an extensive renovation, technical modernization and fundamental restoration — including the reconstruction of a mosaic on the exterior façade according to historical models — the building near the main railway station now shines in new splendor and has quickly become a popular meeting place for art and culture fans beyond the local community.
Famous sons of the city
The focal points of the Forum ALTE POST are the two permanent exhibitions dedicated to Pirmasens’s famous sons Hugo Ball (1886–1927) and Heinrich Bürkel (1802–1869). Their work has found impressive homes, each on generous display areas. The Hugo Ball cabinet uses historic photographs, graphics, quotes, texts and newspaper articles to illuminate the life and work of the pioneer of sound poetry and founder of Dada. Multimedia elements such as audio and film recordings, a "sound carpet," and an unusual 3D presentation of a life-size Hugo Ball figurine (based on the famous photo of him in a cubist costume) also convey background information. In addition to Hugo Ball, the exhibition presents other Dada protagonists such as his later wife Emmy Hennings, Hans Arp and Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Richard Huelsenbeck and Tristan Tzara. The exhibition also displays Ball’s religious, political and journalistic works. The Heinrich Bürkel Gallery houses about 60 paintings, drawings and sketches featuring landscapes and genre scenes by the well-known Romantic painter. Thematically arranged rooms each refer to different creative periods. For example, comparative displays of paintings, preparatory studies and sketches show which academic traditions and subjects Bürkel adopted and which pictorial innovations he developed as a forerunner of the so-called Munich School in the run-up to classical modernism. Documents from the artist’s estate and contemporary critics’ comments provide further insights into Heinrich Bürkel’s professional and private life. In the coming years the Heinrich Bürkel Gallery will be redesigned; this will include making the city’s extensive holdings of Bürkel’s works digitally accessible.
Impressive interplay of regional and national/international art
Throughout the year, several temporary exhibitions at Forum ALTE POST provide space for modern contemporary art. The wide variety of genres ranges from photography, painting and illustration to graphic art and object art. Since the opening, over 50 exhibitions have been hosted in the old post office — the first even took place before the official inauguration, titled "Wald, Schloss, Schuh" ("Forest, Castle, Shoe"). The city’s imaginative history then moved into the City Museum Old Town Hall, where it remains on display as a permanent exhibition. The official premiere exhibition featured photographs by Götz Diergarten; subsequent highlights included "Salvador Dalí – Imagination and Irritation," "Janosch’s Worlds of Adventure," and "Deine Anne. Ein Mädchen schreibt Geschichte" (an exhibition conceived by the Anne Frank Center and the Anne Frank House). A striking retrospective was also devoted to photomedia artist and Pirmasens native Boris Eldagsen, who in 2023 attracted international attention by rejecting the Sony World Photography Awards in connection with his image "THE ELECTRICIAN." The work of Bürkel and Ball (and Ball’s wife Emmy Hennings) has also been presented several times in a contemporary context, and noteworthy works from the regional art scene are shown repeatedly. The exhibitions are accompanied by a varied supporting program, including guided tours and lectures on techniques and working methods as well as museum-education workshops for children, young people and adults. Additional workshop offerings are available during Rhineland-Palatinate school holidays and for special events.
Culture in a stylish setting
Concerts, theater, readings, cabaret: Forum ALTE POST offers culture in many forms within an extraordinary setting. As part of the city’s cultural program, the impressively renovated Elisabeth-Hoffmann Hall literally provides a stage for first-class events, for example as part of the annual Euroclassic music festival. The adjacent Joseph-Krekeler Square can also be used for open-air events. Large-format display panels with historical photos offer a view into the past there, and two bronze "shoe girls" serve as a reminder of Pirmasens’s long-standing tradition as a shoe city.
Celebrations, conferences and weddings
The Elisabeth-Hoffmann Hall is also popular for corporate events, conferences and private celebrations such as weddings and anniversaries. Speaking of weddings: the elegantly designed marriage room for civil ceremonies, with its lovingly painted ceiling, provides an ideal setting for the most important day of a couple’s life. A café area with a lounge in the foyer invites visitors to relax before, between and after exhibition visits or events. The on-site museum shop also offers literature about the building, on art and cultural topics and on city and regional history, as well as selected toys and stationery and catalogs of past temporary exhibitions. Forum ALTE POST in Pirmasens is definitely a lively cultural venue of a very special kind — always worth a visit.
Services
wardrobe
ja
Loan Rollers & Rollers
Ein Rollstuhl der genutzt werden kann ist vorhanden
Cafe/Restaurant
Cafe
Museumsshop
ja
Event room / lecture rooms (rentable)
ja
Note regarding pets (if necessary, dog care on the spot)
Hunde sind nicht erlaubt
others
Die klimatisierten Ausstellungs- und Veranstaltungsräume sowie die sanitären Anlagen im Forum ALTE POST sind barrierefrei. Für Personen mit Gehbehinderung steht ein Rollstuhl zur Verfügung.
Accessibility
Access with ramp
Yes
Guidance system for visually impaired people, Tactile / acoustic map
No
Entrance soil indicators
No
Access stairless
Yes
Access with ramp
No
Elevator with tactile font / announcement
No
Disabled toilet
Yes