The director of the museum barockscheune in volkach, margit hofmann, who also sits for the SPD in the kitzingen district council, reacts without understanding in a statement to the closure of the kitzingen town museum decided by the kitzingen town council. "How can it be that a city council ‘waves through’ such an important issue in a single meeting and makes such a far-reaching decision with a two-thirds majority in a hurry, without any rough discussion??", asks hofmann. It should be noted, however, that the kitzingen city council actually discussed the future of the museum in several meetings and decided six months ago that no more jobs would be budgeted for the museum – which virtually anticipated the closure that has now been decided on.
Hofmann points out in her letter that the historic building in the kitzinger landwehrstrabe was renovated in 2007 especially for the museum and furnished for the museum’s use. "The whole thing was financed with taxpayers’ money, public subsidies, and a considerable amount of receivables" – for a museum that had been in operation for just eleven years, from 2007 to 2018. She sees this as a waste of public money; the city of kitzingen is not a good example here.
Hofmann: kitzingen is not a good example
Since the museum had already been temporarily closed since 2018, the city administration, the mayor, the museum management and the city council had had sufficient time to search for and find ways to find viable solutions and alternatives for the museum’s continued existence, says hofmann. "The fact that the new mayor and the new city council, who have only been in office for two months, are starting their work with this unsuccessful bang is not promising for kitzingen and does not send out a good signal for the role that kitzingen plays as the largest city and center of the district." She doubts serious effort to preserve museum permanently.
For them, it does not fit together that the city of kitzingen is closing a museum that informs about history, and at the same time wants to become the new location for the state archive in wurzburg with its valuable historical documents.
Fragile structures in the cultural sector
"Not helpful" calls it hofmann, in the current situation in comments and letters to the editor stadtisches museum and fasnachtmuseum in kitzingen against each other to weigh and build up valences. "Local museums should cooperate, strengthen each other and benefit from each other in synergy." The fragility of the structures in the cultural sector has just been shown by "the coup d’etat of the city council of kitzingen against the municipal museum", says the director of the volkach museum.