Printing workshop in Rendsburg
Museums in the Culture Centre The frenetic pace of technical and socio-historical developments in the last 200 years.
From Gutenberg’s hand press with composing stick, toggle press and proof press, via mechanical typesetting with typograph and linotype to the photosetting and computer typesetting of the modern day. The printing museum in the Museums in the Culture Centre is a recent enterprise in terms of the history of its collection. Created from an initiative of printers from Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg, an impressive collection on the technology of typesetting and printing grew in size from the mid-1970s onwards.
In an area of around 600 m², the printing museum presents the frenetic pace of technical and socio-historical developments in the last 200 years: from Gutenberg’s hand press with composing stick, toggle press and proof press, via mechanical typesetting with typograph and linotype to the photosetting and computer typesetting of the modern day.
Besides typesetting, image processing by means of repro-photography and scanning technology is also shown. The book printing machines in the adjoining machine room – from the Heidelberg Tiegel to the Frankenthal high-speed press – are all fully functional, as repeatedly evidenced during printing demonstrations.
The undoubted star among these iron giants is a circular motion press, made in 1879 by Koenig & Bauer from Würzburg, which impresses visitors by the aesthetics of its mechanical design alone. A book-binding operation and a small exhibition unit on offset printing complete the presentation, which is highly informative not just for trade visitors. Separate from the cyclical printing demonstrations, you can also use individual info terminals to find out how the exhibits on display work.