The Otto Lilienthal Museum in

Anklam Anklam [], formerly known as Tanglim and Wendenburg, is a town in the Western Pomerania region of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is situated on the banks of the Peene river, just 8 km from its mouth in the ''Kleines Haff'', the western ...

(

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

) is a museum dedicated to the "glider king"

Otto Lilienthal Karl Wilhelm Otto Lilienthal (23 May 1848 – 10 August 1896) was a German pioneer of aviation who became known as the "flying man". He was the first person to make well-documented, repeated, successful flights with gliders, therefore making ...

, the flight pioneer, as well as a pioneer in technical, social and cultural projects. Lilienthal made over 2,000 flights in gliders of his design starting in 1891 with his first glider version, the Derwitzer, until his death in a gliding crash in 1896. His total flying time was five hours."From Lilienthal to the Wrights."
''Otto Lilienthal Museum.'' Retrieved: 8 January 2012.

History

The town of Anklam is Lilienthal's birthplace. Various objects belonging to the life and work of Otto Lilienthal, among them a reconstruction of a glider from the year 1925 have been part of a local history museum, founded in 1927. The Otto-Lilienthal-Museum was opened in 1991 as a biographical technical museum. Today the museum houses the largest collection of Lilienthal aircraft in reconstruction.

Collections

The museum archives contain everything that is known about the first successful glider pilot, essays, documents, including a photo archive, replica and models of all known gliders and aircraft of Lilienthal. Moreover, the brothers Otto and Gustav Lilienthal were very prolific inventors of steam engines, toys, as well as initiators of numerous social and cultural projects. The museum acquired a large collection of

hang gliders Hang gliding is an air sport or recreational activity in which a pilot flies a light, non-motorised foot-launched heavier-than-air aircraft called a hang glider. Most modern hang gliders are made of an aluminium alloy or composite frame covered ...

and shows models of aircraft, from the time before the first successful flights, represent the early

history of aviation The history of aviation extends for more than two thousand years, from the earliest forms of aviation such as kites and attempts at tower jumping to supersonic and hypersonic flight by powered, heavier-than-air jets. Kite flying in Chin ...

and the prehistory of the aircraft.

Awards

In 1996 the museum has been awarded the title "FAI Recognized Museum" from the International Organisation of Aeronautics FAI, and in 1999 the museum was the first one in the former East-Germany area which was awarded a "

European Museum of the Year Award The European Museum of the Year Award (EMYA) is presented each year by the European Museum Forum ( EMF) under the auspices of the Council of Europe. The EMYA is considered the most important annual award in the European museum sector. History ...

- Special Commendation" by the

European Museum Forum The European Museum Forum is a museum organization under the Council of Europe. It is an independent, non-profit-making charity, registered in the United Kingdom and founded in 1977. The European Museum Forum organizes the annual European Museum o ...

. The state minister for culture and media of the Fed. Rep. of Germany awarded the museum the title "German National Memorial" since 2001.

References

External links

* http://www.lilienthal-museum.de {{authority control Technology museums in Germany Aerospace museums in Germany Science museums in Germany Transport museums in Germany Lilienthal Museums in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Otto Lilienthal Anklam Museums established in 1991 1991 establishments in Germany