Gutenberg Museum

The Gutenberg Museum stands opposite Mainz Cathedral in the city’s old quarter. It is one of the world’s oldest printing museums and was founded in 1900 to mark the 500th anniversary of Johannes Gutenberg’s birth. The first displays filled two rooms in the Electoral Palace before moving to the Rheinallee library building in 1912. A full-size reconstruction of Gutenberg’s 15th-century workshop was installed in 1925 and soon became the museum’s centrepiece. The museum holds a second Gutenberg Bible, acquired in 1978, and thousands of rare block books printed with wooden forms. Its bookplate collection grew from a handful of donations to around 100,000 items after Willy Tropp gave 50,000 pieces in 1963. Visitors can also see the Mainzer Minipressen-Archiv, which preserves works from small European presses often ignored by larger libraries. Inside the Late Renaissance building Zum Römischen Kaiser, restored after wartime bombing, visitors find the restoration workshop and the Gutenberg Society’s rooms. The modern exhibition wing built in 2000 houses the bookplate collection and printed graphics displays. Outside, the view across the cathedral square links the museum to the city’s history of printing and craftsmanship.