"Doors around the world": international door and home stories outside the front door

In the Middle Ages, the centre of people's homes and lives was the room with the hearth. Everyone lived, ate and slept there, where it was warm even in winter. At first, rough wooden furniture was only a simple function, and this also applied to doors. It was not until the 14th century that the carpenter's trade developed. He produced what the customers wanted for their lives and deaths in an artistic and personalised way: Furniture, doors, coffins.

In fact, the history of the door is closely intertwined with that of the home: Even during the industrial revolution, the majority of the population in Europe lived in cramped conditions with many children and old people. World economic crises, poverty and two world wars pushed the design of living spaces into the background for most people. As a result, conscious home design and interior architecture remained the preserve of the aristocracy and the wealthy until the second half of the 20th century.

"Transition: Door": home decor outside Europe

Elaborately designed interior doors were unique pieces of craftsmanship, many even of great artistic or historical value. This is why they can still be admired today in many museums and monuments.

For example, in the renowned Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum in Cologne, which is dedicated to (domestic) cultures outside Europe. "Transition: Door" is the name of a permanent exhibition on the cultural history of the door and the home. In the centre of Germany, it takes us through 13 doors into other worlds that tell the stories of doors from different eras and countries.

The massive stone door closes an Egyptian sacrificial chamber. It dates from around 2,400 BC and can be seen in the Museum of Ancient Cultures at the University of Tübingen (MUT). But this "door" is an illusion, because it cannot really be opened or closed by human hands. This exhibit is (almost) unique in Europe: another chamber can be found in the Louvre in Paris, Chambre des ancêtres. (Photo: © Museum of the University of Tübingen MUT/V. Marquardt)

• The origins of human (residential) cultures, Museum of Ancient Cultures at the University of Tübingen, Hohentübingen Castle, Burgsteige 11, Tübingen. Permanent exhibition with the Egyptian Collection, as well as the UNESCO World Heritage Site Ancient Pile Dwellings and Ice Age Figures: www.unimueseum.uni-tuebingen.de

• "Transition: Doors."Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum - "Cultures of the World": Permanent exhibition on doors and living outside Europe, Cäcilienstraße 29-33, Cologne: www.museenkoeln.de Current events/guided tours: www.museenkoeln.de

• "100 years of Bauhaus", Bauhaus Berlin Dessau Weimar gGmbH: To mark the anniversary year of the revolutionary architecture and design style, there are exhibitions, theatre performances, films, congresses, camps, dance events in many German cities ... and both a virtual and a physical journey of discovery to "100 places of the Bauhaus": www.bauhaus100.de

• New man, new home. The buildings of the New Frankfurt." Deutsches Architekturmuseum (DAM), Schaumainkai 43, Frankfurt/Main: www.architektur-ausstellungen.de In the 1920s, the city wrote architectural and cultural history under the title "New Frankfurt". In co-operation with other museums, the DAM presents the internationally acclaimed urban and cultural metamorphosis of the metropolis on the Main.