Chemnitz's Schocken Department Store Transformed into Archaeology Museum

The former Schocken department store in Chemnitz, Germany, designed by architect Erich Mendelsohn and opened on May 15, 1930, now houses the State Museum of Archaeology Chemnitz (Smac). The building survived the Allied bombing of March 5, 1945, and underwent renovation from 2010 to 2014. Its permanent exhibition spans three floors, dedicated to the building's history, architect Erich Mendelsohn, and client Salman Schocken. Chemnitz will be European Capital of Culture in 2025, with inauguration on January 18, 2025. The Schocken chain, founded by brothers Simon and Salman Schocken, grew to 20 stores and 6,000 employees by the 1930s. After Nazi boycotts, Salman Schocken was forced to sell in 1938. Mendelsohn's design features a curved glass facade with five rows of horizontal windows, an icon of the Neues Bauen movement. Salman Schocken was a collector of 60,000 rare books and manuscripts, including works by Heine, Goethe, and Einstein, as well as 'degenerate art' by Liebermann, Kokoschka, Grosz, Dix, Van Gogh, Monet, Chagall, Renoir, Pissarro, and Toulouse-Lautrec. Other contemporary architecture in Chemnitz includes the Stadtbad baths (1925), Gunzenhauser Museum, Henry van de Velde's Villa Esche (1902), and the Karl Marx Monument.