News Archive

Gerd Steins for the

BERLIN SPORT MUSEUM, AIMS Marathon Museum of Running:

Founded in 1925 as a museum of physical exercise for Berlin

Reopened in 1970 as a sports-historical Berlin showpiece

Since 1990, museum of the Berlin county, from 1995, part of the city museum

foundation, Berlin

Since 1994, AIMS Marathon Museum of Running

Today, the great running sport events move millions worldwide to activity

and attract enthusiastic viewers with their spell. Running, as a form of

generally popular sport and recreational activity, plays an increasingly bigger

role for ever more people of all age-groups. With a multitude of offers, from

the city marathon to "snuffling-jog", the associations and organizers

advertise the sport of running and stimulate and encourage young and old alike

to get involved. Also the wheel-chair participants and roller-blade skaters

have, for a long time, belonged to the large fan club.

Running as a mass phenomenon is a development of the last decades. The

history of running sport, however, has many roots and traditions which date

further back. It has gone through highs and lows, it is characterized by a

large number of great performances and numerous legends, involving exceptional

sportsmen and women, tireless organizers, countless helpers and enthusiasts, as

well as a continuous input of new ideas. It has an international character and,

in a special manner, combines the histories of popular and high-performance

sports with each other.

This history has found a home in the Berlin Sport Museum. In the past five

years, the foundation was laid by Horst Milde, in close cooperation with the

organizers of the BERLIN MARATHON, for an International Running Sport Archive

and an International Running Sport Museum. About 6000 race-time reports of the

most varied type (among other things, shirts, running shoes, numbers, posters,

medals, prizes, documents, advertising and organization material) from the most

varied running sport events throughout the whole world, have been collected.

Meanwhile, library and archives fill many meters of shelf space (national and

international running times documents, starter and result lists, programs,

press material, photographs).

Since 1990, the Berlin Sport Museum has had special annual exhibitions, at

the Berlin Marathon Fair, on different subjects of the history of running

sport. In 1994 and 1997/99 the traditions of the marathon race in Germany, as

well as the marathon legends Paul de Bruytt (U.S.A.) and Waldemar Cierpinski

(Germany), formed the central focus of two more presentations.

The planned running sport museum is to be located in the future continuous

exhibition of the Sportmuseum Berlin at the Berlin Olympic Stadium. It should

become a museum which is informative as well as attractive, a museum to house

the "Hall of Fame", as well as personal memories of important and not

so important friends of running.

We ask for assistance from all friends of running

1. In particular in the collection of facts and figures, as well as

materials of all type from the history of the individual city marathons and the

different road races worldwide;

2. With the documentation of the international running sport events, which

are current in each case (the present is already history tomorrow!);

3. With the structuring of an international database of the best runners

(international and national competitions, all distances);

4. With the search for particularly attractive, one-time exhibits e.g. from

the oldest, the first running competitions of an area, a country, a city; or

souvenirs, personal things, documents, photographs, autographs of famous

runners.

We take as a grant, buy and borrow for an unlimited time: sports equipment

sportswear and gear equipment for sports fields and gymnasiums training

equipment competition equipment (i.e. starting numbers, finish tapes,

stop-watches, starting pistols) flags, pennants, badges medals, certificates,

cups posters, advertisements souvenirs, stickers objects of art (fine arts)

photos, photo albums, slide series films, videos, audio tapes documents,

archive material of all kinds library material, including programmes,

invitations to tender, lists of results etc. (especially old sports journals

and newspapers)

Address / Further information

Berlin Sport Museum

Deutsches Sportforum

Hanns-Braun-Straße

14053 Berlin

GERMANY

Telephone: 030-3058300 (Headquarters)

Fax: 030-3058340

E-Mail: Sportmuseum.Berlin@t-online.de