Landesmuseum Württemberg

[1] It emerged from the 16th-century “Kunstkammer” (Cabinet of art and curiosities) of the dukes, later kings, of Württemberg who resided in Stuttgart.

The museum presents a whole range of archeological treasures and a notable collection of medieval art.

Some of the most valuable possessions of the museum were already acquired by the dukes for their art chamber: two of only four preserved Aztec feather shields from before 1521 and the oldest preserved card game, about 1430, richly decorated and expensive already at the time of production.

Exhibits of local origin include a celestial globe of 1493 by Johannes Stöffler, an 11-digit mechanical calculator of 1774 by Philipp Matthäus Hahn (the first to build functional calculators to Gottfried Leibniz' design for all four arithmetic operations), and, probably the museum's most symbolic exhibit despite being similar to other ones: the royal Württemberg crown of 1797.

The museum today has a further seven branches throughout Württemberg referring to special topics: Several other former branches now belong to the separate Baden-Württemberg State Archeological Museum (Archäologisches Landesmuseum Baden-Württemberg), which has been founded in 1990 due to the ever increasing findings of archeological heritage in the state.