Museum Angewandte

What Museum Angewandte does

Museum Angewandte Kunst is a municipal public museum in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, operated by the Stadt Frankfurt am Main (City of Frankfurt) and founded in 1881 by the Kunstgewerbeverein in Frankfurt am Main e.V. It is one of Germany's leading applied arts museums, with a permanent collection spanning approximately 5,000 years of applied arts from East Asia, the Middle East, and Europe across design, craft, fashion, book art, and graphics. The museum is housed in a Richard Meier-designed building (inaugurated April 25, 1985) that wraps around the Historic Villa Metzler (1804), and it also operates the Ikonenmuseum Frankfurt as a separate branch. The library contains approximately 75,000 publications, and a research library and provenance research program support the scholarly function.

The museum serves a broad set of audiences: individual visitors and families (general admission 9 EUR regular / 4 EUR reduced), schools and educational institutions (guided tours, workshops, group pricing from 3 EUR per pupil), corporate and private event clients (venue rental for events of 30–250 persons), and the academic and design community. It operates a Create education and outreach program that delivers inclusive offerings, including dementia-friendly tours and free Saturday programming. Digital products extend the museum's reach beyond its physical site, including the Sammlung Digital online catalog (~730 digitized objects), the GPS-enabled Angewandte Walk audio guide, the Angewandte Talks Instagram Live series, and the GestalterKids @Home educational platform. The website runs on the open-source REDAXO CMS (Yakamara Media).

Revenue is generated from a hybrid mix: ticket sales, online ticketing via museen-ticket.de, venue rental for events, foundation support (Stiftung Museum Angewandte Kunst, Kunstgewerbeverein, and named foundations such as Adolf und Luisa Haeuser-Stiftung and Dieter und Ingeborg Rams-Stiftung), and ongoing municipal funding from the City of Frankfurt. The on-site restaurant Emma Metzler is operated by an independent licensed tenant (Emma Metzler Gastronomiegesellschaft GmbH) and is not part of the museum's direct revenue. A nine-person core staff coordinates curatorial, directorial, exhibition management, and education functions, while the operating model relies heavily on foundation partners, association members (~600 in the Kunstgewerbeverein), and the parent municipal entity.

Name

Museum Angewandte

Legal name

Museum Angewandte Kunst

Website

https://museumangewandtekunst.de

Company type

Private

Founded year

1881

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Museum Angewandte Kunst is a municipal applied arts museum in Frankfurt am Main, operated by the City of Frankfurt since 1881, serving general visitors, schools, corporate event clients, and the academic design community through exhibitions, education, venue rental, and digital collection access.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Art Museum

NAICS

Museums (712110)

SIC

Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900)

akta.pro primary industry

Art Galleries & Exhibition Spaces (Commercial & Nonprofit) (THAJADAH)

akta.pro secondary industries

Museums & Heritage Sites (History, Science, Specialty) (BPAGAHAA), Performing Arts & Cultural Event Venues (Theaters, Museums) (THAHAAAG)

Keywords

• Applied arts museum
• Cultural exhibitions
• Museum collections
• Design education
• Public art gallery

Headquarters

HQ city

Frankfurt am Main

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Others, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Museum Admissions and Tickets: The museum generates revenue through entry ticket sales at 9 euros regular and 4 euros reduced admission. Combination tickets with the Ikonenmuseum are available for 12 euros (regular) and 6 euros (reduced). Additional revenue streams include museum rental for events, catering partnerships, and publication sales.
2. City of Frankfurt Municipal Funding: As a municipal museum under the Stadt Frankfurt, the museum receives public funding for operations, programming, and staff. This is implicit through the city's ownership and administration of the museum.
3. Event Venue Rental: The museum generates revenue by renting out spaces for gala evenings, award ceremonies, corporate events, private celebrations, congresses, panel discussions, film screenings, receptions, press conferences, lectures, and photoshoots. Spaces include the museum foyer (60-250 persons), Elementarteile exhibition space (30-100 persons), and cinema/lecture room (30-120 persons).
4. Foundation Support and Donations: The museum receives financial and ideological support through its foundation circles (Frankfurter Salon, Frankfurter Zimmer, Frankfurter Küche, Frankfurter Balkon) and various supporting organizations including the Kunstgewerbeverein, Adolf und Luisa Haeuser-Stiftung, and Dieter und Ingeborg Rams-Stiftung.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

The Museum Angewandte Kunst operates as a publicly funded applied arts museum offering permanent and rotating exhibitions of design, fashion, book art, graphic design, and craft from over 5,000 years of cultural history. Its core services include on-site museum visits, educational programs (workshops, guided tours, school projects), digital access to collections, venue rental for events, and supporting research through a specialized library. The museum also operates the separate Ikonenmuseum branch and offers inclusive programs for visitors with disabilities.

Product overview

Museum Angewandte Kunst is a cultural institution offering a unified portfolio of interconnected products and services centered on applied art, design, fashion, and cultural heritage. The core offering consists of the Richard Meier-designed museum building (1985) housing permanent collections and rotating exhibitions, supplemented by the separate Ikonenmuseum. Digital engagement is enabled through Sammlung Digital (online collection catalog with ~500 searchable objects) and Angewandte Digital (video/audio content platform). Education and public programming are delivered through the Create program featuring guided tours, workshops, and inclusive offerings. Supporting services include the on-site Restaurant Emma Metzler, venue rental operations, a research library (~75,000 publications), and online ticketing. The museum also offers digital formats including Angewandte Talks (Instagram live interviews) and the Angewandte Walk audio guide.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Create: Education and outreach program of the museum offering guided tours, workshops, and educational activities for visitors of all ages.
• Sammlung Digital
• Angewandte Digital
• Angewandte Talks
• Angewandte Walk

Products and services

• Museum Angewandte Kunst (Main Museum Building)
• Ikonenmuseum (Icon Museum)
• Create – Bildung und Vermittlung (Education and Outreach Program)
• Sammlung Digital (Digital Collection Catalog)
• Restaurant Emma Metzler
• Venue Rental (Vermietung)
• Museum Library (Bibliothek)
• Historische Villa Metzler
• Online Ticket Service
• Angewandte Talks (Live Interview Series)
• Angewandte Walk (Audio Guide)
• GestalterKids @Home (Digital Education Program)

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 40 university partnerships and 9 design award collaborations in WDC-Campus exhibition
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered flagship, minor, core and major.

• World Design Capital Frankfurt RheinMain 2026flagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2026The museum is a central venue for World Design Capital 2026 activities including the WDC-Campus exhibition (over 1,200 m², 100+ works, 40+ universities, 9 design awards) and WDC-Hub. This partnership positions the museum as Frankfurt's premier design discourse venue for 2026.
• Hochschule für Gestaltung (HfG) OffenbachminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2019Partnership with HfG Offenbach's 50th anniversary resulted in the exhibition 'Aus heutiger Sicht. Diskurse über Zukunft' and digital tours developed together with the university.
• Werner Reimers StiftungminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2018Science partnership for the scholarly processing of the Asiatica collection of entrepreneur Werner Reimers. Under this partnership, the museum presented 60 selected works from the collection for the first time.
• Emma Metzler Gastronomiegesellschaft GmbHcoreOEM/ Whitelabel/ Licensing Partner · 1 January 2017Restaurant operator in the museum building since 2017, led by chef Anton de Bruyn. Two Gault-Millau chef's hats. Open Tue-Sat 12:00-23:00, Sun 12:00-18:00, extending visitor experience beyond museum hours.
• Stiftung Museum Angewandte KunstcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2013Foundation established to support the museum with four circles of exchange and development: Frankfurter Salon, Frankfurter Zimmer, Frankfurter Küche, and Frankfurter Balkon. Led by President Dr. Paula Macedo Weiß and Director Prof. Matthias Wagner K.
• Kunstgewerbeverein in Frankfurt am Main e.V.coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 1877Founded in 1877, the Kunstgewerbeverein (Arts and Crafts Association) established the museum in 1881. With approximately 600 members, the association supports the museum ideologically and financially through its subsidiary companies. It manages the Historische Villa Metzler as a cultural event venue and has supported major collection acquisitions including the Riese collection of Japanese woodblock prints.
• Adolf und Luisa Haeuser-Stiftung für Kunst und KulturpflegemajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerFoundation that has supported acquisitions for the museum over many years, with particular emphasis on Islamic art. Objects acquired through the foundation are on long-term loan to the museum.
• Dieter und Ingeborg Rams-Stiftung im Museum Angewandte KunstmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerFoundation dedicated to preserving and promoting the legacy of Dieter Rams, one of the most influential designers of the 20th century. Managed by Prof. Dr. Klaus Klemp.
• Bürgerinstitut e.V.minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership for dementia care programs: since 2024, regular guided tours for people with dementia and their relatives have been conducted in cooperation with the citizen institute.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Kunstgewerbemuseum Berlin: Berlin's decorative arts museum (part of Staatliche Museen zu Berlin), directly comparable in applied arts focus and German public-museum context, though larger and broader in collection scope.
• Vitra Design Museum: German-based design museum focused on furniture and industrial design; comparable in curatorial emphasis on design discourse and high-profile international exhibitions, though more narrowly product-design focused.
• Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum: New York's Smithsonian design museum with similar applied arts/design mission, educational programming, and digital collection initiatives; a strong international comparator for thematic exhibition strategy.
• Musée des Arts Décoratifs: Paris museum dedicated to decorative and applied arts, design, and fashion — operating with similar curatorial emphasis on contemporary design discourse intersecting historic collections, and serving as a comparable European benchmark for the Frankfurt museum.
• Design Museum Helsinki: Finnish design museum with similar size, thematic exhibition programming, and applied arts/design focus; serves as a comparable Nordic peer for exhibition strategy and educational programming.
• MAK – Museum für angewandte Kunst: Vienna's museum for applied arts, the closest direct peer in scale, mission, and collection focus; both are mid-sized European applied arts museums with rotating thematic exhibitions, design collections, and historic-villa integrations.
• Design Museum London: London's design-focused museum with rotating thematic exhibitions covering product, graphic, and industrial design; comparable in mission emphasis on contemporary design discourse intersecting design history.
• Die Neue Sammlung – The Design Museum: Munich's design collection (part of Pinakothek der Moderne), directly comparable as a German applied arts/design museum with strong industrial design collection and rotating thematic exhibitions.
• Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg: Hamburg's applied arts and design museum with comparable collection breadth across European, Asian, and Islamic applied arts; similar German municipal structure and educational programming model.

Broad incumbents

• Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A): London's global leader in decorative arts and design with massively broader scope; functions as the upper-bound benchmark for applied arts museums globally and competes for international exhibitions and scholarship.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCcgKvNKG6meDgsBqqfgN2CA
• Instagraminstagram.com/museumangewandtekunst
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/museum-angewandte

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Museum Angewandte