The museum is well organized and has quite a good selection or artifacts, though they only have 1 complete and 1 half of a Gutenberg bible set. While the museum focus is on printed communication history from Europe, they do have a good selection of Asian printed works and technologies.
The Gutenberg Museum has been one our best museum experiences as an English speaker in Germany. The audio tours are very well done and worth the 3,5 euro cost. There are 6 tours including an overview and 5 subject specific tours, about 10-15 min each. All of the category signage was also available in English. Additionally, each floor had an English speaking staff person.The cost of admission would be a bargain if you only viewed the Gutenberg Bible in the treasure vault. We encountered no lines or crowding by attending on a Friday over the lunch hour.
This is a fascinating museum. Not only are there rare and interesting books on display, but a number of early presses, and the highlight - especially for children - is a working full sized replica of Guthenberg's original press. It is demonstrated every hour, and there are opportunities for 'audience participation' as well.One whole section of the museum is given to a display of Chinese printing and type setting, which pre-dates the European system, and is, in itself, fascinating. Gutenberg's major achievement was the creation of 'movable type', the press itself was adapted from a wine press! The perfect visit in Mainz when it is cold, damp or snowing.
Coincidentally, was just in Antwerp and visited Plantin - Moretus Museum in Belgium and enjoyed this museum much more. It was less formal, more rambling and contained more books. Also was fascinated by the family and business of printing presented there. If you are interested in the subject of printing the Gutenberg is still a good visit. There is the hands-on printing presentation, volunteer required, but there was something 'stiff' about the place. I just didnt feel the heart of the subject here,but still informative.
This place is a must for you to visit if you consider yourself a "bookaholic". The museum has a large collection about the history of printing - from ancient Asia to Gutenberg and contemporary - as well as "hands on" workshops and movie presentations. When I stood there in the treasure chamber and looked at the very first printed books in history I felt joy and gratefullness. The museum hop has very nice souveniers as well.
I still recall in elementary school having to memorize the name Johannes Gutenberg and that he invented the printing press in 1440 with movable wooden or metal letters. It was a dreary, rainy December day and we had already been to many Christmas markets in Germany so we decided to go to this museum. We rented headsets (we had to leave a photo ID with them and we left our U.S. driver's licenses). Without them we would not have understood so much of what we saw. If we ever go to Mainz again, I would revisit the museum. It would be better to carry your coat with you because the women at the desk told us that they do "disappear" from the coat racks.
This is an amazing historical visit indeed. The museum is filled with items that will really grab your interest as to technology "back in the day." Of course, to top it off are the Gutenberg Bibles on display in a guarded vault...really worth the visit and time. The entrance fee is minimal for the experience.
Liked the exhibition a lot, but i was a bit surprised that near the main attraction- the Gutenberg printing machine, you find no description, no sign..And what impressed me -a small room with the original gutenberg bibles
Just to see one of the Gutenberg Bibles is worth the visit. Our guide made the visit much more interesting. What Gutenberg was able to do is quite spectacular and certainly is one of the major contributions to society. To see what the monks did with hand printing and how long it took them makes what Gutenberg did even more amazing. I also like how the museum continues to work with young people.
The story about Guttenberg will astound you, a man with a dream created the first printing press and thus printed the first bible. That's where it starts, but did you know, he used an enormous amount of type settings of different sizes to make all the print line up evenly, or that Upper case letters were kept in the upper "Case" and the lower case letters... Or that he died broke after defaulting on all his loans because even though he sold to the elite, he couldn't pay his loans before he he realized income from his sales. Go visit.. very interesting!