Wednesday, 27 February 2019 at the FC Bayern Erlebniswelt – or was it Tuesday, 27 February 1900 at Café Gisela? The image of Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Uli Hoeneß looked deceptively real. In the middle of the new special exhibition “Between the studio and the pitch”, the FC Bayern München AG Chairman and FC Bayern München eV President took a seat at the replica table where FC Bayern was founded 119 years ago in the heart of Munich. Unfortunately the glasses of beer couldn’t be lifted – and the two gentlemen would certainly have liked to have toasted with the guests present at the opening. Three cheers to celebrate FC Bayern’s birthday and the successful special exhibition where visitors to the FC Bayern Erlebniswelt can now follow in the footsteps of FCB’s founding fathers.
“Without the creative minds of the founding fathers, our club would not exist. You have to say the baby that was born 119 years ago has become a pretty decent lad,” said Karl-Heinz Rummenigge at the club museum. Uli Hoeneß was also visibly impressed by the journey through time and the legacy of his predecessors, presented to him on a tour by Petra Leufstedt (head of the FC Bayern Erlebniswelt): “Our story is very much worth telling, the young fans in the Südkurve also see it that way. In this exhibition you can see once more that FC Bayern is a part of Munich’s history”. The thanks to the founding fathers could be seen by the way they blew out the candles on the big birthday cake with “119” at the entrance to the exhibition.
A special journey through time until 6 January 2020
The club’s current decisionmakers were among the first guests to attend the exhibition and spoke on stage with Flori Schuster about the significance of history for the continuation of a company. The grandson of sports cartoonist Sepp Mauder and managing director of the long-standing company Sport Schuster emphasised, “Creative ideas and values were very important to my grandfather and we also pass these virtues on to the employees in our company”.
The aim and central component of the exhibition is to uncover the close connection between art and football – between FC Bayern and the Academy of Fine Arts. Matthias Wähner, professor at the Academy of Fine Arts, still sees a connection between sport and art because football, an all-encompassing popular sport, is an important part of society today, as is art. “As a student, I also organised games against professors. We mostly won,” he said with a laugh.
Among the 17 founders of the club, some were painters, sculptors or photographers who were part of the then world-famous Schwabing artistic and cultural life. Rummenigge and Hoeneß looked extensively at the works of Benno Elkan, Paul Francke, Wilhelm Focke, Otto Ludwig Naegele as well as the founding initiator and photographer Franz John. The bust of Karl Valentin, sketches, drawings, photographs and the well-known graphic “Die Rothosen” by Sepp Mauder, who joined the club shortly after its founding, are an expression of the artistic careers of the founders. All visitors to the club museum are invited on a special journey through time until 6 January 2020.
A club of artists – and not just on the pitch
The living and working conditions of the first Bayern members are a central component of the special exhibition, whether on the historical city map of the streets of that time, at the installations and the children’s participation stations, at the founding site of “Café Gisela” or in the animated film of the early years. FC Bayern was and is a club of artists – and not just on the pitch.
