About us

. history

Prior to founding the first Independent Women's Museum back in March 1981, a dedicated group of female artists and architects had already founded the association "women shape their city" and developed exhibitions relating to the topics of habitation and city planning by women.

For the duration of the exhibition "Where Female Outsiders Dwell" in 1981, the group were able to secure the rights to use an empty building (former department store) from the city council. However, the group continued to use the building for their activities, which effectively meant they were squatting. They managed to negotiate a preliminary contract of use under the condition of erecting a cultural centre. The centre is being financed by the various groups of women who moved in and supported the project. There has been a conventional rental contract since 1984, and the city council has dealt with the rental costs since then. For any other costs there is only a minimal amount at our disposal, so that the Women's Museum has always been depending on project grants and support programmes.