Decoration and Symbols: What adorns men Special exhibition

For thousands of years, men have adorned themselves using jewelry as a means of expressing their identity. Whether crowns, rings, watches, tattoos, or belt buckles: jewelry tells stories of power, status, and belonging. Yet, the phenomenon of men's jewelry has received little attention in cultural history to date.

From 17th October 2026, the Landesmuseum Württemberg will, for the first time, present a major special exhibition dedicated to this fascinating topic for the first time, tracing the history of men’s jewelry from the Stone Age to the present day. Enriched by educational and interactive elements, the exhibition showcases the diversity of how men adorned themselves across the ages – from historical artifacts and handcrafted objects to everyday items. 

Moving beyond the idea that jewelry is mere decoration, the exhibition asks: What messages does jewelry convey? What meanings have been attributed to specific forms of adornment? And how is men's jewelry related to when thinking about gender and masculinity?
Ten thematic sections offer a fascinatingly rich insight into the history of men’s jewelry, bringing historical objects into dialogue with contemporary perspectives: from bodily adornment and insignia of power to functional jewelry, expressions of belief, social conventions, and their transgression.

The exhibition demonstrates that jewelry is far more than decoration: it is a system of symbols that has shaped perceptions of masculinity for millennia.