A Heady History10,000 years of beer and wine

Whether birthdays, New Year's Eve or shared after-work hours, alcohol plays an important role in social interaction. But this is not a contemporary phenomenon: Humans have drunk alcoholic beverages for at least the last 10,000 years. At social occasions and where people gather, beer and wine often play a central role. Was alcohol the “glue” that held together the communities of previous cultures? Does it still have that significance for many today? And how does it create community, identity and at the same time social demarcation?

The cultural-historical exhibition “A Heady History – 10,000 years of beer and wine” gets to the bottom of these and other exciting questions, spanning from the Stone Age to the present day. With around 250 objects, they illustrate the long history of the consumption of alcoholic beverages in our cultural area and how strongly it is still part of our everyday life. The geographical starting point is the south-west of Germany, supplemented by historically important references in the Mediterranean and Near Eastern world.

The technical aspects of production or the variety of products are less important than the role that alcohols play in past and present social contexts. The consequences of alcohol consumption on an individual and societal level that are associated with the consumption of alcohol are also examined.