Zaubermuseum Bellachini

Zaubermuseum Bellachini stands in Hamburg’s St. Georg district, presenting magic as cultural history across three rooms. About 100 square metres hold around 200 exhibits. Opened by magician and collector Wittus Witt, the museum became Germany’s first institution of its kind. The nineteenth-century magician Samuel Berlach, known as Bellachini, connects the collection with Hamburg’s magic history.

Eighteenth-century magic books, nineteenth-century graphics, and early nineteenth-century posters trace changing forms of illusion. Magic boxes dating from 1840 add mechanical objects to the display. Monitors and a video screen show films about magic, extending the collection beyond cases. Special exhibitions have focused on magician Alexander Adrion and women in magic.

Among the notable pieces, Goethe’s magic box comes from the Goethe Museum in Düsseldorf. An oil painting of a juggler dates from 1460. A travel and props suitcase belonged to Theodor von Schledorn-Bellachini.