Location: In the North-East-Corner of the Signal Iduna Park, in Dortmund.
Opening year: 19th of December 2008 (the 99th anniversary of the club.)
Annual visitor number: 29 000 (2010)
Collection size: Several thousand, and increasing (about 10% is on display)
One of the great clubs of German and European football, Bourssia Dortmund enjoy a massive support in their home stadium. Currently defending champions of the Bundesliga and has got both a successful history from the game but also troubles with finances.
The Borusseum is a museum from supporters for supporters it partly focuses on the history of the supporters. A museum feature is for instance movies about the choreographies of the supporters.
In the special object exhibit there is the tricot from Lothar Emmerich, which shows spoors of usage of the final match of the European Cup of 1966 against Liverpool FC.
The treasure in the Borusseum treasury is certainly the Champions League Cup (right now the original trench coat from Ottmar Hitzfeld, which he wore in the Champions League final in Munich, is displayed in an exposition in the Wembley stadium).
Other players’ related objects are: the floodlight-tricot, which Reinhold Wosab wore in 1963 against Benfica Lissabon, has its own history (Dortmund won this match in his old stadium, called “Rote Erde”/ “Red Earth” 5-0); the top scorer trophy Lothar Emmerich got together with Gerd Müller 1966/67; and Emmerich’s shoes he wore as top scorer in the Bundesliga as well as top scorer in the European Cup Winners’ Cup which’ve been gilded later on.
Another object related to the joy of winning are the broken glasses of manager Jürgen Klopp: they were damaged after the match against the FC Bayern Munich in February 2011. Nuri Sahin was so happy about the 3-1 success of Dortmund, that he jumped on the back of Jürgen Klopp so broke his glasses.
As for a classic Borussia Dormund anecdote: the Werner Erdmann brassiere is also on display. In 1947 the whole team of Dortmund was in training camp, because they wanted to be well prepared for the new season. They trained very hard, but they also had a lot of fun. Before the departure back to Dortmund the keeper Willi Kronsbein stole a brassiere from the clothesline of their hotel and put it in the suitcase of his teammate Werner Erdmann. Naturally, he didn’t suspect anything but back at home his wife opened the suitcase and found the brassiere. She immediately thought her husband had had a love affair. Werner Erdmann told her that he was innocent of such allegations, but Mrs. Erdmann was really angry and she went directly to the team meeting and wanted to hear the truth about the bra. After a lot of discussions Willi Kronsbein told her the truth and Werner was no longer suspected by his wife having a love affair. This was the first and only team meeting in the whole history of Borussia Dortmund where ever a woman participated. Therefore the brassiere is in the exhbition.
The Borsseum keep temporary exhibitions once or twice a year. For 2012, one is planned with the topic “The singing of the supporters”. For this exhibition the museum works scientifically together with the University of Paderborn and creatively with the FH of design in Dortmund.
The museum is run and paid for by the club but also has some sponsors. They bought a tile with their names on it, on the bridge in the entrance hall. The Club’s special department for advancement and supporter activities has also been crucial to the foundation and current activities of the museum. Furthermore private people of fanclubs can donate a sum of 109,09 euros and get a plate, also with their names on a wall in the Boursseum. The thought is that they’ll become a part of the museum forever.
Thanks to Kirsten Behnke, of the Museum Direction (Museumsleitung)
