Comeback for the ELA World Cup box about the Miracle of Bern

The World Cup box inside the mobile exhibit is engaging. The photo shows the key handover with officials and curator Han

Details
Location

Frankenberg, Saxony

ELA site

Frankenberg, Saxony

Container quantity and type

1 special container

Usable space

30 m2

Usage

museum container

Outer walls

RAL 7032 (Pebble Gray); inner walls and floor: OSB, artificial turf floor covering

Purchase or rental

rental

Usage term

5 years

About ten years ago, we housed the exhibition “The Miracle of Bern” by curator and soccer expert Hans Schlüper in a mobile museum based on an ELA exhibition container. After some time on the road, the container was kept in Spiez, Switzerland, until recently. Now the exhibition has been moved to ZeitWerkStadt, an interactive museum for urban and industrial history in Frankenberg, Saxony, for an initial period of five years, and has been reopened.

 

On an area of around 30 m2, the ELA exhibition container houses a small but impressive exhibition on West Germany’s 1954 World Cup victory, bringing visitors up close to the unforgettable moments of the competition and its heroes. Among other items, the exhibition features documents, pictures, and videos, as well as objects that were used in the five finals matches and the final itself – including a jersey, tickets, the goal net from the Wankdorf Stadium, and a bench board from the main stand numbered 272.

 

A picture gallery with large posters, photos, and graphics provides an authentic impression of the final in Bern. Photos from each of the 96 minutes of play bring the match between Hungary and West Germany back to life before the visitors’ very eyes. Curator Hans Schlüper maintains the world’s largest film archive on the World Cup final of July 4, 1954. An exciting compilation of those films can also be seen in the exhibition. Another highlight is the contemporary H0-scale (1:87) replica of the Wankdorf Stadium in Bern.

The video material from the largest 1954 World Cup archive in the world is just as fascinating now as it was then.

“It is amazing how many impressions and how much information can fit in the relatively small space of the ELA exhibition container,” says Erik Geidelt, head of the ELA branch in Frankenberg. “I am very happy about the reopening of the ELA World Cup box, which really adds to our ELA location in Frankenberg.”

The exhibition on the 1954 World Cup belongs in Frankenberg like the ball belongs in the back of the net.
Franziska Bäßler
ZeitWerkStadt museum director

Frankenberg has a long tradition in soccer and SV Barkas Frankenberg recently celebrated its 40th anniversary.

 

Mayor of Frankenberg, Oliver Gerstner, confirms: “The active participation of our clubs and primary schools in this opening event shows the great interest the people of Frankenberg have in sport and the exhibition on the Miracle of Bern.” The World Cup box is an excellent fit for ZeitWerkStadt as an experience-oriented facility, he added.

The photo gallery documents each of the 96 minutes of the 1954 World Cup final between Hungary and West Germany.

The supporting program for the opening of the World Cup box was organized by SV Barkas Frankenberg 1984 e.V. Among other things, there was a soccer tournament, a shot accuracy competition and shot speed measurement. “We took the exhibition opening as an opportunity to integrate the event into our holiday program,” says Gerstner. More than 80 children accepted the offer.

 

“Football doesn’t mean everything. But without football, everything means nothing,” is curator Hans Schlüper’s tongue-in-cheek summary of the significance of his exhibition. Football is still the most important unimportant thing in the world, he adds.

Hotline
Specialist consultant on site