In 1998, VS opened its school museum to mark its 100th anniversary and has been showing the permanent exhibition "The classroom: school furniture in the 20th century" ever since. Visitors experience a unique journey through the history and development of national and international school architecture from the beginning of the 20th century to the present day.
In 1998, VS opened its school museum to mark its 100th anniversary and has been showing the permanent exhibition "The classroom: school furniture in the 20th century" ever since. Visitors experience a unique journey through the history and development of national and international school architecture from the beginning of the 20th century to the present day.
We are particularly proud of the fact that our furniture often stood - and still stands - in the most progressive schools of their time. Reason enough to trace the exciting path for you in the VS School Museum.
Visit the permanent exhibition ‘The classroom from the end of the 19th century to the present day’ at the company headquarters in Tauberbischofsheim.
Opening hours:
Visits and guided tours by appointment only
Tel.: 09341 88-0
Admission free, guided tour (on request) €40
We have not only brought together school furniture from over 100 years, but also architectural models, historical photos, learning materials and educational manifestos. They form a kaleidoscope that illustrates the development of the classroom in the permanent exhibition and an extensive catalogue.
The school museum was created in 1998 to mark the 100th anniversary of VS, then as now one of the leading manufacturers of school furniture.
What characterises the VS School Museum? Prof Dr Thomas Müller, Managing Director of VS from 1987 to 2018, now Chairman of the Shareholders' Meeting, presents the concept:
Monastery and barracks: these were the two models for schools in the 19th century. But this changed with the life reform movement around 1900.
New goals and teaching methods were introduced and school buildings and facilities changed. In addition to theoretical mental work, manual labour also became more important; new findings on hygiene and ergonomics drove the reforms forward.
And production also moved with the times: in order to meet the great demand, school furniture was soon manufactured industrially rather than by hand.
After the collapse of school furniture production during the First World War and the years of inflation, school reformers and socially committed politicians in the Weimar Republic endeavoured to find progressive solutions again.
This resulted in striking school buildings in the New Objectivity style. A short time later, the global economic crisis set school construction and school furniture production back again.
The rise to power of the National Socialists in 1933 put an abrupt end to democratic reform efforts in Germany. However, the school reform movement continued to develop internationally.
A ‘pedagogy from the child’ shifted the focus to single-storey pavilions that could be opened quickly and easily for outdoor lessons.
The open-air school in Suresnes (1931 - 1935)
The famous open-air school in Suresnes by Eugène Beaudouin and Marcel Lods has classrooms with folding glass walls and lightweight aluminium furniture. It is an alternative design to the gloomy conventional school.
A new type of chair
Eero Saarinen and Charles Eames develop chairs whose seats and backrests are made from a curved plywood section for the first time in school furniture.
After the Second World War, 60 per cent of schools in Germany were destroyed. At the same time, the number of pupils increases due to refugees and displaced persons. Financial resources and raw materials are scarce. It was not until 1950, with the economic miracle, that the hope of a new beginning was linked to school construction.
The open-air school once again became a symbol of liberation, and the French reconstruction plan for Mainz envisaged a school modelled on the famous open-air school in Suresnes (France).
For cost reasons, however, more compact schools soon prevailed, some of which incorporated the principles of the reform movement. A fundamental reorientation of the school system suffered repeated setbacks. The development also continued internationally.
After the Second World War, the static school desk was finally a thing of the past, as was the Prussian-military style of education associated with it. As an alternative, skid-base chairs and desks are now the norm, which also impress with their ergonomics and functionality.
After the Second World War, the static school desk was finally a thing of the past, as was the Prussian-military style of education associated with it. As an alternative, skid-base chairs and desks are now the norm, which also impress with their ergonomics and functionality.
After the Second World War, the static school desk was finally a thing of the past, as was the Prussian-military style of education associated with it. As an alternative, skid-base chairs and desks are now the norm, which also impress with their ergonomics and functionality.
1952-1957: Student desk by Arne Jacobsen for the Munkegård School in Gentofte. The chair was based on Jacobsen's well-known Ant chair, the table top and book shelf are curved throughout.
1952-1957: Student desk by Arne Jacobsen for the Munkegård School in Gentofte. The chair was based on Jacobsen's well-known Ant chair, the table top and book shelf are curved throughout.
1952-1957: Student desk by Arne Jacobsen for the Munkegård School in Gentofte. The chair was based on Jacobsen's well-known Ant chair, the table top and book shelf are curved throughout.
1950s: School furniture by Finnish architect and furniture designer Alvar Aalto. Table with tilting top from the 1950s; Aalto had already designed the chair in the 1930s.
From 1950: The skid-base chair is not only light, but also - as the contemporary advertising photo shows - stable. With sales totalling around 6 million from 1952 to 2006, it is one of the longest-lasting products in post-war history.
In this era of the school building boom and educational reforms, the comprehensive school emerged as a new type of school in the Federal Republic of Germany. It aims to promote equal opportunities for children and young people from all social classes. It was never widely accepted by the public as a ‘bureaucratic learning factory’.
At the same time, other school buildings are also being built. School furniture should now be as flexible, light and stackable as possible.
LIGNOdur top and wooden skid chair
The primary and secondary school in Marl is equipped with furniture from VS. The tables have extremely hard-wearing LIGNOdur tops with a melamine resin surface, a recycled product made from wood shavings produced during wood processing. The wooden skid-base chairs, designed by Karl Nothhelfer, are from the second, slimmer generation.
1975: The air cushion chair
In the 60s and 70s, VS launched several very successful chair models on the market, including skid-base chairs with an oval tubular steel construction. The chair with air-cushioned seat and backrest made of polypropylene plastic parts becomes the standard type in school equipment.
Modern school architecture is one thing above all: diverse. New variations and spatial concepts are constantly being created to make the school situation varied and stimulating. In view of declining pupil numbers as a result of the ‘Pillenknick’, new school buildings have become rarer - since the 2020s, they have been on the rise again in Germany due to increased immigration, among other things, and must meet new requirements such as sustainability, digitalisation, all-day care, integration and inclusion.
Conversion and renovation also offer opportunities to create pedagogically innovative learning and living spaces.
Thomas Müller, Romana Schneider:
The classroom from the late 19th century until the present day / 304 pages, approximately 900 illustrations, some in colour
Ernst Wasmuth Verlag, Tübingen Berlin, 2010
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