A search for traces of media history leads to the historical rooms of the Rostock Museum of Cultural History: The exhibition "Printing. Power. Knowledge. " is dedicated to the multifaceted history of book printing and media in Rostock over more than five centuries.
The focus is on the beginnings of book printing in the Hanseatic city: 550 years ago, the Michaelisbrüder printing house printed the first book with movable type, thus establishing a long tradition of printing and publishing in Rostock. As early as the late Middle Ages, the city became an important location for printers, whose works were distributed far beyond the Baltic Sea region. Despite political and religious upheavals—such as the closure of the printing house at the insistence of Martin Luther—Rostock remained a center for media change, during which Mecklenburg's first newspapers also originated in the 19th century.
The exhibition traces this development and highlights how closely technological advances in printing are linked to issues of power, knowledge, and public discourse: from the beginnings of book production to the rise of the press and the challenges and opportunities of the digital media society. This historical panorama not only sheds light on local history, but also illustrates the far-reaching influence of the medium of books on culture, knowledge transfer, and political communication in the Baltic Sea region.
March 29 to June 28, 2026
