Marion Ackermann becomes the new President of the SPK

Many had already suspected it: Prof. Dr. Marion Ackermann will become the new President of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation from June 2025, as was announced yesterday, 8 July. The 59-year-old Ackermann, who is currently Director General of the Dresden State Art Collections, will succeed the 65-year-old President of the Foundation, Prof. Dr. Hermann Parzinger. He will retire on May 31, 2025.

The Board of Trustees of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation (SPK) met on Monday, July 8, to appoint the successor to outgoing President Hermann Parzinger of Germany’s most powerful cultural institution. In December 2023, the Board of Trustees, which is chaired by Claudia Roth, Minister of State for Culture and the Media, had commissioned a search committee to find a successor to the current President of the SPK, Hermann Parzinger. The members of the search committee came from the states of Hamburg, Brandenburg, Berlin and North Rhine-Westphalia and, after intensive deliberations and a personal introduction to Marion Ackermann, voted unanimously in her favor and proposed her to the Board of Trustees yesterday. The SPK unites numerous museums, institutes and libraries under its umbrella, which recorded almost 3.6 million visitors in 2022. Ackermann is the first female president of the foundation and will head it from June 2025.

The Chairwoman of the Foundation Council, Claudia Roth, expressed her delight at the election of Marion Ackermann as the new President: “I am delighted that we have found an excellent new President for the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation in Marion Ackermann at such an early stage!” She emphasized Ackermann’s previous successes in the field of art and museums. She also stated that the outgoing Director General of the Dresden State Art Collections had shown that she understood how to lead an institution in the field of art and how to move it forward. She went on to say that the future president had an excellent international network and had proven herself as a museum manager, art expert and strategist. Born in Göttingen, Marion Ackermann studied art history, history and German language and literature at the universities of Kassel, Göttingen, Vienna and Munich. After completing her studies, she initially embarked on an academic career. She taught at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich, the University of Augsburg and the University of Applied Sciences for Photo Design in Munich. She later worked in numerous museums, such as the Lenbachhaus in Munich and the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen. She has headed the Dresden State Art Collections since 2016. The association unites 15 museums and four institutes under one roof. The institutions it manages attract over two million visitors every year.

As the SPK announced in its press release, Marion Ackermann will already be working for the foundation before taking office on June 1, 2025. Together with Hermann Parzinger, this should ensure a smooth handover of office. Marion Ackermann, who completed her doctorate on the autobiographical and theoretical texts of Wassily Kandinsky in Göttingen, emphasized her delight at the election. She also stated: “The extraordinary, universal character of the institutions gathered under one roof in Berlin offers a unique opportunity: to complete the reform process and let the foundation shine internationally.” She also emphasized that this achievement could only be accomplished together and in solidarity. At the same time, she also said that her new role filled her with humility and great expectation. She highlighted her positions in Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, North Rhine-Westphalia and Saxony as an advantage and announced that she would also use the experience she had gained there for the SPK in Berlin.
Hermann Parzinger, who studied pre- and early history, provincial Roman archaeology and medieval history in Munich, Saarbrücken and Ljubljana, held the post for 18 years. He shared Ackermann’s joy and called his office a “demanding but also wonderful position” that offers many opportunities to shape the future. He is looking forward to working with his experienced colleague, who enjoys an excellent international reputation, until the change of office in June.

The Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation is considered the most powerful cultural institution in Germany and unites under its roof the National Museums in Berlin with a total of 15 collections and nine institutions, the Berlin State Library, the Secret State Archives of Prussian Cultural Heritage, the State Archive for Music Research and the Ibero-American Institute. Among the institutions administered by the SPK are such well-known institutions as the Pergamon Museum, the Altes and Neues Museum and the Alte and Neue Nationalgalerie. Millions visit the various institutions every year. In 2022, there were almost four million visitors. Since 2008, the foundation has been headed by Herrmann Parzinger, who is now retiring. Marion Ackermann is the first woman to take over as President of the Foundation. It is planned that she will lead the association for the next five years.