Excursions
Historical seminar
Information on registration, booking and booking of excursions
Free places on excursions are announced both here and via the History Department's mailing list. Registration for the mailing list is open to everyone and you can unsubscribe at any time!
Click here to register: To the registration
To ensure that you have completed your excursion days by the end of your studies, you should take them outside of the course schedule.
Proof of excursion from the History Department: Proof of excursion
Booking
The booking is done via unisono. As soon as you have completed the required work to complete the module element, register it via unisono, course "Excursions of the Department of History", 1HIST0002V, for booking with the lecturer who also confirms the last excursion.
Excursions 2026
Dr. Giuseppe Cusa, day excursion "The funny Middle Ages", Cologne, 21 January 2026, 13:00-17:00
Topic: Laughter forbidden! Laughter forbidden? It was long assumed that laughter, wit and humor were frowned upon in the Christian-Latin Middle Ages. Zealous clergymen and gloomy peasants still persist in the popular image of the Middle Ages. But this was by no means the case - there was another way: witty and mischievous. How else can we explain the droll poetry and fabliaux? How to explain the countless drôleries that make faces at medieval buildings or populate the margins of countless manuscripts? The Museum Schnütgen recently acquired a psalter breviary from the Premonstratensian Abbey of St. Martin in Laon, dating from around 1300, in which the most bizarre figures cavort in the strangest of activities. We will visit the special exhibition "Faith with Humor" and explore the droll side of medieval life.
Procedure and performance: The excursion is divided into three sections: 1) Museum café: Each participant will give a short presentation of approx. 5 minutes on the findings and results of a scientific essay on the excursion topic, so that we gain an insight into the diversity and spread of drôleries. The essays to be worked on (German/English) will be assigned by the excursion leader. 2) Special exhibition: Joint visit to the temporary exhibition "Faith with Humor" followed by a discussion. 3) Permanent exhibition: Joint visit to the permanent exhibition on medieval (primarily sacred) art, followed by a discussion.
Time: Wednesday, January 21, 2026, 13:00-17:00.
Meeting point: 13:00 in the foyer of the Museum Schnütgen/Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum (Cäcilienstraße 29-33, 50676 Cologne). Individual arrival.
Participants: 8 students
Costs and registration: There are costs of up to approx. 8 euros (3.50 euros museum admission + cold/hot drink in the museum café if applicable). Please register by December 23, 2025 by e-mail: giuseppe.cusa@uni-siegen.de.
Bettina Wagener: Day excursion "Collecting and exhibiting" in WS 25/26
The MiQua:forum and the FrauenMediaTurm (FMT) in Cologne
Description: How are thematically specialized collections, archives and museums created? The excursion to the MiQua:forum and the FrauenMediaTurm deals with this question. The MiQua:forum is the visitor center of the MiQua Museum, which is currently under construction. LVR Jewish Museum in the Cologne Archaeological Quarter. The museum will be dedicated to archaeological finds from 2000 years of Cologne's city history. The FrauenMediaTurm is a collection of unique documents from the German women's movement, housed in a medieval tower of the Cologne city wall.
At both locations, we will take part in guided tours that allow a look behind the scenes of the collections. The archives and museums can thus be experienced not only as a place of learning, but also as a place of work. Together we want to find out what difficulties are involved in setting up and running modern facilities in historical locations, but also what opportunities these places offer.
The excursion is not tied to attending a specific seminar.
Date and location: 29.01.2026, 10:45-16:30
MiQua:forum, Alter Markt 31, 50667 Cologne.
FrauenMediaTurm - Feminist Archive and Library, Am Bayenturm 2, 50678 Cologne.
We will meet at 10.45 a.m. in front of the entrance to the MiQua:forum.
Arrival: The journey to Cologne is to be organized independently; the journey from Siegen train station takes just under 1h 50min by public transport and approx. 1h 10min by car. A Moodle course will be set up to organize possible carpools.
Procedure:
- 10.45 am: Meeting point in front of the entrance to the MiQua:forum. Guided tour of the collection and lecture on the history of its creation.
- 14.15: Meeting point in front of the entrance to the FrauenMediaTurm. Guided tour of the exhibition.
Costs and registration: There is a charge of approx. 5 euros. Please register by e-mail to
bettina.wagener@geschichte.uni-siegen.de
after which you will receive information on payment modalities. Please cancel your participation as soon as possible in the event of illness etc. so that your place can be passed on if necessary.
Number of participants: 20
Written assignment:
Before the excursion: Formulate two questions that you would like to ask during the excursion.
After the excursion: Participate in a forum discussion in Moodle. You must write at least four detailed posts. Respond to the contributions of the other participants and provide your own reflections on the aspects of the collections and exhibitions (origins, difficulties, possibilities, relevance).
Here
you can find the excursions of the History Department since 2023.