The coronavirus pandemic heads to museums

"Stay at home" is what this sign says. It's a motto the entire world has taken to heart. As a way for later generations to recall the peculiar everyday life during the COVID-19 pandemic, museums both large and small across Germany are calling on citizens to collect such objects and pass them on to the museums. The Fichtelgebirge Museum in Wunsiedel, Bavaria was given this particular sign.

All over cities, you'll discover carelessly discarded rubber gloves lying around, after people have worn them while grocery shopping, for instance. The coronavirus pandemic has resulted in an increase of plastic waste. People are buying more packaged products in supermarkets, and since people cannot sit down in a café to drink a cup of coffee, disposable cups abound.

"Stay healthy": this is how people are now ending their telephone calls or e-mails. In many ways, the coronavirus pandemic seems to have created a new wave of solidarity and empathy. Social cohesion has increased, and people are taking more care of each other again.

There are no tourists wandering around cities anymore. Here, Marienplatz in Munich is completely deserted. The Münchener Stadtmuseum (Munich City Museum) commissioned photographer Olaf Otto Becker to photograph the state of emergency. His photos are "exhibited" on the museum's homepage.

These sorts of drive-in stations are currently being set up all over Germany, such as at the Theresienwiese in Munich, where Oktoberfest traditionally takes place in the autumn. The procedure here is similar to going to a fast food restaurant — with one small difference: instead of biting into a Big Mac, drivers open their mouths to have a doctor in protective clothing take a smear.

The coronavirus pandemic has triggered great uncertainty everywhere, but it can also prompt creative potential. This self-made device that marks safe physical distance will be part of the Corona Collection Project at the Wien Museum (Vienna Museum).

The director of the Wien Museum, Matti Benzl, is particularly pleased that this crocheted coronavirus replica will soon be showcased in his building. It not only roughly depicts what the novel virus looks like, he says, but also shows how people are trying to banish its danger.

The new reality in times of the current pandemic is not only characterized by industrially manufactured masks such as this one worn by Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz; due to shortages around the world, even fashion chains have been producing masks made of precious fabrics.