Louise Flierl Mission Museum
Ethnography Art History Colonial History Comparative Religion World Religions Museum Studies Missionary History Papua New Guinea Studies
Louise Flierl Mission Museum: Art, Culture & Faith in Papua New Guinea (2001, 64 pp., illustrated) is the only English-language guide to one of the South Pacific’s most intriguing small museums. Author Christel Metzner, longtime curator of the collection, walks readers through the exhibits that Lutheran missionary Louise Flierl amassed between 1885 and 1937—hand-carved ancestor figures, shell-inlaid shields, bark-cloth ritual garments, and early German Bibles translated into Kâte. Each artifact is photographed in color and placed in its tribal context, letting buyers see exactly how Papuan art, comparative religion, and colonial history intersect in a single museum hall.
What makes this softcover special for collectors and educators alike is the comparative-religion lens: Metzner juxtaposes Melanesian spirit-house icons with the Christian symbols Flierl introduced, showing how both sides adapted without erasing the other. The result is a concise but rich reference that high-school and adult readers can use for world-religion projects, homeschool geography lessons, or ethnographic research. Tight binding, clean unmarked pages, and no dog-ears mean the book sits confidently on both the classroom desk and the antiquarian shelf.
Because the Louise Flierl Mission Museum is almost unknown outside Germany, this 2001 illustrated edition is already scarce online. Securing a very-good copy now gives you a conversation-starting volume on Papuan art, missionary history, and cross-cultural exchange—perfect for the armchair traveler, museum buff, or anyone building a specialized South-Pacific library.
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