On the occasion of the 21st Berlin Marathon in 1994, the Berlin Sports Museum, in cooperation with the Forum for Sports History – the association of supporters of the Sports Museum (FoS), organized the first major exhibition on the history of running.

This exhibition, under the programmatic title “QuerStadtein! – From Cross-Country Running to the Berlin Marathon”, took place from September 19 to December 7, 1994, in the Berlin State Archives.

On the last day of this exhibition, at its 9th world congress in Macau, the AIMS (Association of International Marathons and Road Races) appointed the Berlin Sports Museum as the “AIMS Marathon Museum of Running” at the proposal of Horst Milde (race director of the Berlin Marathon/Berlin Half Marathon). This marked the beginning of an international collection and exhibition activity that is currently mainly carried out by the Forum für Sportgeschichte under the patented brand name “Marathoneum”.

Marathoneum

Marathoneum Documents Nr. 1 – Rarities … Photo: Gerd Steins

In 1994, it was not yet possible to publish a catalog of the historical objects on display. A catalog of the 1994 exhibition will be published in the fall of 2025 in a comprehensive volume on the history of the Berlin Sports Museum and the Forum for Sports History. After the end of the 2006 FIFA World Cup, several rooms in the “Haus des Deutschen Sports” (House of German Sports) in the Olympiapark Berlin became available and from November 6, 2006, sports history exhibitions could be shown in the large atrium and the surrounding rooms.

On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of AIMS, we showed the fundamental exhibition “Keep on Running” there from March 2007 as a panel exhibition with German and English labeling. At the same time, an English version of this exhibition, set up by Horst Milde and his Chinese colleagues, was shown at the 16th AIMS World Congress in Xiamen, China, from March 28 to 30.

After that, the exhibition posters were taken to the United States as a traveling exhibition. All pictures and texts of the English-language exhibition about the marathon were published in 2014 and this 44-page brochure entitled “Marathoneum – AIMS Museum of Running at the Berlin Sports Museum” was distributed to all participants at the 20th AIMS World Congress in Durban, South Africa, from May 29 to 31.

This publication is now completely out of print. An extended version of this catalog is so far only available in German; however, it is planned to publish this catalog in English as a pdf document and make it available online, provided we are able to secure the financing for this.

Marathoneum Documents Nr. 3 –  The Dr. David-Martin-Collection – Photo: Horst Milde

In addition to this, the Marathoneum published the “Marathoneum Documents” 1-7 in English in the form of newsletters from 2017, which were handed out to all participants at the AIMS symposia and congresses as printed copies.

Since the printed newsletters are now out of print, we are making them available to the public as a PDF newsletter. In this compilation, only the English-language texts have been summarized. Newsletter 4 is the German-language version of No. 5 and is therefore not reproduced here.

All newsletters are numbered from 1.29 to 1.60 at the top, the page numbers of the individual Marathoneum documents are numbered at the bottom. Gerd Steins is responsible for all texts, images and the layout. Corrections and additions will be processed at his email address Marathoneum@t-online.de.

A new newsletter is planned for fall 2025.

Marathoneum Documents – Nr. 7 – Rarities and acquisitions  part 2 – Photo: Horst Milde

The historical research and work, which is unique in its presentation and summary, has only been possible thanks to AIMS’s annual donations to the Marathoneum. No other sports federation has such a historical summary of its historical development. We are very grateful to the AIMS and its members for this financial support.

Horst Milde (AIMS Museum Coordinator)
Horst-Milde@t-online.de

Gerd Steins (President of the FoS, Curator of the Marathoneum)
Marathoneum@t-online.de

 AIMS – Marathoneum-Newsletter 1-7 – 30.12.2024

 

The YouTube video by Prof. Helmut Winter with Horst Milde about the history of the BERLIN-MARATHON (1974) and the cross-country race on the Teufelsberg (1964):
https://youtu.be/sEGve18Drf8

 

To mark the anniversary, Gerd Steins (President) of the Forum für Sportgeschichte – Fördererverein für das Sportmuseum Berlin is published the BOOK: “Immer wieder Marathon! Horst Milde and the history of the 50-year Berlin Marathon. The volume contains 248 pages, 4 color throughout, in DIN A 4 format. 820 illustrations (photos, graphics, tables, etc.) are printed in it.

Berlin Marathon – 50 Jahre – Cover-BOOK 

„World Athletics is delighted to recognise the outstanding contribution that the city of Berlin and the Berlin Marathon have made to the history and development of international athletics, with the award of the World Athletics Heritage Plaque,“ said World Athletics President Sebastian Coe in a video message.

Video World Athletics President Sebastian Coe