Dusseldorf Marketing & Tourism GmbH sent over word about the opening of the biggest Elvis Presley Museum Outside of the United States. Here is the official word: A new museum housing one of the world's largest private collections of Elvis Presley memorabilia, and the largest outside of the US, is now open to the public and offers new insights into his professional and private life with pieces that have never before been shown in public.
The museum is a new attraction in Düsseldorf's center, the historic Old Town, home to several world-class museums and the "longest bar in the world" (260 bars, pubs, and breweries in under a mile).
The extensive collection sheds new light on the artist's career during the 1940s-70s, with more than 1,800 original pieces and documents, among them his first order for a single and his transfer papers from Sun Records to RCA Victor at a fee of $40,000, an astonishing amount at the time and a move that contributed to his becoming a superstar.
The exhibit also illuminates little-known aspects of his inner life, such as his humor, faith, and intellect, and offers signs and explanations of his personal development in visual arts and spirituality. Examples include personal notes he made in his favorite book The Prophet, by the philosopher Khalil Gibran, as well as his mother's journal entries and the personal appointment book he kept in 1959 in Bad Nauheim, Germany.
The museum owns a great deal of memorabilia from the time Presley spent in Germany, serving in the army from 1958-60, including items Presley left behind when he returned to the US in 1960, such as jewelry, furniture, clothing, and other home and personal objects. The records he had shipped to himself from the US to Germany, for example, reveal his personal taste in music at the time, and documents and letters from those years reveal his thoughts and emotions.
The exhibit also includes 2,000 original photographs that show stations of Presley's entire life, and even includes his last hand-written letter from August 15, 1977. Various aspects of his life will be highlighted with changing configurations and showcases of this extensive collection.
The museum is another reason to visit Düsseldorf, and the city's tourism offers hotel and travel specials for Presley fans. For more information, see the travel offers page on www.visitduesseldorf.de
For more information on the new Elvis Presley Museum in Düsseldorf and exhibit hours, visit www.elvis-duesseldorf.de
