History of the Collection
The extensive collection of dyes was founded by Prof. Stein, who taught as the first chemist at the "Königliche Reichsanstalt Dresden" from 1850 to 1880. He added numerous natural dyes from his extensive travels the collection.
In 1880, Prof. Dr. Richard Möhlau founded the Institute of dye chemistry and dying techniques. He led the institute until 1909 and collected most of the oldest tar dye samples.
In 1913, Prof. Dr. Walter König succeeded Prof. Dr. Hans Bucherer as head of the institute and drafted the exhibition rooms for the collection in the planning phase of today's "Neubau Chemie". The interior design was adopted in 1926, when the chemistry building was expanded. The collection grew substantially under the responsibility of Prof. König, who led the institute for decades till 1957. Besides the collection of dyes and pattern cards, many master's and doctoral theses document the outstanding position of the institute until 1945. To systematise the dyes, the Schultz system was implemented in the 1920s, since the dye producers named their products with their own respective trade names.
Later, Prof. Dr. Bodo Hirsch supervised the collection as a Professor for special areas of dye chemistry, participating in the repair of war damages. At that time, the dyes were catalogued according to a colour index which is still valid. The institute for dye chemistry and textile chemistry was divided in 1957. Four years later, the field of dye chemistry was incorporated into the institute of organic chemistry supervised by Prof. Dr. Roland Mayer.