Antikensammlung of the University of Heidelberg

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Antikensammlung of the University of Heidelberg
Museum of Antiquities at Heidelberg University (Martin Rulsch) 2016-10-04 01.jpg

University of Heidelberg Antiquities Collection, October 2016
Data
place Heidelberg
Art
Archaeological collection
opening 1848
management
Website
ISIL DE-MUS-203912

The Antiquities Collection of the University of Heidelberg (formerly the Museum of Antiquities and Castings Collection of the University of Heidelberg ) is an institution of the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg . It combines the collection of ancient cabaret and the cast collection of the Institute for Classical Archeology and Byzantine Archeology (until 2004: Archaeological Institute ; then until 2019 Institute for Classical Archeology ). In total, it comprises almost 9,000 originals of various types ( ceramic , terracotta , metal and stone objects), around 1,200 large-format casts of ancient statues, reliefs, busts and portraits as well as around 14,400 small casts (mainly gems and coins). It thus fulfills the functions of a teaching collection for studying classical archeology , a research collection for archaeologists and art historians and a museum of antiquities for the public.

History of the collections

Prehistory and foundation of the teaching collection

When Friedrich Creuzer first offered archaeological courses at Heidelberg University at the beginning of the 19th century, no archaeological collection existed. On the occasion of Creuzer's 30th anniversary as a professor, in 1834 his friends and admirers of the university donated a small collection of ancient cabaret, mainly plaster casts of coins and gems . Creuzer gave this so-called "Antiquarium Creuzerianum" into the care of the university library, where it was placed in a cupboard in 1835. The Antiquarium Creuzerianum thus formed the basis of the archaeological collections, together with the so-called "Lapidarium", a small inventory of local Roman architectural fragments, inscription stones and small finds from the holdings of the Electoral Palatinate collections.

The year 1848 can be considered to be the actual founding year of the Antikensammlung. At that time, Creuzer's successor, Karl Zell (professor in Heidelberg 1847–1855), got the Antiquarium into its own room in the university library. In addition, he personally took over the administration of the holdings, for which the senior librarian had previously been responsible. In 1852 the collection was expanded to a second room after Zell had significantly expanded it - also through acquisitions. Among other things, during the years of his teaching activity he acquired a collection of gem casts from the estate of Joseph Anselm Feuerbach .

Expansion of the collection under Stark and von Duhn (1855–1920)

Zell's successor, Karl Bernhard Stark (professor in Heidelberg 1855–1879) also tried to expand the archaeological collections. One of his most important acquisitions was the collection of Friedrich Thiersch , from whose estate a large number of antique vases, terracottas and bronzes were auctioned in 1860. The fact that the Heidelberg professors from 1865 onwards donated part of their fee for public lectures for new archaeological acquisitions also contributed to the successive expansion of the collection. The reorganization of the philological seminar by Hermann Köchly (1865) meant that Stark was no longer involved in the management of the philological seminar as before. Thereupon, in the spring of 1866, he applied for the establishment of an archaeological institute with its own regular budget and a kind of curriculum for the training of archaeologists. With the approval of this institute in October 1866, the position of archeology as an independent subject was strengthened. In 1870 the Archaeological Institute moved its original collection to its own premises at Augustinergasse 7.

After Stark's untimely death (1879), his successor Friedrich von Duhn (professor in Heidelberg from 1880 to 1920) vigorously continued his efforts to professionalize archeology and brought the archaeological institute and the collection of antiquities to a great reputation. The original and cast collection was enlarged through acquisitions, but also through donations from private individuals and institutions (for example, his former student Paul Hartwig , who donated around 300 antique vases and terracottas in 1897). The considerable expansion of the collections can be seen in the catalog of plaster casts, which Duhn published for the first time in 1887 and which saw five further editions; the sixth edition (1913) had more than double the number of pages of the first edition, the number of plaster casts had grown from 475 to over 700. Von Duhn took this growth into account by trying to find new premises. In 1882 the collection of antiquities was expanded into the house at Schulgasse 2, which is adjacent to the institute. In 1886, the area was expanded by the installation of a skylight hall (the so-called “Parthenon Hall”), which was primarily used to set up plaster casts of the Parthenon sculptures . In 1904, the institute's workrooms were spun off from the building, which created more space for the collections. Most of the archaeological collections go back to von Duhn's acquisitions; Many of his acquisitions could not be displayed for reasons of space and were stored, for example the casts of the Tropaeum Traiani near Adamclisi ( Romania ), which were commissioned and acquired in 1918 , which were only installed in the hayloft at the stables in 1965 .

Development since 1920 and expansion into an antiquities museum

Under von Duhn's successors Ludwig Curtius (professor in Heidelberg 1920–1928) and Arnold von Salis (professor in Heidelberg 1929–1940) the antiquity museum was not significantly expanded. In 1929 the Archaeological Institute and the original collection moved to the “Weinbrennerbau” near the Marstall, but most of the cast collection remained in the old rooms until 1971 (Augustinergasse 7 / Schulgasse 2). More and more plaster casts were put into storage, especially after Professor Eugen Fehrle set up a " folklore teaching show" in the rooms of the cast collection, and many of them were damaged or destroyed in the process. During the Second World War and in the post-war period, Reinhard Herbig (Professor in Heidelberg 1941–1956) headed the Archaeological Institute and the collections, the 100th anniversary of which was celebrated with great effort in 1948: the assistant Bernhard Neutsch organized the special exhibition ( The world of the Greeks in the picture of the originals from the Heidelberg University Collection), which was framed by guest lectures by high-ranking experts, publications and an elaborate ceremony in the university auditorium.

This Proto-Corinthian oinochoe (approx. 630 BC; inventory number 69/4 ) was acquired by Roland Hampe for the Museum of Antiquities.

The chair holder and institute director Roland Hampe (professor in Heidelberg 1957–1975) made decisive contributions to the development and promotion of the Heidelberg archaeological collections, which developed from a teaching collection to a full-fledged antiquities museum under Hampe's aegis. He created several new positions, including a restorer position (1961) and a conservator position (1963, as an academic council position ) for the antiquities museum . The first conservator of the Antikenmuseum was Hildegund Gropengiesser from 1962 to 1992 , her successor has been Hermann Pflug since 1993 . Hampe took a systematic approach to the acquisition policy for new collection objects in order to close gaps in archaeological teaching and to make the antiquities museum more attractive to the public. In line with his research interests, Hampe also included the marginal areas of antiquity, for example the Aegean Bronze Age . He acquired several Boeotian bronze fibulae, which were among the most interesting objects in the collection. The establishment of the ceramic collection at that time also reflected Hampe's collaboration with the sculptor, ceramist and experimental archaeologist Adam Winter , with whom he empirically and experimentally investigated the technical conditions of ceramic production in the 1960s.

Since 1966 the archaeological institute and the collection of ancient cabaret have been housed in the new collegiate building on Marstallhof (which replaced the wine distillery). The cast collection followed in the completed building by 1974. Under Hampe's successor Tonio Hölscher (professor in Heidelberg 1975–2010) the cataloging of the collection was continued. Six catalogs of the original collection were published in his time. In addition, new permanent exhibitions were set up with the bronze cabinet on the ground floor (1987) and the Schliemann exhibition in the roof foyer (1990).

Holdings and exhibition

The permanent exhibition of the Antikensammlung offers a broad overview of the ancient cultures of the Mediterranean from the 3rd millennium BC. Until the Roman Empire . Her focus is on ancient cabaret: this includes above all painted Greek and Etruscan vases as well as clay vessels, figures, lamps and reliefs from Greece, Italy, Cyprus and the Middle East, as well as bronze objects and architectural elements. In addition, there are replicas (electroplating) of famous finds from Mycenae, around 900 original finds from Troy (so-called Troy doublets) and the Greek coins that are administered by the Heidelberg Center for Ancient Numismatics. The plaster casts include important sculptures from the Greek Archaic period to the Roman Empire; all objects will be stored on the ground floor until the renovation work is complete.

Originals

Important pieces in the collection:

Casts

Collection of casts, view of the east hall
Collection of casts, view of the east hall
Collection of casts, view of the west hall
Cast in the entrance area of ​​the college building at the Marstall.

With around 15,600 exhibits, the cast collection of Heidelberg University is one of the largest university collections of plaster casts of ancient sculptures. It includes around 1,200 replicas of statues, portraits and reliefs from the Archaic Greek period to the Roman Empire; In addition, there are a large number of small-format casts of gems, terra sigillata and coins (approx. 14,400) as well as impressions of Minoan and Mycenaean seals (approx. 12,000, see also the corpus of the Minoan and Mycenaean seals ). The variable exhibition can be adapted to the requirements of archaeological studies by being arranged according to different chronological and thematic focuses. Originally placed in the rooms of the university library, it was transferred together with the original collection to the premises of the Archaeological Institute at Augustinergasse 7 in 1870, where it remained after the institute and original collection moved to the Weinbrennerbau (1929). Arnold von Salis and Reinhard Herbig, despite their violent protests, could not prevent large parts of the cast collection from being stored under adverse conditions from 1935 to 1945. In the 1960s and 1970s, the cast collection then moved in several stages to new rooms at the Marstall and in 1974 was housed in the New Collegiate Building, where it was exhibited until October 2016. In the course of the general renovation of the college building, the cast collection will be stored from October 2016 until probably 2022.

The forerunner of the cast collection, the Antiquarium Creuzerianum, had 850 casts of ancient coins. Under Karl Zell, additional objects were added through acquisitions, including heads, busts, smaller reliefs and statuettes. The systematic expansion of the cast collection continued under Karl Bernhard Stark with a fixed budget for acquisitions (1862), the establishment of the Archaeological Institute (1866) and the move to the institute's own rooms (1870).

Stark's successor Friedrich von Duhn found a collection “in which Hellenistic and Roman art was fairly well represented; The beginnings of Greek art, on the other hand, as well as its further development and its peak in the fifth and fourth centuries, could only be presented in a few very isolated and insignificant samples; an expansion was practically impossible in terms of space, movement in the collection rooms was dangerous, both for casts and for spectators, the installation was of course not in accordance with either aesthetic or historical aspects. "

In the course of the systematisation and reorganization of the archaeological studies in Heidelberg, von Duhn resolved and also managed to collect a wide range of illustrative material for academic teaching. In 1886, for example, he acquired 64 casts of the Parthenon of the Athens Acropolis based on originals in the possession of the British Museum , including 21 figures from the east and west pediments , eight metope panels , 34 panels from the frieze and a lion's head gargoyle. This made it possible to study the architectural decoration in a larger context, not just selected architectural details. These plaster casts were set up in 1886, for the 500th anniversary of Heidelberg University, in a specially built skylight hall, the so-called "Parthenon Hall".

In 1887, von Duhn published the first catalog of the cast collection, the short list of casts based on ancient sculptures in the archaeological institute of Heidelberg University , which had five new editions by 1913. During this time the number of plaster casts grew from 475 to over 700; In addition, there were small-format works, such as a copy from Tommaso Cades' Dactyliothek (from 1836), which Baron Alexander von Bernus gave to the Archaeological Institute initially as a loan and in 1903 as a gift.

However, the spatial equipment did not keep pace with this increase, so that the casts were placed ever closer together. Von Duhn's efforts to find additional space for the collection of casts were unsuccessful. From 1936 to 1947 the cast collection was moved to the basement of the New University . The installation situation only improved under the director of the institute, Roland Hampe, after the original collection and the cast collection were merged in the new college building at Marstallhof. In this context, the holdings were restored and increasingly presented to the public. As early as 1965, the casts of the Tropaeum Traiani from Adamclisi , which Friedrich von Duhn acquired in 1918, were exhibited in the barn at the Marstall, which had been converted into a lecture hall. The western part of the new college building at the Marstall, which was completed in 1966 and housed the antiquities museum and part of the cast collection, was inaugurated in 1969. In 1971 the east hall followed, into which further exhibits from the cast collection moved in 1974. Since then, the cast collection has been presented for over four decades on the ground floor of the New College Building and in the stairwells. From the 1990s onwards, the collection of casts was mainly supplemented by antique portraits. Public relations also came more into the focus of the institute management, so that they organized exhibitions in regular succession, both with their own and with third-party collections. Among other things, the traveling exhibition Colorful Gods - The Colors of Ancient Sculpture was exhibited in the Museum of Antiquities from 2011 to 2012 .

In the 20th century, too, the cast collection grew several times. In 1950, 39 casts from the Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe, which was largely destroyed during the war, came to Heidelberg on permanent loan, and in 1969 a further 35 casts from the destroyed collection of the Reiss Museum in Mannheim. After the archaeological seminar of the University of Mannheim was closed (2002), Professor Reinhard Stupperich, who had been transferred to Heidelberg, transferred the teaching collection of the seminar with numerous casts and originals to Heidelberg.

Coin collection

The collection of Greek and Roman coins goes back to the early days of the antique collection, to Creuzer's private collection. This has been expanded over the years through acquisitions, so that the coin collection now numbers around 5,000 pieces. The Roman coins were given to the Department of Ancient History and Epigraphy in 1957, while the smaller holdings of Greek coins remained with the Museum of Antiquities. The Heidelberg Center for Ancient Numismatics, which has set up a “Digital Coin Cabinet” (IKMK) for cataloging and presenting the holdings, is responsible for the care of the entire coin holdings.

staff

Directors

Curators

literature

Collection catalogs

Publications about the collections

  • Hildegund Gropengiesser, Roland Hampe: From the collection of the Archaeological Institute of Heidelberg University . Berlin / Heidelberg / New York 1967 ( digitized version )
  • Nicolas Zenzen (editor): Objects tell story (s). 150 years of the Institute for Classical Archeology . Heidelberg 2016, ISBN 978-3-00-054315-9

Web links

Commons : Antikenmuseum der Universität Heidelberg  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Victoria Klein: 1876–1886: plaster casts in a growing institute . In: Nicolas Zenzen (editor): Objects tell stories. 150 years of the Institute for Classical Archeology . Heidelberg 2016, ISBN 978-3-00-054315-9 , pp. 144–153, here 151.
  2. ↑ Ellen Suchezky: The plaster cast collection based on antiquities at the University of Heidelberg . In: Nicolas Zenzen (editor): Objects tell stories. 150 years of the Institute for Classical Archeology . Heidelberg 2016, ISBN 978-3-00-054315-9 , pp. 77-96, here p. 77.
  3. ↑ Ellen Suchezky: The plaster cast collection based on antiquities at the University of Heidelberg . In: Nicolas Zenzen (editor): Objects tell stories. 150 years of the Institute for Classical Archeology . Heidelberg 2016, ISBN 978-3-00-054315-9 , pp. 77-96, here p. 86.
  4. ↑ Ellen Suchezky: The plaster cast collection based on antiquities at the University of Heidelberg . In: Nicolas Zenzen (editor): Objects tell stories. 150 years of the Institute for Classical Archeology . Heidelberg 2016, ISBN 978-3-00-054315-9 , pp. 77–96, here pp. 87–92.
  5. ↑ Miriam Mann: The time before 1866: "Anticaglien" and the beginnings of classical archeology in Heidelberg . In: Nicolas Zenzen (editor): Objects tell stories. 150 years of the Institute for Classical Archeology . Heidelberg 2016, ISBN 978-3-00-054315-9 , pp. 122–132, here 125–129.
  6. ↑ Ellen Suchezky: The plaster cast collection based on antiquities at the University of Heidelberg . In: Nicolas Zenzen (editor): Objects tell stories. 150 years of the Institute for Classical Archeology . Heidelberg 2016, ISBN 978-3-00-054315-9 , pp. 77-96, here p. 78 f.
  7. ↑ Victoria Klein: 1876–1886: plaster casts in a growing institute . In: Nicolas Zenzen (editor): Objects tell stories. 150 years of the Institute for Classical Archeology . Heidelberg 2016, ISBN 978-3-00-054315-9 , pp. 144–153, here 146.
  8. ^ Friedrich von Duhn: Short list of the casts based on ancient sculptures in the archaeological institute of Heidelberg University . 4th edition, Heidelberg 1902, p. 5 f.
  9. ↑ Victoria Klein: 1876–1886: plaster casts in a growing institute . In: Nicolas Zenzen (editor): Objects tell stories. 150 years of the Institute for Classical Archeology . Heidelberg 2016, ISBN 978-3-00-054315-9 , pp. 144–153, here 147.
  10. ↑ Victoria Klein: 1876–1886: plaster casts in a growing institute . In: Nicolas Zenzen (editor): Objects tell stories. 150 years of the Institute for Classical Archeology . Heidelberg 2016, ISBN 978-3-00-054315-9 , pp. 144–153, here 151.
  11. ↑ Miriam Mann: The time before 1866: "Anticaglien" and the beginnings of classical archeology in Heidelberg . In: Nicolas Zenzen (editor): Objects tell stories. 150 years of the Institute for Classical Archeology . Heidelberg 2016, ISBN 978-3-00-054315-9 , pp. 122–132, here 129 f.
  12. ↑ Rebecca Mann: 1956–1966: Ancient technology and modern experiments . In: Nicolas Zenzen (editor): Objects tell stories. 150 years of the Institute for Classical Archeology . Heidelberg 2016, ISBN 978-3-00-054315-9 , pp. 230-239, here 232 f.
  13. ↑ Ellen Suchezky: The plaster cast collection based on antiquities at the University of Heidelberg . In: Nicolas Zenzen (editor): Objects tell stories. 150 years of the Institute for Classical Archeology . Heidelberg 2016, ISBN 978-3-00-054315-9 , pp. 77-96, here p. 93.
  14. ↑ Interactive catalog of the Münzkabinett

Coordinates: 49 ° 24 ′ 44.9 "  N , 8 ° 42 ′ 16.4"  E