Berlin sculpture network

The Berlin Sculpture Network - Contextualization and Translation of Ancient Sculpture is a cooperation project between the Antikensammlung der Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (SMB) and the Free University of Berlin (FU). During its three-year term, it was funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research as part of the “Translation Function of the Humanities” initiative.

History and structure of the Berlin sculpture network

The aim of the project is to digitally record and republish the previously insufficiently researched ancient sculptures in the Berlin Collection of Antiquities (around 2,600 objects, with all fragments around 4,400) as well as the modern plaster casts based on ancient plastic (around 3,428 objects) in the collections of the State Museums, the cast Collection of the Institute for Classical Archeology at the Free University of Berlin and the Winckelmann Institute at the Humboldt University of Berlin . The main scientific questions were aimed at a historically differentiated reconstruction of the ancient contexts of the sculptures and the creation of spatial, functional and content-related connections. For this purpose, the associated archive material and the current excavation data should also be recorded and merged. This work was carried out with the support of more than a hundred experts from Germany and abroad, including many young scientists.

The Berlin Collection of Antiquities houses the largest collection of Greek, Cypriot, Etruscan and Roman art in Germany and is one of the most important museums of antiquity in the world. The collection began under the Brandenburg electors in the 17th century and was expanded significantly in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, primarily through the large excavations of the German Empire in Asia Minor. Its public presentation and scientific cataloging, however, mainly due to the two world wars and the division of Germany, always lagged far behind the importance of the museum and could only now, in the age of electronic data processing, be tackled with the prospect of completeness and easy accessibility become.

As early as 2011, the bronzes in the Antikensammlung (8,277 individual objects, including war losses) were made accessible in the online database " Antique Bronzes in Berlin ". Between 2009 and 2012, within the framework of the “Berlin Sculpture Network”, all Greek, Cypriot, Etruscan and Roman sculptures in stone and the few large bronzes - including the war losses and the sculptures in Potsdam - were completely reworked. This is the first time that a complete inventory catalog of ancient sculptures was created, which has been available online in the Arachne database since July 2013 .

Around 2,600 works of art from the holdings of the Berlin Collection of Antiquities have been documented with new photographs in several views as well as partly with historical photographs and restoration maps. Numerous sculptures were photographed for the first time. Over a hundred scientists have re-presented the sculptures in detailed texts. Particular attention was paid to researching the contexts, which in many cases could be re-opened through an intensive study of the archive material. Both the original installation context and the post-ancient history of the impact of the sculptures were examined in detail. Especially to the sculptures from Pergamon and Magnesia on the Meander the excavation documentation was systematically reviewed. The detailed scientific texts retain the character of a traditional catalog of sculptures; The online publication also combines various advantages of electronic media: Texts and images of the individual works of art are related to comparative pieces and reproductions, to architectural and topographical contexts. Multi-part monuments in particular experience the best possible representation, as even smaller, often unpublished fragments are linked to one another. This gives the user a wide range of opportunities to tap into the Berlin sculptures.

The first findings of the extensive research were presented to the general public in 2011/12 as part of the exhibition Pergamon - Panorama of the Ancient Metropolis in the Pergamon Museum . The combination of the archaeological exhibition and the new monumental 360-degree Pergamon Panorama by the Berlin artist Yadegar Asisi , which was realized here for the first time, was unique . The large number of sculptures from the excavations in the Hellenistic royal seat that came to Berlin at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century seemed to be ideally suited to give visitors an insight into the work of the network.

In cooperation with the Institute for Classical Archeology at the Free University of Berlin, all casts based on antiquities in Berlin were documented and made accessible via the Arachne database.

A long-term goal of the Berlin Sculpture Network is to connect the Berlin collections and institutions with each other, to network scientists with one another, to develop new methods and questions and to make them publicly accessible.

partner

Other network partners are (alphabetical order):

• German Archaeological Institute , Headquarters Berlin
• German Archaeological Institute, Istanbul Department
• Cluster of Excellence Topoi
• Free University of Berlin , Institute for Classical Archeology
• Humboldt University of Berlin , Winckelmann Institute for Classical Archeology
• Konrad Zuse Center for Information Technology Berlin
• Chair of Representation at the Brandenburg Technical University Cottbus
• Lenné3D GmbH
• Plaster molding of the State Museums in Berlin
• Institute for Museum Research at the National Museums in Berlin
• University of Cologne , Archaeological Institute (work center for digital archeology) with the object and image database Arachne

literature

• Astrid Fendt, Mathias Hofter : The “Berlin Sculpture Network” - a current major research project. New investigations into the sculpture inventory of the Antikensammlung. In: Antike Welt 2011, 1, 31–33 ( full text ).
• Michael Remmy: The Berlin Sculpture Network . Contextualization and translation of ancient sculpture. In: Kölner and Bonner Archaeologica 1, 2011, 191–193.

supporting documents

1. ↑ Antique bronzes in Berlin
2. ↑ General catalog of the sculptures in the Antikensammlung of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin ( Memento of the original from September 6, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. at Arachne.  
3. ↑ Announcement ( Memento of the original from February 1, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. and website of the exhibition.  
4. ↑ Casts of the Free University of Berlin ( Memento of the original from September 10, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. at Arachne.