Friends of Antiquity on Museum Island Berlin
The Friends of Antiquity Association on Museumsinsel Berlin eV is an association founded in 1997 to promote the Collection of Antiquities and the Berlin Museum of the Near East .
The non-profit association emerged from a merger of the West Berlin support group of the Antikensammlung zu Berlin eV and the East Berlin Friends of the Pergamon Museum Berlin eV The support group was in the tradition of the Association of Friends of Ancient Art , which Theodor Wiegand had founded. The aim of the work of the Friends of the Pergamon Museum was to disseminate the scientific work of the two archaeological collections in the Pergamon Museum to a broad public.
The association supports the Antikensammlung and the Vorderasiatisches Museum with new acquisitions, publication projects, the development of collections and the implementation of exhibitions. In 2018 the association has almost 800 members. From 1997 to 2002 the association published the magazine EOS - Messages for Friends of Antiquity on Museum Island Berlin . However, this publication has been discontinued and since 2003 the association has been appearing in the popular scientific journal Antike Welt, which is published six times a year .
The current board consists chaired by Gereon Sievernich (until January 2018 Director of the Martin-Gropius-Bau ), including the director of the antiquities collection Andreas Scholl and his deputy Martin Maischberger as well as the deputy director of the Near Eastern Museum Lutz Martin and Stephan Berry at .
Chairperson
- 1997–2002 Jürgen-J. Vollhardt
- 2002–2008 Friedrich-Leopold von Stechow
- 2008–2018 Alexander Wichmann
- since 2018 Gereon Sievernich
At the beginning, the association also had a board of trustees under the direction of Norbert Bensel, which also included Helmut Kyrieleis , Hermann Parzinger (then President of the DAI ), Volker Hassemer , Michael Siebler , Antje Vollmer , Karin von Welck and Richard von Weizsäcker .