State Museum for Prehistory Dresden

From 1954 to 2012 the State Museum exhibited in the Japanese Palace .

The State Museum for Prehistory in Dresden was the prehistoric-archaeological state museum of the Free State of Saxony . It belonged as a department to the State Office for Archeology of Saxony . The Museum presented by early 2012. Parts of his collection in exhibitions at the Japanese Palace in Dresden's Inner Neustadt . On May 16, 2014 it was reopened as the State Museum for Archeology Chemnitz (smac) .

Exhibitions

The State Museum for Prehistory in Dresden has presented finds from Saxon state archeology in numerous changing exhibitions in the Japanese Palace since the 1980s. As it was the only state history museum in the Free State, it covered a period of around 300,000 years. In addition to the presentation of current excavation results, it showed special exhibitions on the prehistory and early history of other European regions. It also designed joint exhibitions with other museums, including foreign ones. The museum's collection, which is housed in the depot building in Dresden- Klotzsche , included hand axes , golden finger rings, the Stone Age woman "Rebekka" found in Dresden- Cotta and the so-called Adonis von Zschernitz , the oldest male clay figure in Europe. In the series “As a guest in the Palais”, modern photography, painting and sculptures were exhibited in the State Museum, including works by Henriette Tomasi . An extensive national archaeological and prehistoric permanent exhibition was not possible due to the structural condition of the Japanese Palace.

Among other things, the following temporary exhibitions could be seen in the Japanese Palace:

• Archaeological research in Saxony, 1984
• City air, millet porridge and beggar monk, 1994
• On the way to the Golden Fleece - Archaeological Finds from Georgia, 1996
• Italy before the Romans - Etruscans, Italians and Greek colonists, 1996
• Frisians, Saxons and Slavs, 1997
• From the air - pictures of our history. Aerial archeology in Central Europe, 1998
• 4 million years of man, 1998
• Mummies for Eternity, 1999
• Stone Age - The Experiment. Life like 5000 years ago, 2007
• Once upon a time ... - Fairy Tales in the Palais, 2007
• The Search - Found in Saxony, 2007
• Flora mythologica - The ancient Greek flora, 2007
• Beauty in Ancient Egypt - Longing for Perfection, 2008
• 900 grams of minced meat. Upper Lusatian silver treasures of the 11th century, 2008
• Showcase archeology. Celts and Teutons on the Elbe, 2009
• Fragments of a legend. White gold from excavations, 2010
• Finds that shouldn't exist. Neolithic fountain in Saxony, 2011

In 2011, the services of the Saxon educational reformer and archaeologist Karl Benjamin Preusker were honored in a special exhibition in the Japanese Palace.

On May 16, 2014, a permanent exhibition was opened in Chemnitz that was completely redesigned. For this purpose, a State Museum for Archeology Chemnitz (smac) was set up in the Schocken department store there , which has emerged from the State Museum. Archeology forms the core of the new museum . In addition, essential aspects of the history of Saxony are presented.

history

The development of the State Museum is closely linked to the history of Saxon archeology and monument preservation. His collection was created from the holdings of various Dresden museums .

Some of the objects in the natural history cabinet set up in the Zwinger in 1728 formed a first cornerstone . They came into this collection through early reports of urn finds and excavations from the 16th century. In the 19th century, most of them were transferred to the Dresden Collection of Antiquities and thus came to the Japanese Palais for the first time. An electoral archaeological collection had been there since 1786, some of which arose from the original cabinet of antiquities in the palace in the Great Garden . In 1853 the archaeological private collection of Karl Benjamin Preusker, acquired by the Kingdom of Saxony , was added. This was the driving force behind the Royal Saxon Association for the Research and Conservation of Patriotic Antiquities ( Saxon Antiquities Association ), founded in 1827 , which has been collecting Bronze Age finds since 1802.

In the Isis Natural Science Society, based in Dresden, there had been a section for prehistoric archeology since 1869. Since 1892 she has exhibited finds in the wall pavilion of the Zwinger, which later also went to the State Museum.

In 1874 the Kgl. Mineralogical and Geological Museum in Dresden under its then director Hanns Bruno Geinitz a "Prehistoric Department". Reasons for their establishment were an accumulation of finds due to the increasing construction activities in Saxony at the time, the museum's own excavations and acquisitions of private collections. Among other things, the prehistorian Gotthard Neumann was employed in this department since 1927 . The independent State Museum for Prehistory emerged from the Prehistoric Department in 1938; the first director was Georg Bierbaum . The museum's permanent collection was located in the Zwinger , while other work and storage rooms were located in the castle . All three museum buildings were destroyed in February 1945 by the Anglo-American air raids on Dresden , and parts of the collection were also lost.

After the Second World War , the State Museum made a fresh start. Werner Coblenz played a key role in its reconstruction . As a result of the administrative reform in the GDR in 1952, tasks and functions of the then State Office for Prehistory were transferred directly to the State Museum on January 1, 1953, which has since been centrally subordinate to the state. In 1954 it took over the ruins of the Japanese Palace and slowly restored it. After the fall of the Wall , the State Museum became part of the newly established State Office for Archeology . In 1997 the depot of the State Museum moved into the gym of the former Air War School I in Klotzsche , which had been converted into a modern high-bay warehouse , and the State Office followed in early 2000. The museum stock is constantly being expanded with new discoveries.

literature

• Werner Coblenz : Development and tasks of the state museum for the prehistory of soil monument preservation in Saxony. In: Dresden Scientific Museums. Dresden, Leipzig 1956, pp. 87-98.
• Werner Coblenz: 100 Years of the Prehistoric State Collection in Dresden. In: Blick ins Museum (special edition) 10/11 1973, pp. 38–47.

Web links

• Homepage of the State Museum for Archeology Chemnitz
• Old website of the State Museum

Individual evidence

1. ↑ smac.sachsen.de ( Memento from July 21, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
2. ↑ archaeologie.sachsen.de
3. ↑ mdr.de: The name of the future state museum is fixed  ( page can no longer be accessed , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
4. ↑ archaeologie.sachsen.de ( Memento from February 2, 2014 in the Internet Archive )

Coordinates: 51 ° 3 ′ 35 ″  N , 13 ° 44 ′ 15 ″  E