The myth of Olympia - cult and games in antiquity

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Myth Olympia - cult and games in antiquity (international English title: Olympia: Myth - Cult - Games ) was an exhibition that took place from August 31, 2012 to January 7, 2013 in the Martin-Gropius-Bau in Berlin . In spring 2013 the exhibition was shown in Doha and in autumn 2013 in the National Museum in Athens .

Content

The exhibition shows artifacts of the ancient sanctuary of Olympia , the cults there and the competitions . The exhibition is divided into three areas:

  1. The sanctuary: The
    focus of the exhibition is on the reconstructions of the gables of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia in the atrium of the Martin-Gropius-Bau. The 30 meter long casts of the originals came to Berlin through contracts between the German excavators and the Greek authorities after their discovery, as it was contractually regulated from the start that apart from duplicates, all originals should remain in Greece and thus differently than at the time At that time it was not customary to return to the home of the excavators. Furthermore, many consecration offerings are shown, some of them come from excavations in recent years and are being presented to a broad public for the first time. Pilgrims donated some rare animal and human figures to Zeus. Individual pieces belong to the earliest artistic evidence of Greek culture.
  2. The modern exploration of Olympia:
    In the second section, the exploration of Olympia is presented. This area is dealt with more intensively than ever before in such an environment. This is where the rediscovery of Olympia by French researchers began in 1829, with the focus, of course, on the German excavations in the 19th century and again since 1936. Finds from the three major excavation periods are compared with the technical results of the excavation methods: sectional drawings , find documentation and prospecting .
  3. The Olympic Games of Antiquity :
    In this section, the various disciplines of the light- and heavy events presented. The portraits of the Olympians , the winners of the ancient games, are also discussed. They are considered fundamental portraits for the development of the image of man up to the present day.

The exhibition shows different forms of ancient art, in particular sculptures , bronzes, terracottas and vases. Outstanding individual pieces include the Dioskobol by the sculptor Myron from Rome or the Corritrice Barberini from the Vatican.

organization

Mythos Olympia takes place at the instigation of the Greek Culture Foundation in Berlin of the Greek Ministry of Culture and is carried out by the Berlin Festival . They are supported by the German Archaeological Institute and the Martin-Gropius-Bau. The patronage is the Greek President Karolos Papoulias and Federal President Joachim Gauck .

The Antikensammlung of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin is represented with a large number of loans and acts as a co-organizer. Other lenders and partners involved in the organization are the National Archaeological Museum of Athens , the Archaeological Museum of Olympia and the Athens Numismatic Museum . In total, more than 500 exhibits come from Greece. The exhibition was financially made possible by the Hauptstadtkulturfonds and the Sparkassen-Kulturfonds , the John S. Latsis Public Benefit Foundation Athens and the AG Leventis Foundation made further funding available. Individual loans came from the Vatican Museums , the Louvre , the Museo Nazionale Romano , the Dresden Sculpture Collection and the Glyptothek and the Munich State Collection of Antiquities .

The exhibition has ten media partners from the fields of radio and television, cinema, daily press and other regular publications.

Accompanying program

The exhibition is supported by a wide-ranging accompanying program. In addition to the general educational and supporting program, a public lecture is held every month in the cinema hall of the Martin-Gropius-Bau:

The MGB student university is organized in cooperation with the German Archaeological Institute . After an introductory lecture, the students are guided through the exhibition:

  • September: Norbert Benecke : Animal bones from excavations tell history
  • October: Karl-Uwe Heussner : Wood finds - Archives for age determination and environmental history
  • November: Julia Gresky : Murder or Illness? - Studies on human skeletons from archaeological excavations
  • December: Reinder Neef : excavated remains of plants - but that goes all?

On the first Sunday of every month there are workshops for children and young people, further workshops during the holidays. The educational program was made possible by the Friede Springer Foundation .

Publications

Even the preparation of the exhibition was accompanied by journalism. Hans-Joachim Gehrke and Wolf-Dieter Heilmeyer published with Olympia - antique and modern. Concept of an exhibition a brochure in which the concept of the exhibition was presented, which already contained the basic concept of the later concept. The exhibition catalog with the same title as the exhibition itself was published in 2012 by Prestel Verlag.

reception

The Berliner Zeitung praises the exhibition as a “great narrative of religious passion and cultic enthusiasm for the competition”.

Thomas Bach from the DOSB left the following comment in the visitor's book: “Anyone looking at the precious originals in Berlin's Martin-Gropius-Bau will probably find more than one reason to pause for a few moments: because such an exhibition is possible with loans from all major European museums is and because culture and sport connect people and peoples - especially in times of great challenges. I recommend this exhibition to all sports enthusiasts. "

Die Zeit expressed itself critically: "It is beautiful and expensive, but a Berlin Olympic exhibition does not build a bridge to the present and suppresses the Nazi past of archeology and sports." however, this discussion completely bypasses the claim of this exhibition, which explicitly deals with the Olympic Games of antiquity. The Germany radio , however, commented: "Actually, a part of the exhibition about the modern Olympic Games and its political conception should be the grand finale of the Olympic exhibition in the Gropius-Bau."

Further reviews of the exhibition appeared in the FAZ and the world .

The Emirate of Qatar had paid a large part of the costs for the exhibition. This should also support your own Olympic application for 2020. It is criticized that the emirate of Qatar therefore exerted influence on the design and content of the exhibition and that critical considerations on the Olympic Games in modern times were omitted.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ RBB television
  2. ↑ Deutsche Welle  ( page no longer available , 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. dated August 31, 2012@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.dw.de  
  3. ↑ Berliner Zeitung
  4. ^ DOSB
  5. ↑ time
  6. ↑ Deutschlandradio
  7. ^ FAZ of September 3, 2012.
  8. ^ Welt of September 3, 2012.
  9. ↑ Berlin exhibition “Myth Olympia”: Where the spirit comes from in the daily newspaper from September 3, 2012; Inforadio ( Memento of the original from October 12, 2012 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. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.inforadio.de