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The Antikensammlung Berlin (Berlin
antiquities Antiquities are objects from antiquity, especially the civilizations of the Mediterranean: the Classical antiquity of Greece and Rome, Ancient Egypt and the other Ancient Near Eastern cultures. Artifacts from earlier periods such as the Meso ...
collection) is one of the most important collections of classical art in the world, now held in the
Altes Museum The Altes Museum (English: ''Old Museum'') is a listed building on the Museum Island in the historic centre of Berlin. Built from 1825 to 1830 by order of King Frederick William III of Prussia according to plans by Karl Friedrich Schinkel, it ...
and
Pergamon Museum The Pergamon Museum (; ) is a listed building on the Museum Island in the historic centre of Berlin. It was built from 1910 to 1930 by order of German Emperor Wilhelm II according to plans by Alfred Messel and Ludwig Hoffmann in Stripped C ...
in
Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...
,
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...
. It contains thousands of ancient archaeological artefacts from the ancient Greek, Roman, Etruscan and Cypriot civilizations. Its main attraction is the
Pergamon Altar The Pergamon Altar () was a monumental construction built during the reign of the Ancient Greek King Eumenes II in the first half of the 2nd century BC on one of the terraces of the acropolis of Pergamon in Asia Minor. The structure was 35.64 ...
and Greek and Roman architectural elements from Priene, Magnesia,
Baalbek Baalbek (; ar, بَعْلَبَكّ, Baʿlabakk, Syriac-Aramaic: ܒܥܠܒܟ) is a city located east of the Litani River in Lebanon's Beqaa Valley, about northeast of Beirut. It is the capital of Baalbek-Hermel Governorate. In Greek and Roman ...
and
Falerii Falerii (now Fabrica di Roma) was a city in southern Etruria, 50 km (31 mi) northeast of Rome, 34 km (21 mi) from Veii (a major Etruscan city-state near the River Tiber) and about 1.5 km (0.9 mi) west of the ancient Via Flaminia. It was the main ...
. In addition, the collection includes a large number of ancient sculptures, vases, terracottas, bronzes,
sarcophagi A sarcophagus (plural sarcophagi or sarcophaguses) is a box-like funeral receptacle for a corpse, most commonly carved in stone, and usually displayed above ground, though it may also be buried. The word ''sarcophagus'' comes from the Greek ...
,
engraved gems An engraved gem, frequently referred to as an intaglio, is a small and usually semi-precious gemstone that has been carved, in the Western tradition normally with images or inscriptions only on one face. The engraving of gemstones was a major lux ...
and metalwork.


History of the collection


Foundation

The collection's foundations were laid in the time of the
Brandenburg Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a state in the northeast of Germany bordering the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony, as well as the country of Poland. With an area of 29,480 squ ...
Elector Friedrich Wilhelm I by ancient sculptures looted in 1656 from the ''Villa Regia'' Palace in
Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officiall ...
. The obtained sculptures were purchased in
Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
by Polish kings
Sigismund III Vasa Sigismund III Vasa ( pl, Zygmunt III Waza, lt, Žygimantas Vaza; 20 June 1566 – 30 April 1632 N.S.) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1587 to 1632 and, as Sigismund, King of Sweden and Grand Duke of Finland from 1592 to ...
and
Władysław IV Vasa Władysław IV Vasa; lt, Vladislovas Vaza; sv, Vladislav IV av Polen; rus, Владислав IV Ваза, r=Vladislav IV Vaza; la, Ladislaus IV Vasa or Ladislaus IV of Poland (9 June 1595 – 20 May 1648) was King of Poland, Grand Duke of ...
. This core of the collection, originally housed at the Berlin City Castle, was enlarged through acquisitions, including the acquisition of the collection of Gerrit Reynst in 1671. Acquisitions continued in 1698 when
Friedrich III Frederick III may refer to: * Frederick III, Duke of Upper Lorraine (died 1033) * Frederick III, Duke of Swabia (1122–1190) * Friedrich III, Burgrave of Nuremberg (1220–1297) * Frederick III, Duke of Lorraine (1240–1302) * Frederick III of ...
bought the important collection belonging to the Roman archaeologist
Giovanni Pietro Bellori Giovanni Pietro Bellori (15 January 1613 – 19 February 1696), also known as Giovan Pietro Bellori or Gian Pietro Bellori, was an Italian painter and antiquarian, but, more famously, a prominent biographer of artists of the 17th century, equiva ...
. After a longer interval, in which Friedrich Wilhelm I exchanged, among other things, 36 valuable statues for two dragoon regiments with
Augustus II the Strong Augustus II; german: August der Starke; lt, Augustas II; in Saxony also known as Frederick Augustus I – Friedrich August I (12 May 16701 February 1733), most commonly known as Augustus the Strong, was Elector of Saxony from 1694 as well as K ...
, followed in 1742 by
Friedrich II Frederick II, Frederik II or Friedrich II may refer to: * Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor (1194–1250), King of Sicily from 1198; Holy Roman Emperor from 1220 * Frederick II of Denmark (1534–1588), king of Denmark and Norway 1559–1588 * Fred ...
's purchase of the collection of cardinal Melchior de Polignac, which included the well-known figure of the "girl playing a game of knucklebones". He acquired in 1747 the already famous bronze statue of the so-called "praying boy", which was set up on the terrace of the Schloss Sanssouci until 1786. the collection was significantly expanded in 1758 through the inheritance of the Markgräfin von Ansbach-Bayreuth's collection, which included the " Nile mosaic" from Praeneste, and in 1764 through the purchase of
Philipp von Stosch Baron Philipp von Stosch (22 March 1691 – 7 November 1757) was a Prussian antiquarian who lived in Rome and Florence. Life Stosch was born in Küstrin (today Kostrzyn in Poland) in the Neumark region of Brandenburg. In 1709, with the bles ...
's antique gem collection. The majority of the antiquities were scattered among the royal castles in the 1770s, or shown in a specially built ancient temple in Potsdam where they were not accessible to the public. 1797 saw the first thoughts of public access, with the plan to erect a public museum in Berlin to show off the most important pieces in the royal collections, among other things. A commission under the direction of
Wilhelm von Humboldt Friedrich Wilhelm Christian Karl Ferdinand von Humboldt (, also , ; ; 22 June 1767 – 8 April 1835) was a Prussian philosopher, linguist, government functionary, diplomat, and founder of the Humboldt University of Berlin, which was named afte ...
was appointed to select the exhibits. At the same time as this new museum was coming into existence, further important purchases were made, for example in 1827 the collection of bronzes and vases belonging to the consul-general Bartholdy and in 1828 the collection of 1348 antique vases belonging to the general Franz Freiherr von Koller.


The collection to 1939

The collection found its first home in the
Karl Friedrich Schinkel Karl Friedrich Schinkel (13 March 1781 – 9 October 1841) was a Prussian architect, city planner and painter who also designed furniture and stage sets. Schinkel was one of the most prominent architects of Germany and designed both neoclassic ...
's 1830 building (now the
Altes Museum The Altes Museum (English: ''Old Museum'') is a listed building on the Museum Island in the historic centre of Berlin. Built from 1825 to 1830 by order of King Frederick William III of Prussia according to plans by Karl Friedrich Schinkel, it ...
) in the
Lustgarten The ' () is a park on Museum Island in central Berlin, near the site of the former () of which it was originally a part. At various times in its history, the park has been used as a parade ground, a place for mass rallies and a public park. Th ...
next to the Stadtschloss. The collection was predominantly Greek and Roman in the beginning, though it also included some medieval and modern sculptures. In the course of the 19th century, many further purchases were made, including in 1831 the Dorow-Magnus collection of 442 vases. The vase collection was expanded significantly in the following years by the bequest of the archaeologist Eduard Gerhard's collection and became one of the best in the world. The building's central room was the Rotunda, one of the earliest examples of purpose-built museum architecture, in which was exhibited the first display of sculptures, as chosen by von Humboldt's commission. Off it extended two halls, one of classical gods, the other of classical heroes, to which were joined two rooms with statues of Roman emperors, portraits, sarcophagi, cinerary urns and reliefs. Small objects were initially housed in the Antiquarium room. The new museum's first director was the sculptor Christian Friedrich Tieck, and its first archeological curator (from 1833 to 1855) Eduard Gerhard. Even at this stage - thanks to Gerhard - the focus was not merely on displaying works of art, but also on scientific research and development, then a novelty in museums. A sign of this scientific approach was the beginnings of a systematic catalogue (with drawings) of the museum's ancient artworks from Italy and Greece. This collection of drawings grew fast and its 2500 leaves are used by researchers even in the present day. During his term of office, Gerhard did not restrict himself to acquiring 'star objects', but instead tried to look at the whole breadth of the collection and to expand it in a variety of areas. In order to produce a complete overview of ancient art-history, he also went against opposition to casts and encouraged their acquisition by the collection instead of expensive original statues. The cast collection - in existence since 1796 at Berlin's
Prussian Academy of Arts The Prussian Academy of Arts (German: ''Preußische Akademie der Künste'') was a state arts academy first established in Berlin, Brandenburg, in 1694/1696 by prince-elector Frederick III, in personal union Duke Frederick I of Prussia, and la ...
- was connected to the museum in 1842. In the following decades, the collection expanded to become one of the largest of its type. The combination of originals and copies in time came to support the Museum's encouragement of research and scholarship. The old museum-building soon became too small for the collection and a further building, the ''
Neues Museum The Neues Museum (English: ''New Museum'') is a listed building on the Museum Island in the historic centre of Berlin. Built from 1843 to 1855 by order of King Frederick William IV of Prussia in Neoclassical and Renaissance Revival styles ...
'' (New Museum), was built by Friedrich August Stüler between 1843 and 1855 to the north of the original building. In this new building, ideas of arranging the archeological collections into a full chronological and conceptual timeline began to become reality. In the lower floor of the museum the Egyptian collection (which had already existed for some years but not been accessible to the public) was put on show, whilst on the upper floor, the cast collection was set up according to designs by Stüler. The rooms' decor and wall paintings were designed specifically to fit the relevant subject or epoch. This new layout, however, did not last long, as in 1879 the vases collection was moved out of the Antiquarium into the new building. Even though the vase collection had outgrown the storage capacity of the old building, the available space was still not enough, so in 1883 it was decided to separate off the post-ancient sculptures into their own collection, to be housed in the
Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum The Bode-Museum (English: ''Bode Museum''), formerly called the Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum (''Emperor Frederick Museum''), is a listed building on the Museum Island in the historic centre of Berlin. It was built from 1898 to 1904 by order of Ge ...
(now known as the Bode Museum, or the Skulpturensammlung und Museum für Byzantinische Kunst i.e. the Sculpture Collection and Museum for Byzantine Art) that was already in the planning stages. Yet the 1884 purchase of the collection of Peter Alexandrovich SaburovIn French, "Sabouroff", hence "the Sabouroff Painter". again caused an acute shortage of space. To expand of the collection, the museum had since 1875 carried out its own excavations around the Mediterranean, starting with the ruins of Olympia. In 1878
Carl Humann Carl Humann (first name also ''Karl''; 4 January 1839 – 12 April 1896) was a German engineer, architect and archaeologist. He discovered the Pergamon Altar. Biography Early Years Humann was born in Steele, part of today's Essen - German ...
and
Alexander Conze Alexander Christian Leopold Conze (10 December 1831 – 19 July 1914) was a German archaeologist, who specialized in ancient Greek art. He was a native of Hanover, and studied at the universities of Göttingen and Berlin. In 1855 he obtained his ...
began excavations in Pergamon, which brought the Museum its most famous object, the
Pergamon Altar The Pergamon Altar () was a monumental construction built during the reign of the Ancient Greek King Eumenes II in the first half of the 2nd century BC on one of the terraces of the acropolis of Pergamon in Asia Minor. The structure was 35.64 ...
. Further excavations followed in Priene, Magnesia, Miletus and Baalbek, but these excavations entailed new problems. The collection was enriched in the early 20th century by acquisitions as well as by excavations, such as that of smaller objects belonging to Friedrich L. von Gans in 1912, the glass collection purchased in 1913 from M. von Rath, the "Thronende Göttin" (Enthroned Goddess) in 1916, the statue of a woman holding an apple in 1925, and a collection of mummy portraits from the Fayum in 1929. For the presentation of all these pieces of ancient architecture, another new museum building was required. Between 1897 and 1899, the architect Fritz Wolff created the first
Pergamon Museum The Pergamon Museum (; ) is a listed building on the Museum Island in the historic centre of Berlin. It was built from 1910 to 1930 by order of German Emperor Wilhelm II according to plans by Alfred Messel and Ludwig Hoffmann in Stripped C ...
. It was opened 1901 and in its light well was displayed the Pergamon altar and other architectural examples. Yet problems with the foundations soon led to its closure and demolition closed and dismantled.
Wilhelm von Bode Wilhelm von Bode (10 December 1845 – 1 March 1929) was a German art historian and museum curator. Born Arnold Wilhelm Bode in Calvörde, he was ennobled in 1913. He was the creator and first curator of the Kaiser Friedrich Museum, now cal ...
in 1907 planned a new building, begun in 1912, but
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
and the Wall Street Crash caused building work to come repeatedly to a standstill. In 1930, at the collection's centenary, a new museum (named the Pergamonmuseum from 1958) could be delivered finally at the public, designed by
Alfred Messel Alfred Messel (22 July 1853 – 24 March 1909) was a German architect at the turning point to the 20th century, creating a new style for buildings which bridged the transition from historicism to modernism. Messel was able to combine the structure, ...
and built by Ludwig Hoffmann. The three existing middle halls were reserved for ancient art. The old left wing became the Deutsche Museum, to relieve severe space problems at the Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum. The right wing was reserved for the Near East collection and the museum of Islamic art. The three middle halls - after large extensions were added - were able to present ancient architecture to its full height, with innovative use of natural light. There was no discussion as to the form of this presentation, leading to some embittered disputes that became known as the "Berliner Museumskrieg" ("Berlin museum war"). Through connections between the three archaeological museums, from 1930 until the museums' closure on the outbreak of war in 1939 visitors were able to undertake a tour through the early high cultures of ancient Egypt, the ancient Near East and the antique world for the next nine years.


The "Kriegsinferno"

In 1941, safeguarding the objects with
sandbag A sandbag or dirtbag is a bag or sack made of hessian (burlap), polypropylene or other sturdy materials that is filled with sand or soil and used for such purposes as flood control, military fortification in trenches and bunkers, shielding gl ...
s and other measures began. What could be moved was largely taken to the Flaktürme at the Berlin Zoo and at Friedrichshain, and in the vaults of the Berlin Mint. With the bombing becoming worse, these places (especially the Flak-towers) seemed unsuitable, and on 10 March 1945 it was decided to move the artworks to mines west of Berlin. After about ten convoys had started to move the collections there, however, it became too dangerous to do so, and this was postponed to the first week of April. So a large part of the small art and the supply of the magazines of the antique collection was instead taken to the Grasleben mines and to Kaiserroda in
Thuringia Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million. Erfurt is the capital and lar ...
. In the course of the war, the Altes Museum and the Neue Museum were destroyed, and the Museumsneubau and some of the exhibits were damaged. In spite of the concern over their safety, the art treasures in the Flaktürmen were hardly damaged during the
Battle of Berlin The Battle of Berlin, designated as the Berlin Strategic Offensive Operation by the Soviet Union, and also known as the Fall of Berlin, was one of the last major offensives of the European theatre of World War II. After the Vistula– ...
. The worst, however, came after the end of the battle, with the guards everywhere deserting their posts and leaving all the stores to be plundered by both Germans and Russians. In two fires in the Flakturm Friedrichshain in May 1945 a large part of the art treasures stored there was probably destroyed including several antiquities. Others were confiscated by the
Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian language, Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist R ...
and taken back to
Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
and
Leningrad Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
as "spoils of war", and have still not been returned. How much was taken in this way is still unknown; 25 Greek vases that can be shown to belong to the Berlin collection were shown in 2005 at an exhibition entitled "Archaeology of the War" in the
Pushkin Museum The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts (russian: Музей изобразительных искусств имени А. С. Пушкина, abbreviated as ) is the largest museum of European art in Moscow, located in Volkhonka street, just oppo ...
in Moscow. Further vases were discovered in the Muscovite Historic Museum. Several vases, that were loaned in 1903 to the Provincial-Museum at
Poznań Poznań () is a city on the River Warta in west-central Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business centre, and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint Joh ...
(13 of the 19 vases are demonstrably from the Berlin collection), and several portrait busts that were loaned from 1908 to the Schloss there, were subsumed by Poland in 1945 into the Muzeum Narodowe in
Poznań Poznań () is a city on the River Warta in west-central Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business centre, and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint Joh ...
, where they are still held today. How great the losses were over the whole collection could first be investigated and documented after the reunification of the collection, with the first catalogue of losses appearing in 2005. This catalogue named five large bronze statues (including the "
Calvatone Calvatone ( lmo, Calvatòon) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Cremona, Lombardy, located about southeast of Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-mos ...
Victory"), approximately 300 marble and stone statues, more than 40 reliefs, more than 20 stone architectural elements, approximately 30 stone vases, more than 1500 vases and vase-fragments (including pieces by the
Amasis Painter The Amasis Painter (active around 550–510 BC in Athens) was an ancient Greek vase painter who worked in the black-figure technique. He owes his name to the signature of the potter Amasis ("Amasis made me"), who signed twelve works painted by ...
,
Berlin Painter The Berlin Painter (active c. 490–460s BCE) is the conventional name given to an Attic Greek vase-painter who is widely regarded as a rival to the Kleophrades Painter, among the most talented vase painters of the early 5th century BCE (see P ...
, Brygos Painter, Edinburgh Painter,
Exekias Exekias ( grc, Ἐξηκίας, ''Exēkías'') was an ancient Greek vase painter and potter who was active in Athens between roughly 545 BC and 530 BC. Exekias worked mainly in the black-figure technique, which involved the painting of sce ...
, Geras Painter and
Pan Painter The Pan Painter was an ancient Greek vase-painter of the Attic red-figure style, probably active c. 480 to 450 BC. John Beazley attributed over 150 vases to his hand in 1912: Archaic Mannerism Beazley identified the Pan Painter as a pupi ...
), 100 pieces of gold jewellery and more than 150 engraved gems.


The collection divided


The collection on the Museum Island

In 1958 the
USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nati ...
returned much of this war bounty to the GDR, but with both the Altes and Neue Museum destroyed a new home was acutely needed for the collections on the Museums Island. The three middle halls of the Pergamon Museum once again housed architectural exhibits, and the central hall again housed the Pergamon Altar. In the right-hand Room was housed Roman architecture, and in the right Wing itself the Near East Museum on the first floor and the Islamic Art museum on the upper floor (as it had been before 1939). In the left hall was housed Greek architecture, with ancient sculptures (formerly in the Altes Museum) in the left wing, and for a short time ancient coins were displayed in the Münzkabinett Berlin. On the upper floor were Roman portraits,
Etruscan art Etruscan art was produced by the Etruscan civilization in central Italy between the 10th and 1st centuries BC. From around 750 BC it was heavily influenced by Greek art, which was imported by the Etruscans, but always retained distinct charact ...
and choice pieces from the collection of small-objects. There was no room, however, for the art of ancient Cyprus until the Altes Museum was rebuilt and these objects had to remain in storage. A new entrance was formed in 1982, that led now directly into the middle hall and, from there, to the Pergamon Altar. In 1983–84 the ancient sculptures were redisplayed, this time in a chronological sequence, beginning with archaic Greek art, through classical originals, Hellenistic sculptures and Roman copies of classical originals, and ending with Roman art. Kept out of the international art market, the collection was restricted to maintaining and presenting the existing collection on the
Museum Island The Museum Island (german: Museumsinsel) is a museum complex on the northern part of the Spree Island in the historic heart of Berlin. It is one of the most visited sights of Germany's capital and one of the most important museum sites in Europ ...
. Only in a few cases could the collection be enriched by new acquisitions, such as an outstanding Greek marble relief of two horsemen and seven precious vases from private owners.


The collection in Charlottenburg

Also in 1958 the objects that had been evacuated to Thuringia during the war (then moved by the Americans to
Celle Celle () is a town and capital of the district of Celle, in Lower Saxony, Germany. The town is situated on the banks of the river Aller, a tributary of the Weser, and has a population of about 71,000. Celle is the southern gateway to the Lü ...
in
West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 ...
) were returned to Berlin. Though a repatriation to the Museum Island was out of the question, other homes were found for the objects. In 1961 the antiquities (already on public display from 1960 in Stüler's barrack buildings at
Schloss Charlottenburg Schloss Charlottenburg (Charlottenburg Palace) is a Baroque palace in Berlin, located in Charlottenburg, a district of the Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf borough. The palace was built at the end of the 17th century and was greatly expanded during t ...
) were placed in the charge of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation. The objects displayed were the core of the collection of small artworks (including the well-known bronze statue of the "Cretan ram-carrier"), most of the former vase collection, the ancient gold jewellery collection (including the
Hildesheim Hildesheim (; nds, Hilmessen, Hilmssen; la, Hildesia) is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany with 101,693 inhabitants. It is in the district of Hildesheim, about southeast of Hanover on the banks of the Innerste River, a small tributary of the ...
silver hoard), parts of the glass collection, the existing mummy portrait collections (with the addition of one of the few surviving ancient panel paintings, the Severus Tondo), and the collection of ancient helmets from Lipperheide. The display of antiquities, including the arrangement of the treasure chamber in the first floor of the Stüler building, was expanded in 1976. In 1987 the first floor became home to the vases from
Magna Graecia Magna Graecia (, ; , , grc, Μεγάλη Ἑλλάς, ', it, Magna Grecia) was the name given by the Romans to the coastal areas of Southern Italy in the present-day Italian regions of Calabria, Apulia, Basilicata, Campania and Sicily; the ...
, upon which the arrangement of the antiquities collection was complete and extensive. In contrast to its East Berlin counterpart, the collection had access to the international art market, and was able to make its first postwar acquisition in 1958, the "torso of a falling wounded man". Up until reunification, as well as the existing material on the museum island, more than 600 new works of art were acquired by purchases and donation. These included numerous ancient vases (among others, the Altamura Painter,
Berlin Painter The Berlin Painter (active c. 490–460s BCE) is the conventional name given to an Attic Greek vase-painter who is widely regarded as a rival to the Kleophrades Painter, among the most talented vase painters of the early 5th century BCE (see P ...
, Brygos Painter,
Chiusi Painter The Chiusi Painter was an Attic black-figure vase painter, active in the last quarter of the sixth century BC. His real name is not known. The Chiusi Painter was part of the so-called Leagros Group, the last major important group of painters in ...
, KY Painter,
Myson Myson of Chenae (; grc-gre, Μύσων ὁ Χηνεύς; fl. 6th-century BC), also called "of Chen", was, according to Plato, one of the Seven Sages of Greece. He is not to be confused with the Myson of 5th-century Athens who ran a pottery and ins ...
,
Pan Painter The Pan Painter was an ancient Greek vase-painter of the Attic red-figure style, probably active c. 480 to 450 BC. John Beazley attributed over 150 vases to his hand in 1912: Archaic Mannerism Beazley identified the Pan Painter as a pupi ...
,
Paseas Paseas (Πασέας) was a tyrant of the ancient Greek city-state of Sicyon Sicyon (; el, Σικυών; ''gen''.: Σικυῶνος) or Sikyon was an ancient Greek city state situated in the northern Peloponnesus between Corinth and Achae ...
, Pistoxenos Painter, Smikros and the Triptolemos Painter), numerous marble busts (including a portrait bust of
Cleopatra VII Cleopatra VII Philopator ( grc-gre, Κλεοπάτρα Φιλοπάτωρ}, "Cleopatra the father-beloved"; 69 BC10 August 30 BC) was Queen of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt from 51 to 30 BC, and its last active ruler.She was also a ...
), sculptures (including a feminine idol of the
Cycladic The Cyclades (; el, Κυκλάδες, ) are an island group in the Aegean Sea, southeast of mainland Greece and a former administrative prefecture of Greece. They are one of the island groups which constitute the Aegean archipelago. The nam ...
culture) and sarcophagus (among others, a large sarcophagus of a Roman general well known since the 16th century). Along with these single acquisitions, some larger complexes also came into the possession of the Museum. In 1976 an ancient coin from Heinrich Amersdorffer's collection, gold jewellery from Tarentum in 1980, a vase collection from a grave in Tarentum in 1984 (including ones by the Armidale Painter, the Dareios Painter, the painter of Copenhagen 4223, the Loebbecke Painter, the Lucera Painter, the
Underworld Painter The Underworld Painter was an ancient Greek Apulian vase painter whose works date to the second half of the 4th century BC. Career The Underworld Painter is the successor of the Darius Painter, in whose workshop he began his career and where h ...
and the Varrese Painter) and the contents of a late Roman grave in
Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...
in 1986.


The collection re-united


References


Further reading

* Belser Kunstbibliothek, ''Die Meisterwerke aus dem Antikenmuseum Berlin'', Stuttgart / Zürich 1980 * Gerhard and Ursula Stelzer, ''Bilderhandbuch der Kunstsammlungen in der DDR'', Leipzig 1984 * Exhibition catalogue, ''Weltschätze der Kunst – der Menschheit bewahrt'', Berlin 1985 * Wolf-Dieter Heilmeyer (eds.): ''Antikenmuseum Berlin – Die ausgestellten Werke'', Berlin 1988 * Rudolf Fellmann (ed.): ''Antike Welt im Pergamon- und Bodemuseum'', von Zabern, Mainz 1990 (Sonderhefte zur "Antiken Welt") * ''Bertelsmanns Museums-Führer'', Gütersloh / München 1992 * Brigitte Knittlmayer and Wolf-Dieter Heilmeyer (eds.): ''Die Antikensammlung. Altes Museum, Pergamonmuseum'', von Zabern, 2. Auflage, Mainz 1998 * Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (ed.), ''Dokumentation der Verluste – Antikensammlung Bd. V. 1'', Berlin, 2005, * Andreas Scholl and Gertrud Platz (eds.): ''Altes Museum - Pergamonmuseum. Die Antikensammlung. Staatliche Museen zu Berlin''. 3., vollständig überarbeitete und erweiterte Auflage, Verlag Philipp von Zabern, Mainz 2007


External links


Antikensammlung homepage
{{Authority control * Berlin State Museums Museums of ancient Greece in Germany