The German Turfan expeditions were conducted between 1902 and 1914. The four expeditions to
Turfan
Turpan (also known as Turfan or Tulufan, , ug, تۇرپان) is a prefecture-level city located in the east of the autonomous region of Xinjiang, China. It has an area of and a population of 632,000 (2015).
Geonyms
The original name of the cit ...
in
Xinjiang
Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...
,
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
, were initiated by
Albert Grünwedel, a former director at the
Ethnological Museum of Berlin
The Ethnological Museum of Berlin (german: Ethnologisches Museum Berlin) is one of the Berlin State Museums (german: Staatliche Museen zu Berlin), the de facto national collection of the Federal Republic of Germany. It is presently located in t ...
, and organized by
Albert von Le Coq
Albert von Le Coq (; 8 September 1860 Berlin, Prussia – 21 April 1930 Berlin, Germany) was a Prussian/German brewery owner and wine merchant, who at the age of 40 began to study archaeology.''Schatzjagd an der Seidenstraße.'' A film by Susanne ...
.
Theodor Bartus
Theodor Bartus (January 30, 1858 in Lassan, Germany - January 28, 1941 in Berlin) was a German sailor, museum technician, and conservator. Bartus was the son of a master weaver. He began his nautical career on the sailing ship of his uncle. In ...
, who was a technical member of the museum staff and was in charge of extricating paintings found during the expeditions from cave walls and ruins, accompanied all four expeditions. Both expedition leaders. Grünwedel and Le Coq, returned to Berlin with thousands of paintings and other art objects, as well as more than 40,000 fragments of text. In 1902, the first research team financed largely by
Friedrich Krupp
Friedrich Carl Krupp (Essen, 17 July 1787 – Essen, 8 October 1826) was a German steel manufacturer and founder of the Krupp family commercial empire that is now subsumed into ThyssenKrupp AG.
Biography
After the death of his father, he was bro ...
, the arms manufacturer, left for Turfan and returned a year later with 46 crates full of treasures.
Kaiser Wilhelm II
Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert; 27 January 18594 June 1941) was the last German Emperor (german: Kaiser) and List of monarchs of Prussia, King of Prussia, reigning from 15 June 1888 until Abdication of Wilhelm II, his abdication on 9 ...
was enthusiastic and helped finance the second expedition along with Krupp. The third was financed by means of the Ministry of Culture. The fourth expedition under Le Coq was dogged by many difficulties and was finally cut short by the outbreak of
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
in 1914.
Many important finds were made, especially on the second expedition, at a number of sites along the ancient northern route around the
Taklamakan
The Taklimakan or Taklamakan Desert (; zh, s=塔克拉玛干沙漠, p=Tǎkèlāmǎgān Shāmò, Xiao'erjing: , dng, Такәламаган Шамә; ug, تەكلىماكان قۇملۇقى, Täklimakan qumluqi; also spelled Taklimakan and Te ...
desert. They discovered important documents and works of art (including a magnificent wall-painting of a
Manichaean
Manichaeism (;
in New Persian ; ) is a former major religionR. van den Broek, Wouter J. Hanegraaff ''Gnosis and Hermeticism from Antiquity to Modern Times''SUNY Press, 1998 p. 37 founded in the 3rd century AD by the Parthian Empire, Parthian ...
bishop
ozhak previously mistakenly identified as
Mani
Mani may refer to:
Geography
* Maní, Casanare, a town and municipality in Casanare Department, Colombia
* Mani, Chad, a town and sub-prefecture in Chad
* Mani, Evros, a village in northeastern Greece
* Mani, Karnataka, a village in Dakshi ...
) and the remains of a Christian (
Church of the East
The Church of the East ( syc, ܥܕܬܐ ܕܡܕܢܚܐ, ''ʿĒḏtā d-Maḏenḥā'') or the East Syriac Church, also called the Church of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, the Persian Church, the Assyrian Church, the Babylonian Church or the Nestorian C ...
) church near ancient Khocho (Qara-khoja or
Gaochang
Gaochang (; Old Uyghur: ''Qocho''), also called Khocho, Karakhoja, Qara-hoja, Kara-Khoja or Karahoja (قاراغوجا in Uyghur), was a ruined, ancient oasis city on the northern rim of the inhospitable Taklamakan Desert in present-day Xinj ...
), a ruined ancient city, built of mud, east of Turfan.
Geography
Turfan (also Uighur Turpan, Chin. Tulufan) is in Xinjiang (Chinese Turkestan) on the northern
Silk Road
The Silk Road () was a network of Eurasian trade routes active from the second century BCE until the mid-15th century. Spanning over 6,400 kilometers (4,000 miles), it played a central role in facilitating economic, cultural, political, and reli ...
. It has an area of between 42° and 43° north latitude and between 88° and 90° east longitude in a depression below sea level. This is the archaeological site to which expeditions were mounted by Germans to explore and collect precious art objects and texts written in many languages and scripts.
History
International attention was first drawn to Turfan by
Sven Hedin
Sven Anders Hedin, KNO1kl RVO,Wennerholm, Eric (1978) ''Sven Hedin – En biografi'', Bonniers, Stockholm (19 February 1865 – 26 November 1952) was a Swedish geographer, topographer, explorer, photographer, travel writer and illustrator ...
(1865-1952), to
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
an and
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
ese archaeologists, as a potential and promising site in Central Asia for field explorations for archaeological finds. He could follow up the work in later years during his last expeditions between 1928 and 1935. His collections of that period are in the
Stockholm Ethnographical Museum. After his first suggestion to the archeologist about the archaeological richness of the Turfan site, many
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
n expeditions were mounted from September 27 to November 21, 1879 right up to 1914–1915,
Finnish
Finnish may refer to:
* Something or someone from, or related to Finland
* Culture of Finland
* Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland
* Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people
* Finnish cuisine
See also ...
expeditions from 1906 to 1908, by
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
between July 1908 and June 1914, and also other explorers from
Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...
,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
and America; and from 1928 Chinese archaeological campaigns continued the work of the foreign expeditions. German expeditions from 1902 and 1914 not only to Turfan but also other sites such as Kucha, Qarashahr and Tumshuq
umšuqwere most fruitful.
[ Toward the end of the nineteenth century, Germans were impressed by the discoveries and finds reported by Europeans traveling through the Silk Roads and the exposition made at the twelfth international Congress of Orientalists in Rome in the year 1899 prompted them to launch their own expeditions to the area. The finds of the four expeditions (packed and carted to Germany initially) were murals, other artefacts and about 40,000 pieces of texts.] The four German expeditions covered Turfan but also Kucha, Qarashahr and Tumshuq umšuq The expeditions were:[
]
*First Expedition: November 1902 – March 1903 led by Prof. Grünwedel along with the Orientalist scholar, Georg Huth, and Bartus, as fellow participants;
*Second Expedition: November 1904 – August 1905 led by Le Coq along with Bartus;
*Third Expedition: united with the second Expedition, from December 1905 to April 1907 led by Grünwedel and Le Coq, H. Pohrt and Bartus as fellow participants;
*Fourth Expedition: June 1913 – February 1914 led by Le Coq along with Bartus as a participant.
First Expedition
The financing for the expedition involved 36,000 Marks which was provided by the Königliche Museum für Völkerkunde 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 constitue ...
, by James Simon James or Jim Simon may refer to:
* James Simon (composer) (1880–1944), German composer, pianist and musicologist
* James Simon (journalist), journalism professor at Fairfield University, Fairfield, Connecticut
* James D. Simon (1897–1982), Loui ...
(benefactor of museums), Krupp house, the Prussian Government and an “Ethnologisches Hilfskomitee.”[ The first Expedition from December, 1902 to April 1903, led by Prof. A. Grünwedel along with Dr. G. Huth and Theodor Bartus, followed the route from Yining to Ürümqi to Turfan Oasis when paintings, statues and manuscripts were found and carted in 46 crates,][ and the zoological objects in plus 13 crates. The detailed account of the expedition was published in Grünwedel's book titled "Bericht über archäologische Arbeiten in Idikutschari und Umgebung im Winter 1902-1903", Abhandlungen der Königlich Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, I. Kl., XXIV. Bd., München 1906.][
]
Second Expedition
Impressed with the sensational accomplishments of the first expedition, Emperor Wilhelm II
Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert; 27 January 18594 June 1941) was the last German Emperor (german: Kaiser) and King of Prussia, reigning from 15 June 1888 until his abdication on 9 November 1918. Despite strengthening the German Empir ...
donated 32,000 Marks
Marks may refer to:
Business
* Mark's, a Canadian retail chain
* Marks & Spencer, a British retail chain
* Collective trade marks, trademarks owned by an organisation for the benefit of its members
* Marks & Co, the inspiration for the novel '' ...
from his private purse (the “Allerhöchste Dispositionsfonds”) which was supplemented by 10,000 Marks from other donors.[ On account of Wilhelm II's donation as ]King of Prussia
The monarchs of Prussia were members of the House of Hohenzollern who were the hereditary rulers of the former German state of Prussia from its founding in 1525 as the Duchy of Prussia. The Duchy had evolved out of the Teutonic Order, a Roman C ...
, this expedition was also named the "First Royal Prussian Turfan expedition". Since Grünwedel who was very enthusiastic about also leading the second expedition could not make it due to ill health, instead Dr. Albert von Le Coq (1860-1930) of the “Hilfsarbeiter bei dem Königlichen Museum für Völkerkunde”, headed the second expedition,[ along with Theodor Bartus as his associate, followed the route from Ürümqi to Turfan Oasis (from November 1904 to August 1905). The third Expedition merged with this expedition (from Aug. 1905) and the finds covered mostly paintings (Bezeklik) but very few texts. It was carted to Berlin in 105 crates.][
]
Third Expedition
The Third Expedition was also funded by the state. It was undertaken under Albert Grünwedel from December 1905 to April 1907 (as a follow-up to the second expedition). In the middle of 1906 Le Coq had to return home due to illness. Grünwedel and Bartus continued the work and covered the oases to the west of Turfan, including Kizil and its widespread complexes of Buddhist caves. The route followed was initially from Kashgar to Tumshuk and then from Kizil to Kucha to Kumtura and further along Shorchuk—Turfan Oasis—Ürümqi—Hami—Toyuk and back. The collections packed in 118 crates were paintings of grottoes from temples and Buddhist texts. Reports of the second and third expeditions were published as "Gründwedel's Altbuddhistische Kultstätten in Chinesisch-Turkistan" (1912) and Le Coq's book of ''Auf Hellas Spuren in Ostturkistan'' (1926).[
]
Fourth Expedition
The Fourth Expedition (March 31, 1913 - March 13, 1914) was also funded by the state (60,000 Marks given by the emperor and by private benefactors). It was again led by Le Coq along with Theodor Bartus. They followed the route from Kashgar to Kucha, then Kizil to Kirish, followed by Simsim to Kumtura and then from Tumshuk to Kashgar returned from there to Berlin and completed the expedition shortly before the outbreak of the First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. Finds included paintings and texts in Sakan and Sanskrit. The finds packed in 156 crates, was the largest collection in a single expedition. Le Coq published his report of his expedition in Von Land und Leuten in Ostturkistan, in 1928.[
]
Fate of the collections
The collections from the German expeditions were initially kept at the Indian Department of the Ethnological Museum of Berlin
The Ethnological Museum of Berlin (german: Ethnologisches Museum Berlin) is one of the Berlin State Museums (german: Staatliche Museen zu Berlin), the de facto national collection of the Federal Republic of Germany. It is presently located in t ...
(''Ethnologisches Museum Berlin''), then shifted in 1963 to the Museum of Indian Art (''Museum für Indische Kunst'') in Dahlem, Berlin and finally combined into a single location at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities
The Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (german: Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften), abbreviated BBAW, is the official academic society for the natural sciences and humanities for the States of Germany, German ...
(''Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften'', BBAW), since 1992. During World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, the Ethnological Museum was bombed seven times in Allied bombing raids, destroying the larger wall murals which had been cemented into place and could not be moved; 28 of the finest paintings were totally destroyed. Smaller pieces were hidden in bunkers and coal mines at the outbreak of war and survived the bombings. When the Russians arrived in 1945 they looted at least 10 crates of treasures that they discovered in a bunker under the Berlin Zoo
The Berlin Zoological Garden (german: link=no, Zoologischer Garten Berlin) is the oldest surviving and best-known zoo in Germany. Opened in 1844, it covers and is located in Berlin's Tiergarten. With about 1,380 different species and over 20,2 ...
which have not been seen since. The remaining items have been collected together and are housed in a new museum in Dahlem, a suburb of Berlin.[From the Introduction by ]Peter Hopkirk
Peter Stuart Hopkirk (15 December 1930 – 22 August 2014) was a British journalist, author and historian who wrote six books about the British Empire, Russia and Central Asia.
Biography
Peter Hopkirk was born in Nottingham, the son of Frank St ...
in the 1985 edition of Von Le Coq's ''Buried Treasures of Chinese Turkestan
Turkestan, also spelled Turkistan ( fa, ترکستان, Torkestân, lit=Land of the Turks), is a historical region in Central Asia corresponding to the regions of Transoxiana and Xinjiang.
Overview
Known as Turan to the Persians, western Turke ...
'', p. ix-x.
Gallery
File:Fragment of a Buddhist Wall Painting, Bazaklik, region of Turfan, Sinkiang, China, Central Asian art, 8th century - Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art - DSC09159.JPG, Fragment of Buddhist wall painting
File:Turpan-bezeklik-pinturas-d03.jpg, A wall painting
File:Turpan-bezeklik-pinturas-d01.jpg, Turfan Buddhas
File:Nestorian Temple - Palm Sunday.jpg, ''Palm Sunday'', mural from the Christian church
File:Fragment of Uyghur Manichaean Hanging Scroll.jpg, Fragment of Uyghur Manichaean
Manichaeism (;
in New Persian ; ) is a former major religionR. van den Broek, Wouter J. Hanegraaff ''Gnosis and Hermeticism from Antiquity to Modern Times''SUNY Press, 1998 p. 37 founded in the 3rd century AD by the Parthian Empire, Parthian ...
hanging scroll "MIK III 6251"
File:Manichaean Banners.jpg, Manichaean
Manichaeism (;
in New Persian ; ) is a former major religionR. van den Broek, Wouter J. Hanegraaff ''Gnosis and Hermeticism from Antiquity to Modern Times''SUNY Press, 1998 p. 37 founded in the 3rd century AD by the Parthian Empire, Parthian ...
temple banners "MIK III 6286" and "MIK III 6283"
File:Light Maiden Image on a Manichaean Temple Banner.jpg, Reconstruction of the Light Maiden image on the Manichaean banner "MIK III 6286"
File:Jesus Image on a Manichaean Temple Banner.jpg, Reconstruction of the Jesus image on the Manichaean banner "MIK III 6286"
File:Leaf from a Manichaean Book (MIK III 4959).png, Leaf from a Manichaean book "MIK III 4959"
File:Leaf from a Manichaean Book (MIK III 4965).jpg, Leaf from a Manichaean book "MIK III 4965"
File:Leaf from a Manichaean Book (MIK III 4979).jpg, Leaf from a Manichaean book "MIK III 4979" recto
File:Manichaean Bema Scene.jpg, Leaf from a Manichaean book "MIK III 4979" verso
File:Manicheans.jpg, Leaf from a Manichaean book "MIK III 6368" recto
File:Leaf from a Manichaean Book.jpg, Leaf from a Manichaean book "MIK III 6368" verso
File:Leaf from a Manichaean Book (MIK III 8259 folio 1).jpg, Leaf from a Manichaean book "MIK III 8259" folio 1 recto
File:Deities of Earth and Moon Scene (MIK III 6278).jpg, Fragment of a Manichaean textile display "MIK III 6278"
File:Manichaean wall painting from Chotcho.jpg, Fragment of a Turfan Manichaean wall painting "MIK III 6918"
Footnotes
References
*Franz, H. G.: ''Kunst und Kultur entlang der Seidenstraße''. Graz, 1986. (German language)
*Gumbrecht, Cordula: ''Acta Turfanica: die deutschen Turfan-Expeditionen gesehen in den Archiven von Urumchi und Berlin''. Berlin, 2002. (German language)
*Grünwedel, A.:
Altbuddhistische Kultstätten in Chinesisch Turkistan, Bericht über archäologische Arbeiten von 1906 bis 1907 bei Kucha, Qaraæahr und in der Oase Turfan
'. Berlin, 1912. (German language)
*Härtel, H. & Yaldiz, M.: ''Die Seidenstraße: Malereien und Plastiken aus buddhistischen Höhlentempeln. Aus der Sammlung des Museums für Indische Kunst Berlin''. Berlin: Reimer, 1987 (German language)
*Hopkirk, Peter
Peter Stuart Hopkirk (15 December 1930 – 22 August 2014) was a British journalist, author and historian who wrote six books about the British Empire, Russia and Central Asia.
Biography
Peter Hopkirk was born in Nottingham, the son of Frank St ...
(1980)
''Foreign Devils on the Silk Road: The Search for the Lost Cities and Treasures of Chinese Central Asia''.
Oxford University Press, John Murray, Oxford; Paperback. Reprinted 1985, 1986, 1988, 1991. .
* Le Coq, A. v. ''Buried Treasures of Chinese Turkestan''. George Allen & Unwin Ltd. 1928. Paperback with introduction, Hong Kong, Oxford University Press, 1985. .
*Le Coq, A. v.: ''Auf Hellas Spuren in Ostturkistan. Berichte und Abhandlungen der II. und III. Deutschen Turfan-Expedition''. Leipzig, 1926. (German language)
*Yaldiz, M.: ''Archäologie und Kunstgeschichte Chinesisch-Zentralasiens (Xinjiang)''. Leiden, 1987. (German language)
*Zaturpanskij, Choros: "Reisewege und Ergebnisse der deutschen Turfanexpeditionen", ''Orientalisches'' Archiv 3, 1912, pp. 116–127. (German language)
External links
Collection of the Museum of Indian Art, Berlin
{{Authority control
Asian expeditions
Turpan
Expeditions from Germany
Exploration of Central Asia