Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation
Hauptbereich
Collection of Classical Antiquities
9 September 2008
130 years of the excavations in Pergamon
© Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
On 9 September 2008 the Collection of Classical Antiquities will be opening its doors to celebrate a "Pergamon Day" in its eponymous museum. On the day there will be special guides through the exhibition halls, lectures and discussions, which both the current and the former leader of the excavations in Pergamon are due to attend. In September 1878, 130 years ago to the day, research on the raised fortress site of Pergamon began according to plan. The head of the excavations at the site was Carl Humann. The smooth running of the project as a whole lay in the hands of Alexander Conze, then director of the Berlin Collection of Antique Sculptures. He was to oversee the unearthing of the altar's base, the discovery of the frieze panels as well as the study of the acropolis. Ever since the beginning of the last century the excavation has been lead by the German Archaeological Institute in Istanbul. Right from the very beginning, scholars from the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin were firmly involved in studying the archaeological material and in particular in the restoration and interpretation of both of the famous friezes from the great altar. A comprehensive exhibition in 2010 on the subject of Pergamon will provide an overview of the finds that were sent to Berlin and, in conjunction with the German Archaeological Institute, will showcase the fruits of current research.
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