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**Banner for "Cinderella, Sindbad & Sinuhe"** © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Ägyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung

**Cuneiform tablet with the Epic of Gilgamesh from Mesopotamia, detail. Burnt Clay with Cuneiform Inscription in Akkadian, 13th Century BC, Royal Palace of Hattusha, Bogazköy, Anatolia** © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Vorderasiatisches Museum / Sandra Steiß

**Hieratic limestone ostracon from The Story of Sinuhe (handwritten by a school student), 19th Dynasty (1292-1186 BC), provenance unknown** © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Ägyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung

**Contemporary illustrated collection of Arabic stories in English from the Gulf Region, The Donkey Lady, including the story of Hamda and the Magic Fish (Qatari version of Cinderella)** © Patty Paine, Jesse Ulmer und Michael Hersrud, 2013, Berkshire Academic Press Limited / Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Ägyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung

**Papyrus from ancient Egypt with the Story of Sinuhe (detail). Papyrus in Hieratic Script with Black and Red Ink, 12th Dynasty, ca. 1976-1794 BC, Thebes-West, Mortuary Temple of Ramesses II, Egypt** © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Ägyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung / Sandra Steiß

**Kleine Ausgabe der Kinder- und Hausmärchen, gesammelt von den deutschen Brüdern Grimm (Grimms’ Fairy Tales), paper, 1825, Berlin** © Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Kinder- und Jugendbuchabteilung

**Limestone shard (ostracon) depicting the ancient scribe Amenhotep, son of Hapu (detail). Limestone with Black and Red Line Drawings, Ramesses III, ca. 1183-1152 BC, Deir el-Medina, House D8, Egypt** © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Ägyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung / Sandra Steiß

**Kasper hand puppet, used in German children’s puppet theatre performances. Carved and Coloured Wood and Textile, 20th Century, Hohenstein / Elbe, Germany** © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Museum Europäischer Kulturen

**Aramaic papyrus with the story of the wise vizier Achikar (detail). Papyrus with Black Ink, 5th Century BC, Elephantine Island, Egypt** © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Ägyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung

**Early edition about the life of the wise fool Till Eulenspiegel [Von Vlenspiegel Eins bauren . . .] 1531, paper, Germany** © Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Abteilung Historische Drucke

Cinderella, Sindbad & Sinuhe
Arab-German Storytelling Traditions

18.04.2019 to 18.08.2019
Neues Museum

For the first time the Neues Museum (New Museum) is dedicating an exhibition to the rich cultural heritage of narrative traditions from ancient Egypt, the Arab world and Germany. The breadth of the trilingual exhibition (German/English/Arabic) stretches from ancient Egyptian papyruses to the tales of the Brothers Grimm, from the Arabian Nights to contemporary pop-up books and comics. Some 100 objects from the collections of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin and various lenders shed fascinating light on a 4,000-year-old cultural history.

Stories Transcending Time and Space

Cinderella, Sindbad & Sinuhe explores the diverse processes of cultural exchange between the Arab world and Germany. The exhibition examines earlier literary traditions that continue to inspire artists and authors internationally, including the ancient Egyptian story of Sinuhe. The manner in which stories were adapted and interpreted reveals how ideas are passed on across time and space, a process also illustrated by the story of Sindbad. Similarities in the narrative traditions are also pointed out by the exhibition, with varying versions of Cinderella being found in Germany as well as on the Arabian Peninsula.

Historical Commonalities instead of Distinctions

In a time when social debates are increasingly marked by differentiation, it is all the more important that we apply ourselves to exploring the diverse, historically evolved commonalities among different cultures and to making them accessible to an international public.

Various lectures will be held over the course of the exhibition, which will be accompanied by a trilingual publication (German/English/Arabic) printed by Kulturverlag Kadmos.

Cinderella, Sindbad & Sinuhe is a collaboration between the Ägyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung (Egyptian Museum and Papyrus Collection) of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin and the Arab-German Young Academy of Sciences and Humanities (AGYA). The exhibition received funding from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) as part of the Arab German Young Academy (AGYA). Support has also been provided by the Council of Arab Ambassadors in Berlin, the Mission of the Arab League in Berlin, and MDT-tex.