Heinrich Schliemann – businessman, multimillionaire, world traveller and excavator – died on 26December 1890 in Naples. His embalmed body was transferred to Athens, where he was buried on 4 January 1891 in the city's First Cemetery, his funeral attended by large crowds. 2015 sees the 125th anniversary of his death and the Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte has taken this opportunity to mount a special exhibition in the Dienerkammer and the Rote Saal of the Neues Museum.

The special exhibition, “Death in Naples – The 125th anniversary of the Death of HeinrichSchliemann" is a homage to the archaeologist, collector and patron. Selected exhibits from the Trojan Collection and from other excavations, including those at Mycenae, Tiryns and Orchomenos, are presented together for the first time. Shown in display cabinets typical of the era, they are supplemented by rarely seen material from the archive collections of the Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte, the Staatsbibliothek and the Kunstbibliothek of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. The special exhibition runs alongside the Neues Museum's permanent exhibition of the Berlin Trojan holdings, which have been connected with the Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte since the “Collection of Trojan Antiquities" was gifted to the Berlin Museums in 1881. A display of a collection of Egyptian vessels, probably brought back from Egypt as souvenirs, completes this comprehensive picture of Heinrich Schliemann, excavator and collector, and his life's work in archaeology.