27.03.2009 to 01.06.2009
The exhibition places the spotlight on the conservation and restoration of items of archaeological cultural heritage in the collections of the National Museums in Berlin.
The comprehensive exhibition on this broad subject, covering many individual aspects, will be divided into sections focusing on a number of core specialist fields. These include: excavation, conservation, restoration, material and function analysis, cultural historical research and preventive conservation. Restorers and scientists from the National Museums in Berlin will be joined by external restorers in introducing their work on about 75 different restoration projects, complemented by research in the natural sciences carried out by the Rathgen Research Laboratory.
The search for clues to an object's history is multifaceted and requires close cooperation between conservators, archaeologists and natural scientists: this work forms the basis of the concept for the exhibition.
The participating collections will each present their specialist fields and excavations, covering a wide range of subjects, from the history of restoration, through to historical and modern methods of analysis deployed in the natural sciences - which is essential in all restoration work - as well as current projects.
A separate section will be dedicated to scientific developments in the field of cultural history, based on research in the natural sciences and advances in restoration. A section on the production of copies of original works and the history of forgeries will round off the whole presentation.
Contacts:
Olivia Zorn, Egyptian Museum and Papyrus Collection, tel.: +49 - (0)30 - 2090 5103
Uwe Peltz, Collection of Classical Antiquities, tel.: +49 - (0)30 - 2090 5224
E-mail: kulturguterhalten@smb.spk-berlin.de
External exhibition objects
Restoration is a core topic in a museums' work. The objects in the temporary exhibition represent the entire spectrum in the restoration of archaeological cultural artefacts. Some interesting exhibits are not able to be displayed in the exhibition because they are not suitable for transportation for reasons of size or the fragility of their condition. Such objects will remain in the permanent exhibitions of the National Museums in Berlin, the restoration measures they require will be presented on information boards beside the respective objects themselves. In this way, all houses of the National Museums in Berlin will demonstrate how they preserve cultural heritage.
Pergamonmuseum
- Market Gate of Miletus, 2nd half of 2nd century AD
- Ishtar Gate from Babylon, 6th century BC
- Prayer niche from Kashan, 6-11th century AD
Bode-Museum
- Mosaic from Ravenna, 545 AD
Altes Museum
- Praying boy, bronze, Rhodes, ca. 300 BC
Sammlung Scharf-Gerstenberg
- Temple gate from Kalabsha (Egyptian Museum and Papyrus Collection)
Dahlem Museums
- Mummy from Peru, 15th century AD
- Cave of the ring-bearing doves from Xinjiang (China), 5/6th century AD
