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120th Anniversary of the Bode-Museum: Family Day with Free Admission on 19 October 2024

10.10.2024
Bode-Museum

The prominently positioned landmark on the Museumsinsel opened its doors for the first time in October 120 years ago. To celebrate this event, the Bode-Museum invites visitors on 19 October 2024 to an Anniversary Celebration with various offers for the entire family. The presentation The Baptismal Font from Siena also opens that evening. The following day, conservator-restorers provide insights into their work as part of The 7th European Day of Conservation-Restoration.

Today’s Bode-Museum was built from 1897 to 1904 as the Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum on the northwestern tip of the Museumsinsel (Museum Island). To make the building appear as if it is rising out of the water, its architect, Ernst Eberhard von Ihne, placed the three-winged structure directly on the riverbank of the Spree. The view from the Ebertbrücke (bridge) overlooks the large dome of the Bode-Museum with the Fernsehturm (Television Tower) in the background. It is now among the most iconic views of Berlin worldwide.

Sculpture and Painting on View as Equals

The concept for the museum can be traced back largely to Wilhelm Bode, the former director of the Gemäldegalerie (Old Master Paintings) and the Skulpturensammlung (Sculpture Collection) and later general director of the Königliche Museen zu Berlin (Royal Museums of Berlin). At the Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum, which opened on 18 October 1904, paintings and sculptures were presented side-by-side on equal footing for the first time. These works were augmented by the Münzkabinett (Numismatic Collection), with its precious objects ranging from antiquity to the present.

The building was severely damaged during the Second World War and was gradually rebuilt between 1948 and 1986. It was renamed the Bode-Museum ‒ the name it still bears ‒ in 1956, after its spiritual creator. An extensive refurbishment of the building followed the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. It was reopened to the public in 2006.

The building now houses the Skulpturensammlung und das Museum für Byzantinische Kunst (Sculpture Collection and Museum of Byzantine Art), the Münzkabinett and selected works from the Gemäldegalerie, located at the Kulturforum. The history of the Bode-Museum has been presented in the “Klartext” (Plain Talk) exhibition since 2020.

Anniversary Celebration with Free Admission

The Bode-Museum invites visitors to a Family Day with free admission on Saturday, 19 October 2024. A programme of tours in German and English, lectures on the history of the building, a photo station, and drawing and sculpture workshops await visitors, with a treasure hunt through the museum and many other activities also being offered specifically for children.

Conservator-Restorers Provide Insights into Their Work

The 7th European Day of Conservation-Restoration is held the following day, on 20 October 2024. Conservator-restorers from diverse collections on the Museumsinsel provide exclusive insights into their demanding work. Visitors can also take guided tours at the Bode-Museum to gain a behind-the-scenes look into the restoration studios and workshops.

Donatello’s Putto and the Baptismal Font from Siena

The crypt on the lower level of the Bode-Museum is opening a new permanent presentation for visitors, also on 20 October 2024, featuring The Baptismal Font from Siena: History, Restoration and Reinstallation of a Plaster Cast Model. Only two objects are showcased in this small exhibition: Donatello’s Putto mit Tamburin (Putto with Tambourine) bronze statuette from the Sculpture Collection and the over five-metre high plaster cast of the Baptismal Font from Siena, which was produced in the Gipsformerei (Replica Workshop) in 1876. Both objects are closely associated with the history of the Bode-Museum and Wilhelm Bode.

During the 1910s and 1920s, all the halls on the ground floor of the former Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum along the Kupfergraben side were installed with casts made after Italian Renaissance sculpture. Now, the once so significant plaster casts from the Sculpture Collection – including another cast of the baptismal font – are kept in storage. The Gipsformerei continues to produce plaster casts from historical moulds. This forgotten collection symbolically returns to the Bode-Museum through this plaster cast model.

The putto was once part of the original baptismal font in the baptistry of San Giovanni in Siena but had been missing since the 17th century. Wilhelm Bode discovered it on the art market in London in 1901, and it has been part of the Sculpture Collection since 1902.

The Anniversary Celebration is supported by the Kaiser Friedrich Museumsverein and the Numismatischen Gesellschaft zu Berlin 1843 e. V.

The presentation and publication Das Taufbecken von Siena (The Baptismal Font from Siena) were made possible and funded by the Ernst von Siemens Kunststiftung, the Kaiser Friedrich Museumsverein and Museum&Location.