The Return of the Gods
Berlin's Hidden Olympus

27.11.2008 to 11.04.2010

Pergamonmuseum

Since the autumn of 2008 the National Museums in Berlin are commemorating the return of museum pieces from the Soviet Union to Berlin that took place in 1958. To also mark the occasion, the Collection of Classical Antiquities will be placing 170 art works on display, which, for restoration purposes, had had to remain in storage until now. The sculptures, vases and craftwork objects stand as representatives for thousands of art works which came back to Berlin after a period of exile in Moscow and St. Petersburg lasting thirteen years, the most important of which was the frieze of the world famous Pergamon Altar.

In a joint project with the Fundação Armando Alvares Penteado, important images of deities were able to be restored and were put on display in 2006/7 to great success in São Paulo and at a location just outside Rio de Janeiro. The most important figures of the Greek and Roman pantheon are now to be presented in Berlin, showing their art historical development and placed in their cultural historical context: as votive offerings in the shrine, as adornments of public spaces and buildings or as fixtures in Roman villas and gardens.