31.10.2018
After five weeks, 42,000 visitors have already seen the major special exhibition Restless Times: Archaeology in Germany in the Gropius Bau. One of the most spectacular loans, the Nebra Sky Disc, will be on display until closing on Monday 5 November 2018, after which it will be replaced by a high-quality replica. Beginning on Wednesday 7 November 2018 though, another valuable find will enrich the show: the horse’s head from Waldgirmes, which once formed part of a Roman equestrian statue. The exhibition runs until 6 January 2019.
“I’m so pleased to see the interest that this exhibition has provoked”, said Matthias Wemhoff, Director of the Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. “Many young people and families are visiting Restless Times right now and realizing just how many connections there are between the ‘old’ finds and contemporary issues.”
Digital communication and high-speed transport are bringing people ever closer together, and make globalization seem like a modern phenomenon. But the reality is that transregional networks and all of their concomitant effects have always been an inherent part of society, and have fundamentally influenced people’s lives since prehistoric times. Every day, archaeologists make discoveries which back this up in striking ways. Restless Times. Archaeology in Germany presents the most spectacular archaeological finds of the past 20 years, from the Stone Age to the 20th century. Organized around the four themes of Mobility, Conflict, Exchange and Innovation, and with over 1000 exhibits, visitors will be able to get a sense of the personal, economic and cultural effects of transregional interaction.
The aim of the exhibition is for the objects on display to highlight the connections between our cultural past with the current day, and to make clear that the foundations of a common Europe were laid several thousand years ago, and that it is from these foundations that a unique cultural network arose which continues to shape us today.
“The horse’s head from Waldgirmes is really a spectacular addition”, continues Matthias Wemhoff. “Everybody knows the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius on Capitoline Hill, but that the Romans also felt so secure to the east of the Rhine that in their newly founded city they put Augustus up on his horse for all to see is a genuine sensation. But the golden glitter of the ruler that is still reflected in the head of the horse was a provocation for the Germanic peoples. They tore down the memorial and sunk parts of it in a fountain.”
"Restless Times. Archaeology in Germany" is under the patronage of the Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, and is supported by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, and the Kuratorium Preußischer Kulturbesitz.
The exhibition is accompanied by a comprehensive catalogue, published by Michael Imhof Verlag: German, 480 pages, ca. 355 images, ISBN 978-3-7319-0723-7, price: 49,95 €.