Berlin Sculpture-Network

The Berlin Sculpture Network - Contextualization and Interpretation of Ancient Sculpture is a cooperation project between the antique collection of the Berlin State Museums (SMB ) and the Free University of Berlin ( FU). It was promoted during his three-year term by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research as part of the "translation function of Humanities" initiative.

History and Structure of the Berlin Sculpture Network

The aim of the project is the digital acquisition and new publication of the hitherto insufficiently explored ancient sculptures of the Berlin Collection of Classical Antiquities ( about 2600 objects, with all fragments around 4400 ) and the modern plaster casts after classical sculpture (about 3428 objects ) in the collections of the National Museums, the cast collection of the Institute of Classical Archaeology at the Free University of Berlin and the Winckelmann - Institut der Humboldt -Universität zu Berlin. The scientific key questions were aimed at a historically differentiated reconstruction of ancient contexts installation of the sculptures and the extraction of spatial, functional and content relationships. This also includes the relevant archive and the current excavation data should be collected and merged. This work was carried out with the support of more than a hundred experts from Germany and abroad, including many young scientists.

The Berlin Collection of Classical Antiquities preserves the largest collection of Greek, Cypriot, Etruscan and Roman Art in Germany and is one of the most important antiquities museums worldwide. The collection began under the Elector of Brandenburg in the 17th century and was greatly expanded in the late 19th and early 20th century mainly by the large excavations of the German Empire in Asia Minor. Their public presentation and scientific development, however, remained back mainly due to the two world wars and the German division, always far behind the significance of the museum and was only now, in the age of electronic data processing, with a view of completeness and ease of access tackled be.

Already in 2011, the Bronze Collection of Classical Antiquities ( 8277 individual objects, including war losses ) in the online database " antique bronze in Berlin" have been made available. Took place between 2009 and 2012 as part of the " Berlin Sculpture network" complete revision of all Greek, Cypriot, Etruscan and Roman sculptures in stone and the few large bronzes - including war losses and the sculptures in Potsdam. For the first time was a complete Catalogue of ancient sculptures, which is available online in the database Arachne since July 2013.

Approximately 2,600 works of art from the collection of the Berlin Collection of Classical Antiquities have been documented with photographic admissions in multiple views, and some feature historical photographs and restoration mapping. Numerous sculptures were ever photographed for the first time. Over one hundred scientists, the sculptures have provided new in -depth texts. A special focus was on the exploration of the contexts that could be redeveloped by an intensive study of archival materials in many cases. Both the original lineup context as well as the post-classical reception history of the sculptures experienced an in-depth look. In particular, to the sculptures from Pergamon and Magnesia on the Meander the excavation documentation was systematically reviewed. The detailed scientific texts preserve the character of a traditional sculptures catalog; by the online publication several advantages of electronic media are also combined: texts and images of the individual works of art are set with comparison pieces and reproductions, architectural and topographical contexts in relationship. Especially multipart monuments learn a good user experience, since even smaller, often still unpublished fragments are linked. The user thus has many opportunities to tap into the Berlin Sculpture.

Initial findings of the extensive researches have been 2011/12 to the general public during the exhibition Pergamon - Panorama of the Ancient Metropolis presented in the Pergamon Museum. What was unique was the combination of archaeological exhibition and the new monumental 360 -degree panorama of the Berlin Pergamon artist Yadegar Asisi, which was realized for the first time. The large number of late 19th and early 20th century came to Berlin sculptures from the excavations in the Hellenistic residence appeared to be best suited to visitors to provide insights into the work of the network.

In cooperation with the Institute of Classical Archaeology of the Free University of Berlin, all casts were documented after antiques in Berlin and made ​​available on the database Arachne within the project.

A long-term goal of the Berlin Sculpture Network is to connect the Berlin collections and institutions together to network with each other scientists to develop new methods and questions and make these available to the public.

Partner

Other network partners are (alphabetical order):

  • German Archaeological Institute, Berlin
  • German Archaeological Institute, Istanbul Department
  • Excellence Cluster Topoi
  • Free University of Berlin, Institute of Classical Archaeology
  • Humboldt -Universität zu Berlin, Winckelmann Institute for Classical Archaeology
  • Konrad Zuse Center for Information Technology Berlin
  • Department of representation theory of the Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus
  • Lenné3D
  • Replica Workshop of the State Museums of Berlin
  • Institute for Museum Research of the National Museums in Berlin
  • University of Cologne Archaeological Institute ( Center for Digital Archaeology ) with the object and image database Arachne
118054
de