Bavarian State Archaeological Collection

A sign on the main building of the Bavarian State Archaeological Collection.

The Bavarian State Archaeological Collection (German: Archäologische Staatssammlung, until 2000 known as the Prähistorische Staatssammlung, State Prehistoric Collection) in Munich is the central museum of prehistory of the State of Bavaria, considered to be one of the most important archaeological collections and cultural history museums in Germany.

History

The museum was founded on 14 October 1885 on the initiative of the physiologist and anthropologist Johannes Ranke, a nephew of Leopold von Ranke.[1][2] As part of his teaching at the University of Munich, he had assembled a private collection of both original prehistoric objects of Bavarian origin and copies and held a well received exhibition of them in March–April that year, after which he donated them to the Kingdom of Bavaria. He had previously founded the Museums-Verein für Vorgeschichtliche Alterthümer Baierns (Museum Association for Prehistoric Artifacts of Bavaria).[3]

Statue of the Mars of Eining

That same autumn, holdings of the Royal Ethnographic Museum were integrated into the new institution, and with the assistance of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences, a collection of major finds from the Little Switzerland region of Franconia, including from tumuli, was built up in 1885 and 1886. Initially the museum was an independent division of the Conservatory of the Palaeontological Collection in the Museum of Ethnography (today the Bavarian State Collection for Palaeontology and Geology). On 7 February 1889, at Ranke's urging, it became an independent subsidiary of the General Conservatory of Natural Science Collections of the Kingdom of Bavaria, with him as curator.[4] In 1902 it was renamed the Anthropologisch-Prähistorisches Sammlung des Staates (Anthropological-Prehistoric Collection of the State), in 1927, separated from the anthropology collection, and in 1935, named the Vor- und Frühgeschichtliche Staatssammlung.[2]

A Roman Triclinium (formal dining room) at the museum.

The institution joined two others in Munich in collecting and exhibiting prehistoric and early historic finds: the Historischer Verein von Oberbayern and the ancient history division of the Bavarian National Museum. In 1927 and 1934, respectively, these transferred their holdings in the field to the institution founded by Ranke.

The collection was originally exhibited in the Old Academy or Wilhelminum, but beginning in 1939 was no longer on permanent public view, and in 1944 the exhibition space was destroyed. After the war, since it was no longer together with the other natural science museums, it was also made an independent organisation; in 1954 it reverted to the name Prähistorische Staatssammlung.[5]

Until 1975, it was housed in the Bavarian National Museum. Beginning in February 1976, it reopened one department at a time in a specially designed building on the Englischer Garten, next to the Bavarian National Museum. The building is of reinforced concrete with weathering steel panels designed to rust, and was designed by Helmut von Werz, Johann-Christoph Ottow, Erhard Bachmann and Michel Marx. The new building was the culmination of many years of effort by Hans-Jörg Kellner, curator of the State Prehistoric Collection from 1960 to 1984, and the Vereinigung der Freunde der Bayerischen Vor- und Frühgeschichte (Association of Friends of Bavarian Pre- and Early History), which he founded in 1973.

On 11 May 2000 the museum was renamed to the State Archaeological Collection in response to the wishes of its then curator, Ludwig Wammser, to better reflect its scope, which had come to include medieval and early modern periods both in and outside Bavaria.[1]

In 2010 Wammser was succeeded as director by Rupert Gebhard.

A sandstone monolith dated to the 11th century at the entrance of the Bavarian State Archaeological Collection.

Scope and emphases of the collection

The museum houses the Bavarian state collection of prehistory, represented by mostly local exhibits of the Paleolithic, the Neolithic, the Bronze Age, the Urnfield culture, the Hallstatt culture, the era of the Celts, the Roman Empire, the Migration Period and the Early Middle Ages with some items from later periods. For example, it has on permanent exhibit Mesolithic finds from Speckberg, near Eichstätt, artifacts from the Celtic oppidum of Manching and parts of a Roman bath found in the Tegelberg settlement near Schwangau, and in addition the bog body of a 20-year-old girl dating to the 16th century and models of dugouts from various periods.

The collection has been structured in a chronological exhibition, which is continued by the collection of the adjoining Bavarian National Museum.

Restoration workshops

The museum has its own facilities for archaeological restoration, to preserve finds from further degradation and prepare them for scientific study or display. In addition, the facility tests questionable finds to determine whether they are genuine, demonstrates methods, and performs research into the characteristics of ancient materials and modern media and conservation materials.

Special exhibitions

The permanent exhibit is supplemented by special exhibitions in cooperation with other museums, which usually take place annually. These have included:

Bavarian state exhibitions are presented at irregular intervals in partnership with a variety of other institutions. These have included:

Branch facilities

The Bavarian State Archaeological Collection maintains several local branches in Bavaria:

The Archäologisches Museum Neu-Ulm (Neu-Ulm Archaeological Museum) in Neu-Ulm opened in 1998 and featured a reconstruction of the Hallstatt period chieftain's grave from Illerberg in Vöhringen. It closed in 2008.

References

  1. 1 2 "Die Prähistorische Staatssammlung unter neuem Namen: Zukünftig Archäologische Staatssammlung - Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte", Mitteilungen der Freunde der bayerischen Vor- und Frühgeschichte 95 Archived September 29, 2011, at the Wayback Machine., 24 September 2000 (in German)
  2. 1 2 Richard Bauer and Wilhelm Volkert, Handbuch der bayerischen Ämter, Gemeinden und Gerichte 1799-1980, Munich: Beck, 1983, ISBN 978-3-406-09669-3, p. 219 (in German)
  3. ↑ Michael Kamp, "Das Museum als Ort der Politik. Münchner Museen im 19. Jahrhundert", PhD thesis, University of Munich, 2002, p. 190, note 695 (pdf) (in German)
  4. ↑ Michael Kamp, "Das Museum als Ort der Politik. Münchner Museen im 19. Jahrhundert", PhD thesis, University of Munich, 2002, p. 190, note 695 (pdf) (in German)
  5. ↑ Bauer and Volkert, pp. 219–20.

Sources

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