Egypt
Here we have a view of the original Egyptian court destroyed in the second world war.
The neoclassical Neues museum was designed by architect Friedrich August Stuler and opened on Berlin's museum island in 1855 having taken more than a dozen years to build. The museum was set up to surround two interior courts one of which was an Egyptian court surrounded by lotus columns.
The museum was created to house Berlin's Egyptian collection as well as its amazing papyrus collection numbering in the 10's of thousands of documents.
The German excavations of Karl Lepsius in the 1840's brought back thousands of objects which became the impedes for the museum and became the backbone of the collection. Seventy years later the Expedition of Ludwig Borchardt at tell el Amarna struck pay dirt with the discovery of the studio of the sculpture Thutmosis filled with unfinished busts of the Pharaoh Akhenaten and his beautiful wife Nefertiti plus their daughters and many unidentified courtiers.
This excavation brought to Berlin an entire Amarna collection complete with the museums natural star the now famous limestone bust of Nefertiti. The bust was extremely controversial at the time when exhibited and is still probably the museums biggest scandal today unfortunately for Cairo it is also the museums biggest draw.
A deal had been made for the return of the bust but Hitler forbade the return and was soon declaring war on Poland. The Neues museum was closed in 1939 and its finest objects removed to safety but sadly near the end of the European war on November 23 1943 the museum and its remaining contents were bombarded and destroyed.
For the last seventy years the surviving rooms of the Neues have been used as storage space for the other less damaged museums on the island.
It was big news this past week that after a nearly $400 million refurbish the museum had its Egyptian and papyrus collections returned to their former home bringing a new brighter period in its life and its great collection.
http://www.neues-museum.de/index.php
- Berlin’s Neues Museum Announces Grand Re-opening
Travel Video News After more than 60 years in ruins, the Neues Museum (New Museum) on Berlin’s Museum Island is scheduled to re-open its doors on October 16, 2009. The re-opening completes the decade long, 200 million Euro restoration project, marking...
- Neues Museum To House Egyptology Collection In 2009
Bloomberg The British architect David Chipperfield is either blazing a restoration trail or sabotaging old buildings, depending on which Berliner you listen to. He is rebuilding a part of Germany's equivalent of the Louvre -- the war-damaged...
- A Star Like Nefertiti
The head of Egypt's antiquities service, Dr. Zahi Hawass has once again called on the folks in Germany to hand over the bust of Nefertiti found at tell El Amarna in 1912. According to Dr. Hawass he has paperwork to prove the bust was illegally smuggled...
- Artifacts From The (dog) Excavations Of Tell El Amarna
The 1912-1913 excavations on behalf of the German Oriental Society (DOG) at tell el Amarna brought to light a large collection of plaster masks and royal stone sculptures. The artist studio in which the sculpture were found was that of royal sculptor...
- More Nefertiti To Love
The transfer of the bust of Nefertiti from Berlin's Altes museum to its new home at the newly restored Neues museum on museum island has raised the old lingering question of who owns the iconic bust and what validity does the statement "to fragile...
Egypt
Return of the Neues
Here we have a view of the original Egyptian court destroyed in the second world war.
The neoclassical Neues museum was designed by architect Friedrich August Stuler and opened on Berlin's museum island in 1855 having taken more than a dozen years to build. The museum was set up to surround two interior courts one of which was an Egyptian court surrounded by lotus columns.
The museum was created to house Berlin's Egyptian collection as well as its amazing papyrus collection numbering in the 10's of thousands of documents.
The German excavations of Karl Lepsius in the 1840's brought back thousands of objects which became the impedes for the museum and became the backbone of the collection. Seventy years later the Expedition of Ludwig Borchardt at tell el Amarna struck pay dirt with the discovery of the studio of the sculpture Thutmosis filled with unfinished busts of the Pharaoh Akhenaten and his beautiful wife Nefertiti plus their daughters and many unidentified courtiers.
This excavation brought to Berlin an entire Amarna collection complete with the museums natural star the now famous limestone bust of Nefertiti. The bust was extremely controversial at the time when exhibited and is still probably the museums biggest scandal today unfortunately for Cairo it is also the museums biggest draw.
A deal had been made for the return of the bust but Hitler forbade the return and was soon declaring war on Poland. The Neues museum was closed in 1939 and its finest objects removed to safety but sadly near the end of the European war on November 23 1943 the museum and its remaining contents were bombarded and destroyed.
For the last seventy years the surviving rooms of the Neues have been used as storage space for the other less damaged museums on the island.
It was big news this past week that after a nearly $400 million refurbish the museum had its Egyptian and papyrus collections returned to their former home bringing a new brighter period in its life and its great collection.
http://www.neues-museum.de/index.php
- Berlin’s Neues Museum Announces Grand Re-opening
Travel Video News After more than 60 years in ruins, the Neues Museum (New Museum) on Berlin’s Museum Island is scheduled to re-open its doors on October 16, 2009. The re-opening completes the decade long, 200 million Euro restoration project, marking...
- Neues Museum To House Egyptology Collection In 2009
Bloomberg The British architect David Chipperfield is either blazing a restoration trail or sabotaging old buildings, depending on which Berliner you listen to. He is rebuilding a part of Germany's equivalent of the Louvre -- the war-damaged...
- A Star Like Nefertiti
The head of Egypt's antiquities service, Dr. Zahi Hawass has once again called on the folks in Germany to hand over the bust of Nefertiti found at tell El Amarna in 1912. According to Dr. Hawass he has paperwork to prove the bust was illegally smuggled...
- Artifacts From The (dog) Excavations Of Tell El Amarna
The 1912-1913 excavations on behalf of the German Oriental Society (DOG) at tell el Amarna brought to light a large collection of plaster masks and royal stone sculptures. The artist studio in which the sculpture were found was that of royal sculptor...
- More Nefertiti To Love
The transfer of the bust of Nefertiti from Berlin's Altes museum to its new home at the newly restored Neues museum on museum island has raised the old lingering question of who owns the iconic bust and what validity does the statement "to fragile...