2023-05-19 13:22:00
Immediately, nine museums in the German capital announced their intention to intensify the work on establishing property rights for objects of archaeological collections that are in their storages. Moreover, this activity should become one of the central ones in their work. Such a statement on May 16 was made by Hermann Parzinger, an archaeologist, specialist in Scythian culture and chairman of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation.
This week, a new strategy document was presented that details how Berlin’s state museums will deal with their archaeological collections in the future and how work will be carried out to study the history of ownership and the origin of the objects themselves, in German – Provenienzforschung. As the head of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation emphasized, these are primarily objects that came to Berlin as a result of excavations, commercial acquisition or during military conflicts.
What tasks fall on German museums
At the same time, the focus of attention of museum workers will be not on the return of these objects, but on the study of the history of their entry into the vaults and collections of German museums. In the event of disputes, museums are recommended to establish contact with the country of origin of an archaeological object in order to find a mutual solution. In addition, the possibility of returning archaeological artifacts to their historical homeland is not ruled out.
The focus of the archaeological collections of the Berlin museums lies in antiquity – these are objects of both Greek and Roman culture. This collection, collected by Berlin museums, is considered one of the largest in the world. The most famous object is the sculptural frieze of the Pergamon Altar on the Museum Island, which is one of the most significant monuments of ancient culture.
A pilot project started in March 2023. Three Berlin museums, under the leadership of the Central Archives, began to study the history of three burials in the territory of the former Ottoman Empire. Scientists will have to figure out how the artifacts got into Berlin museums – legal or illegal.
German museums have long been concerned with the study of the provenance of artifacts from their collections. The scientists focused on objects that changed owners during National Socialism. It should be noted that Germany is also actively engaged in rethinking its colonial past. State Minister of Germany for Culture and Media Claudia Roth (Claudia Roth) said that this direction is a national task. One of the historic moments was the transfer to Nigeria in December 2022 by the German government of 20 objects of the so-called Benin Bronze.
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