September, 2005 - Nr. 9
Bust of Nefretiti the star of Museum Island’s 175th anniversary
TWIG - Tens of thousands of visitors have come to Berlin’s Altes Museum to see the famous bust of Egyptian Queen Nofretiti and other pieces of art from antiquity since the queen’s return to Berlin. The bust, created in 1340 BC, has taken up its place on the city’s Museum Isle after being exhibited in provisional locations throughout Germany since 1939.
At the start of World War II, the bust had been removed from the museum to protect it from bombing. After a long odyssey through alternative storage and exhibition spaces, the bust has returned to Berlin’s Museum Isle art complex, its permanent home.
In terms of the museum’s history, "the postwar period is over only now," said museum director Dietrich Wilding, at an event celebrating 175 years of museum culture in Berlin on August 13. The date was deliberately chosen for its symbolic meaning: On August 13th 1961, 44 years ago, the Berlin Wall was built.
The museum’s current exhibition is a preview of things to come. More than half of the objects belonging to the state’s antique collection remain in storage. Berlin’s hope to once again display the full wealth of artefacts in its museums is inspired by the original plans of German enlightenment thinkers such as Alexander von Humboldt.
Following the exhibition, Nefretiti, along with her royal
household, will move to her final destination in the Neues Museum nearby.
Her homecoming marks a milestone in the restoration of Berlin’s Museum Isle,
to be completed in 2009.
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