May 14th Field Question         

        Barndt recognizes three distinct key moments in the history of the Neues Museum that illustrate its connection with ruin discourse in her paper: "Working through Ruins: Berlin's Neues Museum"(2011). The first goes back to the Museum’s origin in mid 19^th century Prussia (Barndt, 2011, p.296). This has nothing to do with the destruction of the Museum itself, but refers to the original work in the building that alludes to other ruins. In it’s original construction, Hermann Schievelbein was commissioned to create a strip in the Greek Courtyard illustrating the destruction of the ancient city of Pompeii by the eruption of Vesuvius (Barndt, 2011, p.299). Fragments of this can still be found in the museum today as shown in the photo below.  

Neues Museum Greek Courtyard, May 14th 2015

            Second, Barndt recognizes the museum's reconstruction in Berlin after reunification, which did not entirely restore the building to its original state but instead, “integrates its war scars into a positive aesthetic program” (Barndt, 2011, p.302).  The architect, Chipperfield and head restaurateur, Julian Harrap mixed contemporary museum architecture with a tribute to the past building in its damaged state (Barndt, 2011, p.300).

            The third significant moment that Barndt recognizes is an exhibition that occurred in the Greek Courtyard in 2010. This displayed twelve modern sculptures, some of which were hidden in the ruins of World War II and were only discovered by chance during excavation to expand Berlin’s subway (Barndt, 2011, p.296). These were statues, which were not considered to be appropriate by National Socialism and had been previously confiscated from art museums.