Neues Museum

There are three key moments within history that help to illustrate the Neues Museums connections with ruin discourse. First comes the origin of the museum. The Neues Museum originated in mid-nineteenth century Prussia becoming quite significant to those of the western world. The museum became home to artifacts that had survived a form of destruction within the past, thus tying into ruin discourse. Wilhelm Kaulbach, a man whose paintings filled the walls of the museum, focused on painting scenes of destruction such as Titus’s siege of Jerusalem. While Herman Schievelbein fixated on the destruction of Pompeii by creating a “thematic frieze” amongst the walls in the courtyard.

            The next key moment, is that of the restoration process in 1997. During World War Two, the museum took a large blow not only because the Nazi’s confiscated multiple artifacts, but also because Berlin was a warzone. The museum fell victim to the battle scars of war, thus making it a ruin itself. Through restoration, the museum was rebuilt differently. For example, a different design had taken place.  Bullet holes were left in walls and the building was left to the “erosive forces of nature”. Through this moment of restoration, the museum becomes not only symbolic for containing items of destruction illustrating ruin discourse, but also being a ruin of destruction itself.

            The last key moment is the on-going exhibition within the museum’s Greek courtyard that displays different artifacts confiscated by the Nazi’s during their reign. This exhibition can be seen as housing artifacts and cultures that are victim to destruction. All of the artifacts were found by accident underneath the rubble of World War Two.

Sources

Barndt, Kerstin. “Working Through The Ruins: Berlins Neues Museum.” The Germanic Review: Literature, Culture, Theory. December 8, 2011. Accessed May 16, 2015.