The Ethnological Museum of Berlin (german:
Ethnologisches Museum Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...
) is one of the
Berlin State Museums (german:
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
The Berlin State Museums (german: Staatliche Museen zu Berlin) are a group of institutions in Berlin, Germany, comprising seventeen museums in five clusters, several research institutes, libraries, and supporting facilities. They are overseen ...
), the de facto national collection of the Federal Republic of Germany. It is presently located in the
Humboldt Forum
The Humboldt Forum is a museum dedicated to human history, art and culture, located in the Berlin Palace on the Museum Island in the historic centre of Berlin. It is in honour of the Prussian scholars Wilhelm and Alexander von Humboldt. Considere ...
in
Mitte, along with the
Museum of Asian Art (german:
Museum für Asiatische Kunst). The museum holds more than 500,000 objects and is one of the largest and most important collections of works of art and culture from outside Europe in the world.
[Viola König (Hrsg.): ''Ethnologisches Museum Berlin''. Prestel, München 2003. Seite 8.] Its highlights include important objects from the
Sepik River
The Sepik () is the longest river on the island of New Guinea, and the second largest in Oceania by discharge volume after the Fly River. The majority of the river flows through the Papua New Guinea (PNG) provinces of Sandaun (formerly West Se ...
,
Hawaii, the
Kingdom of Benin
The Kingdom of Benin, also known as the Edo Kingdom, or the Benin Empire ( Bini: ') was a kingdom within what is now southern Nigeria. It has no historical relation to the modern republic of Benin, which was known as Dahomey from the 17th ce ...
,
Cameroon
Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...
,
Congo,
Tanzania
Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands ...
,
China, the
Pacific Coast of North America,
Mesoamerica, the Andes, as well as one of the first
ethnomusicology collections of sound recordings (the
Berliner Phonogramm-Archiv).
The Ethnological Museum was founded in 1873 and opened its doors in 1886 as the Royal Museum for Ethnology (german: Königliches Museum für Völkerkunde), but its roots go back to the 17th-century
Kunstkammer of the rulers of Brandenburg-Prussia.
[Viola König (Hrsg.): ''Ethnologisches Museum Berlin''. Prestel, München, 2003, S. 14.] As the museum’s collections expanded in the early 20th century, the museum quickly outgrew its facility in the center of Berlin on Königgrätzer Straße (today named Stresemannstraße).
[Viola König (Hrsg.): ''Ethnologisches Museum Berlin''. Prestel, München 2003, S. 16.] A new building was erected in Dahlem to house the museum’s store rooms and study collections. In the Second World War, the main building of the museum was heavily damaged. It was demolished in 1961, and the buildings in Dahlem (in what was then
West Berlin) were reconfigured to serve as the museum's exhibition spaces.
Following German reunification, although many of the Berlin museum collections were relocated, the collections of the Ethnological Museum remained in Dahlem. Starting in 2000, concrete plans were developed to relocate the collections back to the center of the city. In 2021, the Ethnological Museum and Museum of Asian Art were reopened in the
Humboldt Forum
The Humboldt Forum is a museum dedicated to human history, art and culture, located in the Berlin Palace on the Museum Island in the historic centre of Berlin. It is in honour of the Prussian scholars Wilhelm and Alexander von Humboldt. Considere ...
in the reconstructed
Berlin City Palace
The Berlin Palace (german: Berliner Schloss), formally the Royal Palace (german: Königliches Schloss), on the Museum Island in the Mitte area of Berlin, was the main residence of the House of Hohenzollern from 1443 to 1918. Expanded by order of ...
(german:
Berliner Stadtschloss) immediately south of the main
Museum Island complex.
Collections
Beginning in January 2016, the Ethnological Museum began the process of dismantling its exhibitions in preparation for its move to the
Humboldt Forum
The Humboldt Forum is a museum dedicated to human history, art and culture, located in the Berlin Palace on the Museum Island in the historic centre of Berlin. It is in honour of the Prussian scholars Wilhelm and Alexander von Humboldt. Considere ...
. Until January 2017, the museum will remain open to the public, and its permanent exhibitions of works from Africa, Mesoamerican archaeology, and South Asia can still be viewed. Highlights include the collections of painted
Maya
Maya may refer to:
Civilizations
* Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America
** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples
** Maya language, the languages of the Maya peoples
* Maya (Ethiopia), a popul ...
vases and drinking cups,
Benin bronzes
The Benin Bronzes are a group of several thousand metal plaques and sculptures that decorated the royal palace of the Kingdom of Benin, in what is now Edo State, Nigeria. Collectively, the objects form the best examples of Benin art and were cr ...
, sculpture from
Cameroon
Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...
, and power figures from
Congo.
The collections themselves encompass more than 500,000 from around the world. In addition, the museum holds more than 280,000 historical photographs, a substantial archive, more than 125,000 sound recordings, and 20,000 ethnographic films. The collection is organized according to geography as well as methodological approaches. The main divisions are Africa, Oceania, East-and North-Asia, South and Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Central Asia, American ethnology, American archaeology, and ethnomusicology. The museum also houses a specialized reference library of more than 140,000 volumes relating to ethnology, non-European art, and global art.
These collections are all housed in the museum complex in Dahlem. Long-term plans are being made to relocate the collections not on display to
Friedrichshagen, an eastern suburb of Berlin, where the
Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation
The Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation (german: Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz; SPK) is a German federal government body that oversees 27 museums and cultural organizations in and around Berlin, Germany. Its purview includes all of Berlin's ...
(german:
Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz) has already constructed storage facilities for the
Berlin State Library
The Berlin State Library (german: Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin; officially abbreviated as ''SBB'', colloquially ''Stabi'') is a universal library in Berlin, Germany and a property of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation. It is one of the ...
(german:
Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin).
Repatriation of stolen artifacts
In 2021, the museum announced plans to return some of its holding of Nigerian artifacts, including a large collection of Benin Bronzes, to Nigeria. The Bronzes had been looted during the British
Benin Expedition of 1897.
In 2022, a group of 23 artifacts from the collection, including precious jewelry and pottery, was returned indefinitely to Namibia. The items were taken between 1884 and 1915, when Namibia was part of the
German Empire colony
German South West Africa
German South West Africa (german: Deutsch-Südwestafrika) was a colony of the German Empire from 1884 until 1915, though Germany did not officially recognise its loss of this territory until the 1919 Treaty of Versailles. With a total area of ...
.
Selected works
File:Ethnologisches Museum Berlin Afrika 025.JPG, Gold pendant from West Africa
File:Afrikaabteilung in Ethnological Museum Berlin 61.JPG, Fang Ngil mask from Cameroon/Gabon
File:Statue Bangwa-Musée ethnologique de Berlin.jpg, Statue of a Bangwa king with twins
File:Königsthron Bamum EthnM IIIC33341.jpg, Throne of King Nsangu of Bamum ('Mandu Yenu')
File:Statue Luluwa-Musée ethnologique de Berlin.jpg, Lulua figure (the Leopard chief)
File:Ethnologisches Museum Berlin Afrika 001.JPG, Seat with ancestral figures
File:Statuette Chokwe-Musée ethnologique de Berlin.jpg, Chokwe figure of a queen or queen mother
File:Südseeabteilung in Ethnological Museum Berlin 11d.jpg, Tepukei (ocean-going outrigger canoe) from the Santa Cruz Islands
The Santa Cruz Islands are a group of islands in the Pacific Ocean, part of Temotu Province of the nation of Solomon Islands discovered by the Spaniards. They lie approximately 250 miles (400 km) to the southeast of the Solomon Islands ...
collected by Dr Gerd Koch
Gerd Koch (11 July 1922 – 19 April 2005) was a German cultural anthropologist best known for his studies on the material culture of Kiribati, Tuvalu and the Santa Cruz Islands in the Pacific. He was associated with the Ethnological Museum of ...
File:Statues Uli (musée de Dahlem, Berlin).jpg, Uli Figures
File:Surfboard, Hawaii, 1887 - Ethnological Museum, Berlin - DSC01245.JPG, Hawaiian surfboard from 1887
File:Ethnologisches Museum Dahlem Berlin Mai 2006 008.jpg, Feather capes from Hawaii
File:Melanesien-Abteilung Berlin-Dahlem Ethnologisches Museum.jpg, The Melanesian room, with reconstructed houses
File:Ethnologisches Museum Berlin Nordamerika 020.JPG, Figure of a bear from the Pacific Northwest Coast
File:Yupik mask EthnM.jpg, Yupik mask
File:Mesoamerican collection at the Ethnological Museum of Berlin.jpg, Exhibit featuring artefacts from Mesoamerica
File:Ethnologisches Museum Berlin Mesoamerika 019.JPG, Maya vase with writing
File:Ethnologisches Museum Berlin Mesoamerika 003.JPG, Monumental stone carving of a skull from Mesoamerica
File:Brautschmuck Tolima 1 EthnM.jpg, Gold Tolima ornament
File:Totenmaske Berlin-Dahlem.jpg, Pre-Columbian death mask
File:Guanyin 1 EthnM.jpg, A Chinese wooden sculpture depicting Guanyin, Song Dynasty
The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the rest ...
, 12th century AD
File:Inka Figurine EthnM.jpg, Inca figurine
Jina Rishabhanatha with 23 additional Jinas, Rajasthan, Western India, dated Samvat 1201, 1144 AD, brass inlaid with silver - Ethnological Museum, Berlin - DSC01585.JPG, Rishabhanatha with 23 additional Jinas, India, 12th century
Architecture
The museum's first building in the center of Berlin on Königgrätzer Straße (now Stresemannstraße at the corner with
Niederkirchnerstraße) was already too small to accommodate the collections when it opened in 1886.
The situation deteriorated further in the last years of the 19th century, as the collections expanded rapidly because of increased institutional support for ethnology and the growth of the German overseas colonial empire after the
Berlin Conference
The Berlin Conference of 1884–1885, also known as the Congo Conference (, ) or West Africa Conference (, ), regulated European colonisation and trade in Africa during the New Imperialism period and coincided with Germany's sudden emergenc ...
.
By 1906, the first construction began on a second facility for the museum in
Dahlem. The museum intended to use space in Dahlem to store and conduct research on the large collections, but to continue to exhibit portions of the collection in the building in the city center. Plans were developed for a large complex in Dahlem, consisting of four large buildings, one for each of the non-European geographical regions of the globe: Asia, Africa, Oceania, and the Americas, the latter department directed by
Konrad Theodor Preuss. Construction began in 1914, the architect
Bruno Paul
Bruno Paul (19 January 1874 – 17 August 1968) was a German architect, illustrator, interior designer, and furniture designer.
Trained as a painter in the royal academy just as the Munich Secession developed against academic art, he first ca ...
was commissioned to build the structure to house the Asian collections on Arnimallee, Dahlem. The work was stopped, however, because of the First World War and was only completed in 1921. However, the museum lacked the resources to erect the other three planned buildings. The museum continued to function with two separate facilities housing its collections until the Second World War.
Following the Second World War, as a result of the division of Berlin, the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation decided to house the portions of the
Gemäldegalerie (Picture Gallery) that were returned to West Berlin in the Bruno Paul building. This decision required moving the collections of the Ethnological Museum to a new facility. The architect
Fritz Bornemann developed plans for an extension to the Bruno Paul building, which was erected from 1966 to 1970. The Bornemann building faced onto Lansstraße with an uncompromisingly
modernist
Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...
pavilion and contrasted sharply with the older
neo-classical Bruno Paul structure, with its main entrance on Arnimallee.
Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1993-021-25, Berlin, Völkerkunde-Museum.jpg, Royal Museum for Ethnology
Die Gartenlaube (1887) b 549.jpg, Covered courtyard of the Royal Museum for Ethnology
Haupteingang Museum Europäischer Kulturen,Arnimallee 25. © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin Foto von Ute Franz-Scarciglia2011.jpg, Main entrance of the Bruno Paul building
Berlin's Dahlem Museum in April 2014.jpg, Entrance to the Bornemann building for the former Ethnological Museum in Dahlem
Ethnologisches Museum Eingangsbereich.JPG, Foyer of the Ethnological Museum
References
* Peter Bolz: ''Die Berliner Nordamerika-Sammlung des Prinzen
Maximilian zu Wied.'' S. 88–91 in:
Nordamerika Native Museum, Zürich (Karin Isernhagen): ''
Karl Bodmer. A Swiss Artist in America 1809–1893. Ein Schweizer Künstler in Amerika.'' Scheidegger & Spiess, Zürich, 2009. .
* Michael Falser: ''Gipsabgüsse von Angkor Wat für das Völkerkundemuseum in Berlin – eine sammlungsgeschichtliche Anekdote.'' In: ''Indo-Asiatische Zeitschrift'', Mitteilungen der Gesellschaft für Indo-Asiatische Kunst Berlin 16/2012, S. 43–58.
* Viola König (ed.): ''Ethnologisches Museum Berlin''. Prestel, München u. a. 2003, .
* Markus Schindlbeck (ed.): ''Expeditionen in die Südsee. Begleitbuch zur Ausstellung und Geschichte der Südsee-Sammlung des Ethnologischen Museums''. Reimer, Berlin, 2007, .
* Sigrid Westphal-Hellbusch:. "Zur Geschichte des Museums." In: "Hundert Jahre Museum für Völkerkunde Berlin," special issue, ''Baessler-Archiv: Beiträge zur Völkerkunde'', n.s., 21 (1973): 1–99.
Directors
*
Adolf Bastian
Adolf Philipp Wilhelm Bastian (26 June 18262 February 1905) was a 19th-century polymath best remembered for his contributions to the development of ethnography and the development of anthropology as a discipline. Modern psychology owes him a great ...
(1873–1904)
*
Felix von Luschan
Felix Ritter von Luschan (11 August 1854 – 7 February 1924) was an Austrian doctor, anthropologist, explorer, archaeologist and ethnographer.
Life
Luschan was born the son of a lawyer in Hollabrunn, Lower Austria, and attended the Akademische ...
(1904–1910)
*
Otto Kümmel (1923-1934)
*
Hans-Dietrich Disselhoff (1954–1970)
*
Kurt Krieger (1970–1985)
*
Klaus Helfrich (1985–2001)
*
Viola König (2001–2017)
*
Lars-Christian Koch (since 2017)
Footnotes
External links
*
Museum websiteFlickr205 images
Outlining the Kümmel Report: Between German Nationality and Aesthetics
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ethnological Museum Of Berlin
Museums in Berlin
Ethnographic museums in Germany
Buildings and structures in Mitte
Art museums and galleries in Berlin
African art museums
Mesoamerican art museums
Berlin State Museums
Museums established in 1873