Humboldt Forum, Ahoy!

News from 05/29/2018

The first large object, the Luf boat, has been moved from the Ethnologisches Museum to the Humboldt Forum. The boat drew crowds to Dahlem and is one of the highlights of the permanent exhibit, which will be open for viewing again in late 2019, in the reconstructed Berliner Schloss (Berlin Palace).

By means of complicated special transport from Berlin-Dahlem to Berlin-Mitte, the hull of the 16-meter long and 10-meter high sailboat was moved in the night on May 28. While Minster of State for Culture Monika Grütters, the Humboldt Forum Foundation head of construction Hans-Dieter Hegner and SPK President Hermann Parzinger watched that morning, the valuable freight was hoisted into the exhibition hall on the second floor.Commenting on the first major transport, Hermann Parzinger said: “The collections of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin are the Humboldt Forum’s backbone. Moving objects from Dahlem to Mitte is a logistics challenge for everyone involved. The Luf boat is an icon of the Ethnologisches Museum (Ethnological Museum) and establishing it in its new home begins the process of furnishing the Humboldt Forum with exhibits. The plans to make this new cultural district in the heart of Berlin a place where the world can understand itself better are no longer just on paper. I would like to thank everyone at the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Stiftung Berliner Schloss – Humboldt-Forum, and Humboldt Forum Kultur GmbH who was involved for making this sensitive operation a success.” 

The 130-year-old sailboat originally came from Luf Island in the Bismarck Archipelago, which now belongs to Papua New Guinea. It is the last of its kind. The trading company that acquired it in 1903 offered the boat to the Museum für Völkerkunde (today’s Ethnologisches Museum) and it was moved to Berlin in 1904. 

The Humboldt Forum, a new urban cultural district, will open in the center of Berlin in late 2019. By bringing together outstanding collections with important exhibits, including objects and works of art from the Ethnologisches Museum and the Museum für Asiatische Kunst (Asian Art Museum), the Humboldt Forum stimulates new ways of thinking about the world of yesterday, today and tomorrow. Stiftung Berliner Schloss – Humboldt-Forum (Berlin Palace – Humboldtforum Foundation), Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbesitz with the Ethnologisches Museum and the Museum für Asiatische Kunst of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (National Museums in Berlin), Kulturprojekte Berlin, the Stadtmuseum Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin are the Humboldt Forum’s main partners.

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