South Sea boat floats into the Humboldt Forum
Press release from 05/29/2018
The reconstruction of the Berlin Palace as the Humboldt Forum successfully passes an important milestone: on 29 May, the first major object from the National Museums in Berlin, the world's only airboat from Oceania, arrives on schedule in the exhibition hall on the first floor.
Hans-Dieter Hegner, Chief Construction Officer of the Humboldt Forum Foundation in the Berlin Palace, explained the considerable efforts required on the construction site to successfully bring the first large object from the Ethnological Museum of the National Museums in Berlin into the Humboldt Forum. The natural stone floor in the entrance hall had to be finished before the scaffolding for the hoist could be erected. The construction work in the exhibition hall on the first floor also had to be largely completed. The hall is currently being air-conditioned with a single unit and is also equipped with safety technology. The museum artefacts will be kept in a museum climate on the construction site while waiting for the exhibition to be set up.
Monika Grütters: "With today's move of the large objects into the Humboldt Forum, it is clear that the construction phase is coming to an end. The cultural sector is - in the truest sense of the word! - on the doorstep. The South Sea boat is the first object from the Dahlem museums in this building. Thousands more will follow - albeit not with the same entourage as the large objects. There has never been a relocation of exhibits of this size in the history of the State Museums. All the large and small objects from the Dahlem museums can look forward to a life full of visitors here in the heart of Berlin. At least that is what I hope for these exhibits. And I am delighted that we can emphasise this wish in terms of cultural policy with free admission to the permanent exhibition. We are also well positioned with the new personnel decisions - the new management structure and the future General Director - one and a half years before the opening of the Humboldt Forum cultural project."
Hans-Dieter Hegner: "I am really proud of the excellent cooperation between all those involved in the museums and on the construction site that we have achieved this milestone. It is no trivial matter to store irreplaceable and globally unique cultural artefacts such as the Luf-Boot safely on a construction site. But all the structural requirements have been met and we have also fulfilled the justified demands of the curators for the safe preservation of this exhibit. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all my colleagues and look forward to another successful completion of the construction work."
Hermann Parzinger: "The collections of the National Museums in Berlin are the backbone of the Humboldt Forum. Moving the objects from Dahlem to Mitte is a logistical challenge for all partners. Now that the Luf-Boot, an icon of the Ethnological Museum, has moved in, the content of the Humboldt Forum is starting to be organised. What this new cultural quarter in the heart of Berlin is supposed to be is no longer just on paper: A place where the world can be better understood. I would like to thank everyone involved at the National Museums in Berlin, the Humboldt Forum Foundation in the Berlin Palace and Humboldt Forum Kultur GmbH for the success of this sensitive operation."
Overall, the future Humboldt Forum in the Berlin Palace is still a building site. The construction work will not be completed for another year or so. However, due to its sheer size, the boat has already had to be brought into the future exhibition hall on the first floor. Large openings of approx. 4 x 6 metres in two walls of the monumental entrance hall have been provided especially for this transport, which will only be bricked up afterwards.
The boat is packed in a transport crate measuring an impressive 16 metres long, 2.50 metres high and 1.40 metres wide. The crate arrived at the palace construction site in Mitte overnight from Dahlem in a special transporter. The boat was then hoisted into the hall in its packaging using specially erected scaffolding and appropriate lifting gear. It will remain there in its crate until the work on the construction site is completed next year. Only then, when it is free of dust and the air conditioning and fire protection etc. are working, can the exhibitions be set up and installed and until then the boat must be safely stored in its packaging on the construction site.
The boat from the island of Luf has an eventful history behind it. It was built in 1890 on one of the western islands that now belong to the state of Papua New Guinea. In the 19th century, the men of Luf used boats like this to sail the open sea, trade and wage war. But this boat never fulfilled such purposes, as the remaining men were unable to launch it due to the island's declining population. It remained in the boathouse, where Max Thiel saw and purchased it in 1903 for the trading company Hernsheim & Co. After a stopover on Matupi in New Britain, it ended up in the then Museum of Ethnology in Berlin in 1904.
Under the watchful eyes of numerous journalists and people involved in the museums and the construction site, the Minister of State for Culture gave the signal "Hoist up!" shortly before 9 a.m. for the boat to be raised. After about 20 minutes, the large crate was in the exhibition hall. The move of the non-European collections from Dahlem to the Humboldt Forum in the Berlin Palace has thus successfully begun. Further transport campaigns will be carried out until August 2018.