Return of a collection of plaster casts from Berlin to Jena
Press release from 11/10/2025
Historical plaster casts from the University of Jena came into the care of the Collection of Classical Antiquities in 1983. After around forty years, the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation has returned the collection to its place of origin.
The collection of almost 400 plaster casts of ancient sculptures from the University of Jena had been amassed since the 19th century with great support from the Jena bourgeoisie. Despite the opposition of the university's archaeologists, it was moved to the Sondershausen Museum of Local History and Castle in 1962. After the space there was needed elsewhere, the collection was transferred to the State Museums in Berlin (GDR) in 1983.
There was never any connection between the Jena plaster cast collection and the Berlin Collection of Classical Antiquities, which has its own historical holdings of plaster casts. However, the university collection is of great value for the education of students and research at the University of Jena. In addition, there is a close cultural-historical connection to the city of Jena in view of the civic commitment to building up the collection. Since the 1990s, numerous plaster casts have been successively brought back to Jena on loan. Against this background, the SPK has decided to reverse the arbitrary allocation of the collection to the Collection of Classical Antiquities in 1983 and to transfer ownership of the collection back to the University of Jena.
In view of the retransfer, the University of Jena is hosting a ceremony on Wednesday, 12 November at 6 pm in the Rosensäle (Fürstengraben 27). After welcoming speeches, Dr Heike Richter, a member of staff at the Institute of Archaeological Sciences at Goethe University Frankfurt/M., will give a lecture on "Travelling in a circle: Biography(ies) of casts of ancient sculpture at the Chair of Classical Archaeology at the University of Jena."