The Move: From Dahlem to Mitte

Article

reading time: approx.  min

The move of Dahlem’s non-European collections to the Humboldt Forum has been going on since the beginning of 2016. Each object has to be inspected, restored, and appropriately packed before it can be transported to the reconstructed City Palace. Here we look at some of the most exciting objects and learn the stories behind them.

Nulis Mask – An Icon for the Humboldt Forum

It is the Nefertiti, so to speak, of the Humboldt Forum. The transformation mask of the Kwakwaka'wakw – known as the Nulis mask – is an iconic object in the collection of the Ethnologisches Museum (Ethnological Museum). So to mark the symbolic start of the move from Dahlem to Mitte in mid-April 2016, the Nulis mask was packed in the presence of the SPK's President, Hermann Parzinger. It was acquired in the course of a collecting expedition to the Pacific coast of northwestern America by a Norwegian captain, Adrian Jacobsen, who brought it back to Berlin in 1883. The mask represents Nulis, an ancestor of the Kwakwaka’wakw. When is closed, it shows a dark brown, angry face; when open, it shows a friendly, colorful face. The mask was probably worn at potlatch feasts, which were held as a way of exchanging gifts between the various members of the clan and thus ensuring a fair distribution of goods.

Hermann Parzinger (r.) verfolgt das Herausholen der Nulis-Maske

Hermann Parzinger (r.) verfolgt das Herausholen der Nulis-Maske © SPK / photothek.net / Thomas Trutschel

Lienzo Seler II - Large Map of the Mixtec

For almost fifty years, this sixteenth-century Mixtecan cotton cloth, measuring 4 x 4 meters, hung untouched in its glass case at the Ethnologisches Museum in Dahlem. The Lienzo Seler II, as it is called, is apparently a huge map of the Coixtlahuaca Valley, but it also shows the mythological realm, which is separated by a small curtain of leopard skin from the physical topography. The Lienzo symbolically depicts not only the locations of settlements, pre-Hispanic pyramids and temples, watercourses, fields, and footpaths, but also aspects of armed conflict such as the hanging of Indians by a Spanish judge. Before the move, the Lienzo Seler II will be taken out of its case at last, to be studied by historians and analyzed by scientists as a prelude to any necessary restoration work. Once this has been completed, the removals specialists will face the challenge of getting the cloth – which covers 17 square meters when flat – through the doors of the Ethnologisches Museum in Dahlem.

Angkor Wat – Out of Storage and Back in the Spotlight

Casts of the magnificent reliefs of Angkor Wat, Cambodia’s famous temple complex, lay almost forgotten in the storage rooms of the Museum für Asiatische Kunst (Asian Art Museum) for years, but now they are being comprehensively restored. In the new exhibition concept for the Humboldt Forum, the curators and the exhibition designers have put these objects back into the spotlight. Angkor Wat, the greatest work of Khmer architecture, was built mainly during the first half of the twelfth century. The relief carvings illustrate significant legends, depicting the exploits of their main protagonists, Krishna and Rama. The casts of them were acquired at the beginning of the twentieth century, but were later thought to have been destroyed in the Second World War. Then, in the early 1980s, 442 paper-based molds were rediscovered in the Gipsformerei (Replica Workshop). They were used to make new casts, which were built into the walls of what was then the Museum of Indian Art. In 1997, the museum building was altered and they were removed from permanent display. After they have been restored, the casts of the Angkor Wat reliefs will return to a position of prominence, but this time in the Humboldt Forum.

2015: Trial Run for a Boat's Voyage to the Humboldt Forum

Verwandlungsmaske des „Nulis“, Kwakiutl, Sammlung Jacobsen 1881
Transformation mask of the "Nulis", Kwakiutl, Jacobsen Collection 1881 © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Ethnologisches Museum/Claudia Obrocki
Lienzo Seler II in der Dahlemer Vitrine
Lienzo Seler II in its glass case in Dahlem © SPK/photothek.net
Museen Dahlem
On the Way to the Humboldt Forum
Abguss eines Reliefs aus Angkor Vat, derzeit zur Restaurierung in Friedrichshagen
Cast of a relief from Angkor Vat, which is being restored in Friedrichshagen at the moment © SPK / photothek.net / Thomas Trutschel
Detailaufnahme eines hölzernen Bootes (öffnet Vergrößerung des Bildes)
Outrigger canoe from the Sepik estuary, New Guinea, from the collection of the Ethnologisches Museum © SPK / photothek.net / Thomas Koehler
Detailaufnahme mit einer Schrifttafel, die das Objekt beschreibt (öffnet Vergrößerung des Bildes)
Detail of the main hull of an outrigger canoe (with label) from the Sepik estuary, New Guinea
Outrigger canoe from the Sepik estuary, New Guinea, from the collection of the Ethnologisches Museum © SPK / photothek.net / Thomas Koehler
Mehrere Menschen bereiten ein hölzernes Boot zum Transport vor (öffnet Vergrößerung des Bildes)
Packing the canoe for transportation © SPK / photothek.net / Thomas Koehler
Mehrere Menschen bereiten ein hölzernes Boot zum Transport vor (öffnet Vergrößerung des Bildes)
Packing the canoe for transportation © SPK / photothek.net / Thomas Koehler
Ein Mann hält die Seitenwand einer Holzkiste, in der sich ein Boot befindet (öffnet Vergrößerung des Bildes)
Packing the canoe for transportation © SPK / photothek.net / Thomas Koehler
Ein Mann blickt auf eine an einer Seite offene Holzkiste, in der sich ein hölzernes Boot befindet (öffnet Vergrößerung des Bildes)
Packing the canoe for transportation © SPK / photothek.net / Thomas Koehler
Detailaufnahme eines Messgerät in einer Holzkiste (öffnet Vergrößerung des Bildes)
Measuring instrument inside the transport crate © SPK / photothek.net / Thomas Koehler
Detailaufnahme einer verpackten Spitze eines Holzbootes in einer Holzkiste (öffnet Vergrößerung des Bildes)
Packing the canoe for transportation © SPK / photothek.net / Thomas Koehler
Zwei Männer stehen auf einer mit Gurten umspannten Kiste, zwei weitere sehen von unten zu (öffnet Vergrößerung des Bildes)
Fastening the crate for removal by crane through a window © SPK / photothek.net / Thomas Koehler
Zwei Männer befestigen einen Gurt an einem Haken (öffnet Vergrößerung des Bildes)
Fastening the crate for removal by crane through a window © SPK / photothek.net / Thomas Koehler
Zwei Männer befestigen Seile an einem Kran (öffnet Vergrößerung des Bildes)
Fastening the crate for removal by crane through a window © SPK / photothek.net / Thomas Koehler
Zwei Männer befestigen eine große Holzkiste an einem Kran (öffnet Vergrößerung des Bildes)
Fastening the crate for removal by crane through a window © SPK / photothek.net / Thomas Koehler
Ein Kran hebt eine Holzkiste durch ein Fenster ins Freie (öffnet Vergrößerung des Bildes)
Lifting the transport crate out through a window of the Martin-Gropius-Bau © SPK / photothek.net / Thomas Koehler
Blick von unten auf eine Holzkiste, die von einem Kran durch ein Fenster nach draußen gezogen wird (öffnet Vergrößerung des Bildes)
Lifting the transport crate out through a window of the Martin-Gropius-Bau © SPK / photothek.net / Thomas Koehler
Eine große Holzkiste und mehrere Personen steht auf einem geplasterten Platz vor einem Fahrzeug (öffnet Vergrößerung des Bildes)
Transport crate next to the crane © SPK / photothek.net / Thomas Koehler
Eine große Holzkiste und mehrere Personen steht auf einem geplasterten Platz vor einem Fahrzeug (öffnet Vergrößerung des Bildes)
Loading the crate onto a removals truck © SPK / photothek.net / Thomas Koehler

In July 2015, a boat from the South Sea traveled to Dahlem from the Martin-Gropius-Bau. It had been carefully packed by specialists and lifted out through a window by crane, under the watchful eyes of museum staff. The large outrigger canoe had been displayed in the Martin-Gropius-Bau as part of the exhibition Dance of the Ancestors. Art from the Sepik in Papua New Guinea together with numerous objects from the important Melanesia collection of the Ethnologisches Museum. The transport of the boat also served as a trial run, because soon all of the museum’s South Sea boats will set out on their historic voyage to the Humboldt Forum.

On the Way to the Humboldt Forum

The staff in Dahlem have been making physical preparations for the relocation of the non-European collections to the Humboldt Forum since January 2016. The process is taking place in stages, synchronized with the progress of construction at Schlossplatz. Before being taken to Mitte, every object will be demounted, restored, and prepared for presentation in the Humboldt Forum. The main hall for special exhibitions in Dahlem has been converted into a storage and workshop area for this purpose. Its location within the museum complex makes it ideal for use as a kind of marshalling yard for items on their way to the Humboldt Forum.

Location Dahlem