Detail page - Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz

For the first time, the exhibition will focus so comprehensively on the multi-layered culture of the Migration Period from the huge area between the Atlantic and the Urals and illustrate it with magnificent finds on the culture of the Huns, Goths, Alans, Elbe Germanic tribes, Alemanni and Bavarians, Franks and Romans, Ostrogoths and Visigoths as well as the Lombards.

The result of the discussions can be described as sensational. In addition to objects from the Russian collections, the archaeological objects that were transferred from the Berlin Museum of Prehistory and Early History to Russia due to the war will also be on display, supplemented by exhibits on loan from the Berlin museum. Most of the artefacts were thought to have been lost for over sixty years, and many of them have not yet been scientifically recognised. As part of the preparations for the exhibition, German scientists will have access to the Russian depots for the first time. Together with their Russian colleagues and with the help of the old Berlin inventories, they will identify and scientifically analyse the objects.

At the current working session in Berlin, which will be followed by another in Moscow in October 2006, the selection of around nine hundred objects for the presentation was agreed in a very cooperative and friendly atmosphere and the thematic structure of the catalogue and exhibition was discussed. It has already become clear in advance that science can close gaps in research and that completely new aspects of migration from the period between Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, particularly in Eastern Europe, are opening up. The comprehensive catalogue, which will clearly identify the objects relocated as a result of the war and also present the two different legal opinions on the issue of looted art, will be published in Russian, German and English. An exhibition in Germany is not possible, as Germany cannot guarantee the return of some of the exhibits due to its asserted ownership claims.

The planned exhibition represents a new, additional approach to the issue of looted art. It is intended to support the negotiations at government level. The exhibition is intended to create transparency, education and historical awareness in both Russia and Germany. For the first time, a large contiguous cultural area will be scientifically analysed and presented to the public in an effective way, despite the fragmented nature of the collections. The public will be able to see an example of what lies behind the term "looted art", which has been stored in secret depots in Russia without scientific or restoration treatment and has remained hidden from the public until now. Equally important, however, is that the objects can finally be restored, identified and reintroduced into the cycle of scientific work as part of the exhibition. This is only possible through intensive co-operation between German and Russian experts.

The exhibition is part of the "German-Russian Museum Dialogue", which was launched last autumn on the initiative of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation and the Cultural Foundation of the Federal States, involving all museums affected by the looted art issue in Germany. The project is strongly welcomed and supported by Minister of State Neumann.