2009 - Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden

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Participants and speakers at the congress
on “Numismatics and Monetary History in
the Age of Enlightenment” in Dresden
EXAMPLE: COMPREH ENSIVE CAtA-
LOGU E OF tH E ANtIQU E SCU LPtU RES
Since 2006 the academic staff of the Skulpturensammlung
have been collaborating with colleagues from the Archaeological
Institutes of the Universities of Bonn, Kiel and
Cologne, as well as the Museo Nacional del Prado in Madrid,
to draw up a comprehensive catalogue of the antique
sculptures in the Dresden collection.
The sponsor of this ambitious long-term project is the Ernst
von Siemens-Kulturstiftung. As the first fruit of the project,
it is planned to produce a catalogue on sculpture in the
round from the Augustan Age until Late Antiquity.
In this way it will at last be possible to present to the
public works of art which have so far not been systematically
investigated and published in the way they deserve.
The research is to take account of aspects of their reception
history, such as the theme of Baroque marble additions
and 19th-century plaster reconstructions. Upon closer inspection,
it is evident that such an ambitious research
project, which may at first glance seem of interest only to
a small number of specialists, in fact manifests the quintessence
of scientific museum work: careful investigation
of the holdings, which will eventually filter down to the
“average” visitor through the permanent exhibition and
changing special exhibitions. It is also typical that, owing
to the limited number of staff at the museum, this research
on the holdings is only possible in collaboration with external
specialists.
The “Pouring Satyr” (detail) from the late
1st century will be included in the comprehensive
catalogue of the antique sculptures.
The SKD has numerous cooperative
agreements with Dresden University
of Technology (TU Dresden).
EXAMPLE: N UMISMAtIC CONGRESS
The life of the “scientific community” depends on occasional
meetings at international congresses at which
experts can exchange knowledge about their apparently
exotic subjects of research. An example of such events is
the congress organised by the Münzkabinett in association
with the Saxon State and University Library (SLUB)
in May 2009 (with support from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft/German
Research Foundation).
Under the title “Numismatik und Geldgeschichte im
Zeitalter der Aufklärung” (Numismatics and Monetary
History in the Age of Enlightenment), an international
circle of coin researchers discussed 18th-century specialist
numismatic literature, of which both the Münz kabinett
and the SLUB hold important and rare editions. By holding
this congress, the Münzkabinett, one of the largest, oldest
and most important collections of its kind in the world,
was able to give an impressive demonstration of its academic
calibre.
EXAMPLE: COOPERAtION WItH
DRESDEN U N IVERSItY OF tECH NOLOGY
(tU DRESDEN)
For the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden it is a matter
of course to collaborate with institutes and universities
in (nearly) the whole world. What is always particularly
important, however, is the “local” university, Dresden