Annual Report 2010 - Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden

The ceremonial cutting of the ribbon by Prof.
Dr. Martin roth, Prof. Dr. ahmet Davutoğlu,
Foreign Minister of the republic of Turkey,
saxon Prime Minister stanislaw Tillich, Dr.
Guido Westerwelle, Federal Foreign Minister,
and Prof. Dr. Dirk syndram (from left)
18 Dr. Guido Westerwelle on the occasion of its opening.
Their tour of the exhibition was followed by a press conference
in which they called the exhibition “an outstanding
German­Turkish cultural project”.
This was preceded by an official opening ceremony held in
the large auditorium of the Staatsschauspiel Dresden.
There, Director­General Prof. Dr. Martin Roth and Prof. Dr.
Dirk Syndram, Director of the Rüstkammer, addressed the
audience of invited guests, who numbered around 650. In
their official speeches, the Saxon State Minister for Science
and the Arts, Prof. Dr. Dr. Sabine Freifrau von Schorlemer,
and the Turkish Ambassador Ahmet Acet referred
to the opening of the Türckische Cammer as “a new highlight
of Saxon cultural heritage” and as a moment “of very
special significance for the multifaceted relations between
Germany and Turkey”. They were followed by the
Turkish­born author and actress Emine Sevgi Özdamar
who, in an address composed in a very personal and literary
style, described her own relationship with Germany.
There then followed addresses by Joachim Hoof, CEO of
the Ostsächsische Sparkasse Dresden, and Dina Topbaş,
Chair of the Semiha Sakir Foundation, two important
providers of financial support for the Türckische Cammer.
The opening ceremony concluded with the speech by the
Curator of the exhibition, Holger Schuckelt. A gala dinner
attended by the two foreign ministers and Prime Minister
Stanislaw Tillich completed the evening.
at the opening of the Türckische
Cammer speeches were delivered
by Curator Holger schuckelt …
… Joachim Hoof, CEO of the
Ostsächsische sparkasse
Dresden, …
… and the Turkish ambassador
ahmet acet
Scholarship and cultural exchange
Since the opening of the Türckische Cammer in March
2010, additional impetus has been given not only to political
and social aspects, but also to scholarly research.
First of all, an extensive catalogue was published in which
the collection of Ottoman art in Dresden was presented
with unprecedented breadth and wealth of detail. In connection
with the opening, a scholarly symposium was
held in association with the London Institute for Strategic
Dialogue and the German Foreign Office, which brought
together leading museum specialists, researchers and
representatives of Turkish culture. They included Julian
Raby, Director of the Freer Gallery of Art at the Smithsonian
Institution in Washington D. C., Prof. Dr. Avinoam
Shalem of the Ludwig­Maximilians­Universität in Munich,
Oliver Watson, Director of the Museum of Islamic Art in
Doha, Qatar, and Cem Özdemir, Federal President of the
political party Bündnis 90/Die Grünen.
Under the title “Islamic Culture – its place in Europe past
and present”, the two­day conference considered historic
and present­day points of contact between the cultures of
East and West. One perspective consisted of artistic motifs
and forms of expression viewed from the point of view of
the history of art and architecture, which provide evidence
of many forms of cultural transfer. From a different perspective,
the Türckische Cammer raises questions as to the
history of the collection, the motives of the collectors and
hence, its role in political history.