2008 - Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden

2005: Visitors to the exhibition “Dresden – Spiegel der
Welt” (Dresden – Mirror of the World) in Kobe, Japan
2006: Prof. Dr. Dirk Syndram, Director of the
Grünes Gewölbe, Federal Chancellor Dr. Angela
Merkel and State President of France, Jacques
Chirac, at the exhibition “Splendeurs de la Cour
de Saxe” in Versailles
that we continue producing such presentations because
by doing so we deepen ongoing cultural exchange and
reinforce the attractiveness of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen
Dresden as a vibrant museum association.”
It was remarkable that again and again in the titles of the
exhibitions references are made to Dresden and its art
history. “The Glory of Baroque Dresden” (USA, Jackson/Mississippi
2004), “Princely Splendour. The Dresden Court 1580
– 1620” (London, New York, Rome 2005), “Dresden – Spiegel
der Welt” (Dresden – Mirror of the World) (Japan, Kobe and
Tokyo 2005), “Das Juwelen-Kabinett Augusts des Starken”
(The Jewel Cabinet of August the Strong) (Moscow 2006)
or “Splendeurs de la Cour de Saxe – Dresde à Versailles”
(Splendours of the Court of Saxony – Dresden at Versailles)
(Versailles 2006) are just some examples. Indeed, that was
probably what attracted people and in many cases stimulated
them to travel to Germany, in particular to Dresden.
The strong positive response to the exhibitions in the media
of the countries concerned also provides large-scale publicity,
which in turn has an effect on tourism. For example, the
German Centre for Tourism in Paris recorded a significant
surge of interest in Dresden following the exhibition “La
Splendeur de la Cour de Saxe – Dresde à Versailles”.
In 2008 the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden,
under the leadership of their Director-General Martin Roth,
further intensified this international presence. The many
events of the “China Year”, which was opened by former
Federal Chancellor Helmut Schmidt and former Prime
Minister of Saxony Kurt Biedenkopf and which was committed
to the idea of cultural exchange, would have been
enough of a challenge on its own. The concept for the
2007: (from left to right) José Manuel Barroso, President of the
European Commission, Federal Chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel and
Prof. Dr. Martin Roth visiting the exhibition “Blicke auf Europa”
(Views on Europe) at the Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels
year-long “China in Dresden in China” project, which took
place under the patronage of the heads of state of the
People’s Republic of China and the Federal Republic of
Germany, had gradually matured over several years in a
series of small steps and through careful cultural diplomacy.
The exhibitions in Beijing were part of the cultural
programme of the Olympic Games. But the “China Year”
was not an Olympic flash in the pan that ended with the
Beijing Games. Rather, it was a stage along a path that
extends into 2009, with an exhibition in the Palace Museum
of the Forbidden City, and will reach a further climax
in 2010, when a major exhibition will open at the National
Museum of China in Beijing. In association with the
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin and the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen,
Munich, the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen
Dresden will have the honour of devoting an
exhibition to the phenonemon of the “Enlightenment” in
what will then be the world’s largest museum in a manner
that is not Eurocentric but takes account of international
relations, in particular with China, and in which the horizon
extends right up to the present day.
But that was not all in 2008: in Kiev, Madrid, St. Petersburg
and Los Angeles exhibitions of outstanding works
from their holdings were presented by the Kupferstich-
Kabinett, the Galerie Neue Meister, the Skulpturensammlung
and the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister. The National
Art Museum of the Ukraine and the Museo
Nacional del Prado, the State Hermitage and the J. Paul
Getty Museum – all world-famous museums – hosted
special exhibitions by the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen
Dresden.
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