Antikensammlung-Institut für Klassische Archäologie

Description

As part of the Institute of Classical Archaeology at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), the university’s Antikensammlung, abbreviated Antikensammlung Erlangen, presents a collection of plaster casts of ancient sculpture, selected original objects, and an extensive photographic archive.

The origins and location of the collection date back to the mid-19th century. As early as 1855 the university began acquiring casts of ancient sculptures for teaching purposes. In 1857 the collection was officially handed over to the university; at that time it comprised only a small number of pieces and was initially administratively attached to the philosophical institute. Later the university established an archaeological seminar, and the collection was expanded, among other things by a box of pottery sherds from the estate of King Ludwig I, which formed the core of the original objects. Over the decades the exhibition rooms changed; after several relocations the collection is today housed in the basement (Souterrain) of the seminar building on Kochstraße.

The collection survived wartime periods during which the premises were temporarily used as a military hospital; some casts were damaged in the process, but there were no major losses. The first inventory catalogue appeared in the mid-20th century (1948). The holdings were also augmented by the acquisition of an extensive photographic archive with around 28,000 images of ancient sculpture, portraits, and buildings.

In terms of content the Antikensammlung is divided into three sections: plaster casts, original works of ancient ceramics, and the photographic archive. The cast collection includes reproductions of famous sculptures such as the Apollo Belvedere, the Venus of the Esquiline, the Praying Boy, as well as representations like the Zeus of Otricoli and the Juno Ludovisi. In addition there are numerous portraits of ancient scholars and an extensive series of Roman imperial portraits from Gaius Iulius Caesar through Trajan to Septimius Severus. The original collection focuses mainly on ancient ceramics; a black-figure Attic bowl from the 6th century BC, which entered the holdings in 1905, provided scholarship with the name of the so-called Erlanger Painter. Also part of the collection is a bronze tripod stand known as the "Erlanger Dreifuß."