Archäologische Sammlung der Universität Zürich
How to find us:
- Street
- Rämistrasse 73
- Zip, City
- 8006 Zürich
- Country
- Switzerland
- Phone
- +41 44 634 28 11
- Web
- http://www.archaeologische-sammlung.uzh.ch
- Tags
- Archäologie
Description
Within the Institut für Archäologie of the Universität Zürich, the Archäologische Sammlung der Universität Zürich preserves an extensive collection of ancient works of art and craftsmanship from ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, ancient Asia Minor, Greece and Italy.
The collection is housed in the former eye clinic on Rämistrasse, a building erected in 1895 immediately adjacent to the university’s main building. Since 1956 the Universität Zürich has used the building for museum purposes, after the so‑called «Göttergarten» in the Lichthof was given up. At the end of the 20th century the Neo‑Renaissance building was remodelled to meet the specific requirements of a collection.
The plaster‑cast collection dates back to initiatives of the 1850s: in 1852 lecturers applied the proceeds of public lectures to found an archaeological museum; later, teaching staff of the 1854‑founded Eidgenössischen Polytechnikums joined the effort. A commission recommended the purchase of casts of ancient sculptures; by 1856 some thirty‑six pieces had already been assembled, including metopes from the Pantheon and from the Temple of Zeus at Olympia, the Laocoön group and the Apollo Belvedere. A catalogue of 1871 listed 234 entries; today the cast collection comprises around 1,500 replicas. Initially it was housed in the Aula der Alten Universität, and from 1865 in the Antikensaal des Polytechnikums.
From the late 1860s a collection of original ancient works was also assembled to serve both university research and an interested public. The objects cover the period from the 4th millennium BC to the middle of the 1st millennium AD and range geographically from the western Mediterranean to the Tigris, and from the Nile to the Crimea. Among the most important holdings are Greek and Roman sculptures and portraits, masterpieces of Greek vase painting, mummy portraits from the Fayyum, an Egyptian wooden coffin with mummy, and monumental Assyrian reliefs from the royal palaces of Assurnasirpal II and Tiglath‑Pileser III in Nimrud.