Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum

Description

In Mainz, the Römisch-Germanische Zentralmuseum – Leibniz-Forschungsinstitut für Archäologie (RGZM) plays a significant role as an internationally active research centre for archaeology; it is funded by the federal and state governments and is a member of the Leibniz Association. On 1 January 2023 it was renamed Leibniz‑Zentrum für Archäologie (LEIZA).

The institute works in several departments and covers the archaeology of the Ancient World and its contact zones from the Paleolithic to the Middle Ages. In addition to a permanent exhibition, it conveys research findings to a broader public through publications and events.

The foundation goes back to resolutions of meetings of the Association of German Historical and Antiquarian Societies in 1852; as early as 1853 the museum moved into initial rooms in the Electoral Palace of Mainz and in 1854 presented a founding collection of 388 exhibits. Financial bottlenecks shaped development in the early years; voluntary contributions and the sale of casts were important until regular state subsidies began in 1872. For a long time the collection concept and presentation emphasized the scientific character as a collection of casts for the study of classical and pre- and early-historical evidence from the Roman and Germanic periods. Spatial expansions and additional buildings followed in the early 20th century; parts of the collections and buildings were destroyed in the Second World War. In the postwar decades a support association was established, and since 1977 the institute has been permanently funded by the federal and state governments; it joined the Leibniz Association in 2002. A new building on the southern edge of Mainz city centre was realised following planning from 2007; after its completion in September 2022 the move began, the renaming to LEIZA took effect in 2023, and the new website went online in February 2023.

Research at the institute is organised both by department and across time periods; focal areas bear titles such as “Becoming Human – The Evolution of Human Behaviour”, “Societal Transformation Processes and Dynamics”, “Cultural and Social Practices”, “Cultural Contacts”, “Economy and Technology”, and “Remnants of the Past in the Present: Cultural Property Protection – Authenticity – Reception”. Numerous projects on deposits, elite structures, contacts between cultural regions, and Byzantine archaeology have been conducted.

The conservation workshops constitute a central area of expertise: with over 30 staff and specialised divisions for ceramics, moulding, glass, metalworking, precious metals, organic materials and wood, finds are conserved, analysed and, where necessary, accurately reconstructed. Analytical methods range from imaging techniques such as microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X‑rays and computed tomography (CT) to chemical analyses using X‑ray fluorescence (XRF), electron microprobe, ICP‑MS, as well as X‑ray diffraction (XRD) and various spectroscopies.

The institute operates additional sites, including the Vulkanpark, the Museum für Antike Schifffahrt and MONREPOS, and publishes scholarly journals and monographs, including open‑access series, to disseminate archaeological research.