For the “I have never been to...” series, our authors explore places in Munich that they have never been to. On this occasion, Karoline Graf tells us about surprising encounters during her first visit to the reopened Archäologische Staatssammlung (State Archaeological Collection).
Hey, that’s me! Reduced to the essentials. The perhaps 20-centimetre-high marble figure in the glass cabinet represents a slim female body with outstretched legs, which has a big oval head with a prominent nose. Her arms are folded under her flat chest. More as if she is waiting for something rather than standoffish. The wonderful little statue is a so-called Cycladic idol and was found on Naxos. It dates back to around 2700 to 2550 BC and its modest presence makes me feel a bit better about myself. I only stepped into the museum a few minutes ago and could actually already go home satisfied now. However, the idol is only the first of over 15,000 objects here waiting for me to immerse myself with them in the “adventure of archaeology”, as promised by the museum brochure.
I move on like a shadow through this “underworld”, because the exhibition halls are bathed in a pleasant semi-darkness. Exhibits such as the bronze receptacles from Mesopotamia therefore appear even more radiant. They are exhibited in hall two, which is dedicated to “Time and cosmos” – all the halls here have their own theme – and originate, as indicated by the material, from the Bronze Age. Those who have forgotten when exactly the Bronze Age was can read it on a timeline that shows all the periods of human history from 2.4 to 1.5 million years BC up until 1945, with all advanced civilisations and important excavation sites.
The well shaft lined with thick wooden beams from a corner of Marienhof is impressive, along with a well poisoner, a skeletonised cow, grinning at me from the depths.
The oldest exhibition piece here at the new permanent exhibition of the Archäologische Staatssammlung is a hand axe from the period around 100,000 BC. The oldest representation of a human figure was created an incredible 27,000 years ago and comes from an Ice Age cave in the Danube valley. A lot of finds have been made in this part of Bavaria, because the only ice-free belt ran along the Danube and its tributaries during this grim period. Depending what angle you look at it from, you can see a woman or even a phallus in the thumb-sized little figure.
Comic drawings penned by the artist Frank Schmolke strikingly illustrate the adverse circumstances in which the people who created this homunculus thousands of years ago lived. Whether it is the Ice Age, medieval Munich or Ancient Rome, Schmolke’s graphic novels that also feature in many other places beam visitors back into the eras from which the finds originate.
I recall that a little more than ten years ago archaeological investigations took place at Marienhof before excavation was permitted there for the second Munich suburban train route. I often stood at the construction site fence and was fascinated by the exposed cellar rooms and foundations of the houses in this formerly densely populated quarter behind the Neues Rathaus (New Town Hall), which was flattened in the Second World War.
Here at the Archäologische Staatssammlung, I can finally see from close up everything else that was excavated there: The crockery service with trays and little milk jugs bears witness to the more recent history of the city, even if you might think it was a lot older due to its condition. The metal is heavily oxidised and bent here and there. It was salvaged from the cellar of the former Café Deistler, which stood at the corner of the streets Dienerstraße and Schrammerstraße until 1945.
Sometimes only the skulls were buried, sometimes the whole skeleton with a wealth of burial objects, or like in the case of the Peiting bog body that has not been fully archaeologically explained, the coffin was lowered into the swamp.
The well shaft lined with thick wooden beams from a corner of Marienhof is impressive, along with a well poisoner, a skeletonised cow, grinning at me from the depths. Wood often provides clues to archaeologists about the period of origin, such as in this case: the lining dates back to the middle of the 13th century. As the water was no longer drinkable due to the carcass, the shaft was used later on as a latrine. The pungent smell still hit the archaeologists during the excavation.
Those who would like to search for traces of the past themselves in the Munich old town can currently find steles in a total of 13 places with information about artefacts that have been uncovered. The project is managed by the Archäologische Staatssammlung. Until the end of October 2024, the museum is also offering guided tours with experts to these archaeological sites.
I am fortunate to be visiting with an acquaintance with whom I can have great chats about the considerable evidence of Bavarian prehistory and early history. We let our associations have free rein. We enjoy wandering from one topic to another.
While we are admiring the sites of finds once buried under the ground through the armoured glass panels under our feet, a TV documentary comes to mind reporting about one of the last inhabitants of a village in the Transylvanian part of Romania who did not want to be buried. The old man’s wish was to simply drop dead, remain lying somewhere in a field and slowly become part of the earth again. The way he was talking about it, it did not sound particularly alarming.
The tanned calves of the mummy are in ludicrously new-looking leather boots. We wonder why they didn’t just go for rubber wellies then.
In all eras, there were evidently different notions of a dignified funeral: sometimes only the skulls were buried, sometimes the whole skeleton with a wealth of burial objects, or like in the case of the Peiting bog body that has not been fully archaeologically explained, the coffin was lowered into the swamp.
The tanned calves of the mummy are in ludicrously new-looking leather boots. We wonder why they didn’t just go for rubber wellies then. What looks as if the curators allowed themselves a bit of fun has a solid scientific background: the lack of oxygen and the acidic milieu ensure that bog bodies do not properly decompose and are preserved instead, which applies to their skin as well as to the leather of their footwear.
This hall with showcases embedded in the floor is altogether full of stories. The sword from the Bronze Age, for example, was found by a penniless Munich resident not all that long ago on the Isar beach as he was looking for historical beer-bottle caps with which he could earn a few coins. The man received a finder’s reward of 5000 euros for the valuable weapon, which he used to correct his teeth.
The lack of oxygen and the acidic milieu ensure that bog bodies do not properly decompose and are preserved instead, which applies to their skin as well as to the leather of their footwear.
Or all the brick-red shards, rejects from a Roman manufactory. There is evidence that Goethe was gifted a couple of these shards during his rainy Munich visit in the year 1786, which at that time were still kept in the Antiquarium of the Munich Residence (city palace). Perhaps the elector at the time wanted to impress the poet with a visit there, but it totally misfired: the poet referred to the treasure chamber as a “glory hole” of the Wittelsbachs in one of his letters.
The archaeological collection also deals with remnants of the two World Wars: there is a restaging of a bomb crater in Munich-Freiham, in which a bicycle and habitual household waste from the 1940s were found, alongside testimonies to the Nazi era such as party badges, a Hitler head and a Wehrmacht armed forces dagger, which the former owner quickly disposed of after the end of the war.
A media guide that can be borrowed free of charge provides other interesting stories and information about a total of 25 highlights at the permanent exhibition. Apart from the standard circuit, there is the option of a “titbit tour”, recorded in charming Bavarian by the well-known Bavarian cabaret artist and comedian Luise Kinseher.
My companion leans over a display cabinet with shimmering silvery spear tips. I stop and gaze at the jewellery again. I love my amber ring, which harbours so much sun that it warms my soul throughout the year. It almost seems puny though, compared to the exuberant amber necklaces with their gems almost as big as table tennis balls, glowing mysteriously here behind armoured glass. It takes healthy self-confidence and a certain amount of courage to wear such jewellery, I think full of admiration. These necklaces were no doubt quite a statement even back then in the Bronze Age.
Alongside this there are pieces of jewellery that seem so timelessly modern that they could even be exhibited at the Danner Rotunde, the jewellery room of the Pinakothek der Moderne (art gallery), without appearing unusual. The pearl necklaces also appeal to me, which women already wore back in the 5th century and earlier. Apart from glass beads and metal discs, colourfully modelled marbles were also strung together here, which remind me of my childhood crafts. FIMO was the magic word, a slightly toxic modelling clay that hardened in an oven.
At the end of every museum visit I always play the same game. I think about what I would take home with me if I could choose one item. With this in mind, I think back again over the circuit. I couldn’t go wrong with the little parallel world of bronze miniature weapons, little animals, little boats and tiny receptacles from one of the last halls. In the 8th century, it was offered by the Nuragic people in Sardinia as a votive offering to the Gods to propitiate them. With their long and twiggy limbs, the little people in this scenario evoke sculptures by Alberto Giacometti, the Swiss sculptor who died back in the mid-1960s.
It takes healthy self-confidence and a certain amount of courage to wear such jewellery, I think full of admiration. These necklaces were no doubt quite a statement even back then in the Bronze Age.
Apart from this, there are also an incredibly beautiful clay vessel from the New Stone Age and of course the Cycladic idol that I fell in love with right at the beginning. My companion is ogling the clay cylinder with cuneiform script from the period 1850 to 1843 BC, alternatively he is also considering the Celtic dugout that was found in front of the lake island Roseninsel near Starnberg.
To round off this enjoyable visit, we continue our conversation on the terrace of the in-house rooftop bar Sola, where there are further important decisions to be made: choosing the best piece of cake to go with our coffee, for example.
