Humboldt Forum

The Humboldt Forum is a museum dedicated to human history, art and culture, located in the Berlin Palace on the Museum Island in the historic centre of Berlin. It is named in honour of the Prussian scholars Wilhelm and Alexander von Humboldt. Considered the "German equivalent" of the British Museum,[1] the Humboldt Forum houses the non-European collections of the Berlin State Museums, temporary exhibitions and public events. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it opened digitally on 16 December 2020 and became accessible to the general public on 20 July 2021.[2]

Humboldt Forum
Logo of Humboldt Forum
Berlin Palace
View of the Humboldt Forum in the rebuilt Berlin Palace (2020)
Established2020
LocationBerlin Palace, Berlin, Germany
Coordinates52°31′03″N 13°24′10″E
TypeArt museum
Collectionsnon-European art
DirectorHartmut Dorgerloh
ArchitectFranco Stella
Public transit accessU: Museumsinsel (U5)
Websitewww.humboldtforum.org/en/

History

The Humboldt Forum incorporates two former museums, the Ethnological Museum of Berlin and the Museum of Asian Art. Both had their roots in the Ancient Prussian Art Chamber. The Ancient Prussian Art Chamber was originally established by Joachim II Hector, Elector of Brandenburg in the mid 16th century, but was nearly destroyed during the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648). The art chamber was rebuilt as a magnificent collection by Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg, and was moved to the newly extended Berlin Palace by Frederick I of Prussia in the early 18th century. The Ethnological Museum opened in 1886 as a successor of the Ancient Prussian Art Chamber; the Museum of Asian Art originated as the Indian Department of the Ethnological Museum in 1904. Wilhelm von Bode, the Director-General of the Royal Museums in Berlin, established the Museum of East Asian Art as a separate collection in 1906. In 2006 the Museum of Indian Art and the Museum of East Asian Art were merged to form the Museum of Asian Art.

From 2020 the Ethnological Museum and the Museum of Asian Art are both part of the Humboldt Forum in the Berlin Palace.[3] By 2019, the Forum's overall costs totaled $700 million;[4] at the time, it was considered Europe's most expensive cultural project.[5] Its opening was initially planned for autumn 2019, then delayed to 2020[4] due to technical problems, including with its air conditioning system.[6] Delivery delays and the unavailability of workers during a lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany pushed it back a few months further.[7][8] In April 2020, two tar cookers exploded at the construction site, injuring one worker.[6]

On 16 September 2022, the opening of the eastern wing, the last section of the Humboldt Forum museum, meant the Humboldt Forum museum was finally completed. It became Germany's currently most expensive cultural project.[9]

Building
North and east facades of Humboldt Forum.
Main article: Berlin Palace

The Humboldt Forum has its seat in the reconstructed Berlin Palace.[5][10] The foundation stone was laid by President Joachim Gauck in a ceremony on 12 June 2013.[11]

Museum

On completion in 2020, the City Palace housed the Ethnological Museum of Berlin and the Museum of Asian Art, as well as two restaurants, a theater, a movie theater and an auditorium.[12] The project is led by a three-member management committee, chaired by founding director Neil MacGregor and also including the co-directors, archaeologist Hermann Parzinger and art historian Horst Bredekamp. The Foundation for the Humboldt Forum in the Berlin Palace has been set up to create the museum.[13]

MacGregor has proposed to make the museum admission-free, based on the model of the British Museum.[14]

Controversy

Like many of its counterparts in other western countries, such as the British Museum, the museum has become embroiled in controversy over its ownership of looted art and other artifacts which were obtained from the German colonial empire in Africa and Asia.[15][16] In 2018, it was at the center of a debate about the legality of cultural heritage from former colonies in Germany, drawing protests from art historians such as Bénédicte Savoy and activists, who alleged the museum had not done enough to research the provenance and fails to critically present ethnographic objects in its collection.[17][18]

An internationally noted scandal occurred in 2020 in connection with the collections of human skulls assembled during the colonial era in the possession of the National Museums in Berlin. The administrator of the collection, Barbara Teßmann gave the international press a racist explanation for the continued existence of the skull collection she administers, on which she continues to take skull measurements: "The skulls simply all look different". She explained that the skulls stolen from graves during the colonial period were archaeological material: "As a rule, we don't return archaeological material!" At the same time, she expressed her disinterest, citing her inadequate salary: "I'm not going to start opening boxes!" She refused to return the stolen skulls.[19]

Images of the highlights shown at the Humboldt Forum.

See also

References
  1. Adams, Tim (17 April 2016). "Neil MacGregor: 'Britain forgets its past. Germany confronts it'". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 6 January 2023.
  2. "Berlin's newest landmark is ready and waiting" (Press release). Humboldt Forum. 16 December 2020.
  3. "Berlin Humboldt Forum opens in stages". Deutsche Welle. 22 November 2018. Retrieved 6 January 2023.
  4. Rogers, Thomas (13 June 2019). "Berlin's Troubled Humboldt Forum Pushes Back Opening". The New York Times. Retrieved 6 January 2023.
  5. Scaturro, Michael (18 May 2015). "Berlin's rebuilt Prussian palace to address long-ignored colonial atrocities". The Guardian. London.
  6. Schuetze, Christopher F.; Marshall, Alex (8 April 2020). "Explosion at Berlin's Humboldt Forum Puts Delayed Opening in Doubt". The New York Times.
  7. Hickley, Catherine (16 June 2020). "Berlin's Humboldt Forum to open this year despite pandemic delay". The Art Newspaper.
  8. Hickley, Catherine (7 October 2020). "Berlin's Humboldt Forum to open in phases beginning in December". The Art Newspaper.
  9. "Completed Humboldt Forum opens in Berlin – DW – 09/16/2022". dw.com.
  10. Peltz, Christiane (12 June 2015). "So verlief das Richtfest am Berliner Schloss" [Topping-out wreath ceremony at the Palace]. Der Tagesspiegel (in German). Retrieved 6 January 2023.
  11. Alexander, Harriet (12 June 2013). "Berlin begins reconstruction of King Frederick the Great's palace". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 14 June 2013.
  12. Hickley, Catherine. "Berlin Palace Rebuilding Begins 63 Years After Explosion". Bloomberg News. Retrieved 30 October 2015.
  13. Bowley, Graham (12 October 2018). "A New Museum Opens Old Wounds in Germany". The New York Times. Retrieved 4 November 2018.
  14. Hickley, Catherine (3 November 2016). "Neil MacGregor unveils plans for Berlin's ambitious Humboldt Forum". The Art Newspaper. Retrieved 6 January 2023.
  15. "No Humboldt 21". 3 June 2013. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
  16. "Humboldt Forum: Berlin museum opens despite criticism over looted art". BBC News. 16 December 2020.
  17. Shaw, Anny (21 November 2020). "Black Lives Matter movement is speeding up repatriation efforts, leading French art historian says". The Art Newspaper. Retrieved 6 January 2023.
  18. Schuetze, Christopher F. (15 March 2019). "Germany Sets Guidelines for Repatriating Colonial-Era Artifacts". The New York Times.
  19. David Bruser: The untold story of four Indigenous skulls given away by one of Canada’s most famous doctors, and the quest to bring them home. Toronto Star: Article of December 17, 2020.
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