On 10 November 2020, as part of the Year of Germany in Russia 2020/21, the exhibition “The Iron Age. Europe without Borders. The First Millennium BC” was formally opened in the State Hermitage. This large-scale scholarly project represents the latest step in the sphere of collaboration between museums in Russia and Germany.
The exhibition continues many years of cultural collaboration, in which the foremost place is allotted to joint research efforts between Russian and German museums, and also the “reuniting” of archaeological complexes to be displayed together.
The exhibition was opened in online format by Mikhail Piotrovsky, General Director of the State Hermitage: “Today we have brought together archaeological complexes that are scattered across museums and we are showing to everyone an astonishingly mobile, diverse, yet at the same time united Europe – from El Collado de los Jardines in Andalucía to Ananyino in the Urals. We, that is several remarkable museums in Russia and Germany, have overcome a host of obstacles – political emotions, bureaucratic complexities, problems of inter-museum logistics, contradictions in scholarly discussions, and now, on top of that, the diktat of the pandemic, in order to present to people, first and foremost the younger generation, the archaeological image of the Europe of grave barrows and burial fields, hidden hoards and fortified settlements; the Europe of fibulas and torcs, belt plaques and portable idols, exquisite clasps and patterned cover pieces, fearsome helmets and magical axes. The exhibition and the extensive catalogue that is hard to hold in your hands are an enormous work of scholarship, the product of joint reflection of highly complex questions of history, issues that might be and sometimes are a justification for mutual hatred, but which today have become the occasion and the recipe for joint brain work. Learning brings people closer when, together and consciously, they serve goodness and knowledge.”
The opening ceremony was attended by Georgy Vilinbakhov, Deputy General Director of the State Hermitage for Research; Andrei Alexeyev, the exhibition’s curator, head of the State Hermitage’s Department of the Archaeology of Eastern Europe and Siberia, and Yury Piotrovsky, deputy head of the department and one of the authors of the idea for the exhibition.
The virtual ceremony included video greetings from Hermann Parzinger, President of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation’ Olga Liubimova, Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation; Michelle Müntefering, Minister of State for International Cultural Policy at the German Federal Foreign Office; Sergei Nechayev, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to the Federal Republic of Germany; Géza Andreas von Geyr, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Federal Republic of Germany to the Russian Federation; and Mikhail Shvydkoi, Special Representative of the Russian Federation for International Cultural Collaboration.
“This exhibition is one more chapter in the long success story of German-Russian collaboration, especially between the museums of Berlin, Saint Petersburg and Moscow,” Hermann Parzinger said. “The success story spans decades already and includes a large number of exhibitions. The fact that several years have always passed between those exhibitions shows splendidly how intensive and large-scale the preparatory work to get them ready needs to be. We not only selected archaeological complexes and artefacts with the aim of exploring their history; in actual fact it was a stock-taking of all the exhibits that in 1945 were removed from Berlin museums as trophy art. A big thank-you to all our Russian and German colleagues and friends who have helped to make a real success of the great project that was so many years in the making.”
“This unique exhibition is destined to be one of the key events of the Year of Germany in Russia 2020/21,” Olga Liubimova stated in her video address. “Collaboration between Russian and German experts in various fields of culture will continue and find embodiment in new, striking events furthering the strengthening of the cultural dialogue between our countries.”
“At the exhibition ‘The Iron Age. Europe without Borders’, exhibits are for the first time in many years being made accessible to the broad public and the international scholarly community,” Michelle Müntefering stressed. “This is evidence that despite the differences in legal approaches regarding cultural treasures displaced after the war, solutions are possible for constructive and trusting collaboration between Germany and Russia. Right now, political relations between our countries are going through a difficult time. This exhibition shows our striving to continue a cultural exchange with Russia despite the existing political differences. It is destined to create a platform for meetings and mutual dialogue.”
The display in the Manege of the Small Hermitage presents more than 1,600 exhibits from the archaeological collections of the State Hermitage, the State Historical Museum, the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts and the Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte (part of the Berlin State Museums). The exhibition is unique in the breadth of the material featured: the Iron Age in Italy, the Hallstadt Culture, antiquities of Celtic culture, the famous treasures of Scythian burial mounds in the steppes, artefacts from the Classical World, well-known hoards, antiquities of the Koban culture of the Northern Caucasus and of the cultures of the Eastern European forest belt.
The aim of the exhibition “The Iron Age. Europe without Borders” is to use the archaeological material to show elements of the culture, economy, daily and ceremonial life of Europeans in that period. The display is organized along chronological and geographical lines with several thematic sections corresponding to the archaeological cultures that came into being across the extensive territory from the Atlantic Ocean in the West to the Ural Mountains in the East.
The display includes a large number of exhibits that belong to what are termed “displaced collections” which were removed to the USSR as trophy art. Because of their status, for many years they remained unavailable for study. This makes it all the more valuable that, against a background of still continuing controversy over the ownership of these archaeological collections, their joint presentation in the exhibition demonstrates the potential for friendly co-ordinated work between museum staff from Russia and Germany.
A richly illustrated scholarly catalogue has been produced for the exhibition in Russian and German: Zhlezny vek, Evropa bez granits. Pervoe tysiacxheletie do n.e. / Eisenzeit. Europa ohne Grenzen. 1. Jahrtausend v. Chr. (Chisty List publishing house, 2020 – 720 pp., ill.) The publication is devoted to current issues in the study and history of Iron Age artefacts. As well as exclusive scholarly information, the catalogue stands out for the interesting presentation of the material, the diversity of the illustrations, the colourfulness and the depth with which it explores the period. The catalogue will be of interest not only to specialists, but also to a wide circle of readers. The texts have been written by leading European and Russian scholars.
The exhibition “The Iron Age. Europe without Borders” has been organized with the support of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation and the Commission for Culture and the Media of the Federal Republic of Germany.
The holding of the exhibition and the publication of the catalogue were made possible through the financial support of the Foreign Ministry of the Federal Republic of Germany as part of the Year of Germany in Russia 2020/21.
The exhibition will run in the State Hermitage in Saint Petersburg until 28 February 2021 and then from 15 April to 15 July 2021 at the State Historical Museum in Moscow.
The exhibition in the Manege of the Small Hermitage can be visited during the museum’s working hours after obtaining a free-of-charge ticket. Visits to the exhibition will be by time slots. Tickets for the current day can be obtained at no cost from the administrator in the entrance zone of the Small Hermitage – entry from Shuvalov Passage (which runs between 37, Millionnaya Street and 36, Palace Embankment). The display can also be viewed as part of a visit to the Main Museum Complex following Fixed Route №1 (entry via the Jordan Staircase) or Fixed Route №2 (entry via the Church Staircase), in which case access to the Manege is by the internal Sivkov Passage (Hall 102).
More about how to visit the exhibition
Click here to view a recording of the opening ceremony.
More about the exhibition itself.
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