Heidelberg, 15 January 2025 Excursion to the antiquities collection
On January 15, 2025, second-semester students of the Studienkolleg, together with the director, Mrs. Gardt, and the lecturers Mr Bahn, Mr. Krebs, and Dr Roth, visited the Collection of Antiquities of the Institute of Classical Archaeology and Byzantine Archaeology. The excursion marked the conclusion of the history lessons for the students in their final semester.
The event was led by Dr Polly Lohmann, who is the curator responsible for the Collection of Antiquities and the new conception of the exhibition. Following a brief introduction to the Collection of Antiquities, we were first shown some exhibits from the daily life of the Romans and Greeks, including oil lamps, glass flasks, a bronze mirror, and drinking vessels. In the process, the students not only became familiar with the use of the objects, the materials used, and their artistic design, but also received information about a current project course for students on the analysis of small terracotta figures.
During a subsequent guided tour through part of the exhibition area, the students were able to admire plaster casts of various sculptures and gain insights into restoration. The visit concluded with a look into the object depot, where Dr Lohmann presented her current research project in the field of provenance research. This project addresses the question of how and through which routes various objects found their way into the Collection of Antiquities. Our excursion ended with a short Q&A session.
We would like to sincerely thank Dr. Lohmann for the fascinating insight into the object repository and the museum work. The students and their accompanying teachers were captivated by the exciting objects and explanations; the look “behind the scenes” was also enriching. Furthermore, it was very interesting to see how Dr Lohmann's research finds its way into academic studies. For the students, who are about to obtain their university entrance qualification, this provided a deeper understanding of a professional field that had certainly not been the focus of their interest before.
