Curator's guided tours through the special exhibition REPLICA KNOWLEDGE. An Archaeology of the Multiple Past

March 10, 2018, 15:00 till 15:45 (English) & 16:00 till 16:45 (German)

Curators’ guided tours through the exhibition Replica Knowledge will give deep insights into the history of popular replicas, their (re-)construction, spreading and commercialization –  stories of truth and myth.

Why do Snake Goddesses reside in Berlin, Cambridge, Heidelberg and Paris? How did the throne of King Minos appear in the International Criminal Court in The Hague? And when was Nestor’s cup last seen on the big screen?

Replica Knowledge presents copies of archaeological objects from the Greek Bronze Age and follows the biographies of several replicas. These biographies lead to the collections of museums and universities, justice palaces, luxury steam­ers, action films and contemporary art. The manifold interpretations and uses of these replicas show that history is not fixed but continually being constructed.

The exhibition conveys these stories of truth and myth and their motivations in artistic and museum formats of presen­tation. In thematic rooms and a cinema, new replica knowledge is displayed about the best known objects from Minoan and Mycenaean archaeology. For example, the history of the ‘Throne of Minos’ replica installed in the International Court of Justice in 1913 stands between ancient myths and political agendas. Illustrator Jan Stöwe has designed this as a large format installation especially for the exhi­bition. Furthermore, in the Maker Space, the production of replicas in different processes and materials is accessible — from plaster cast to 3D printing.

Visitors are therefore invited to go on a journey in which history and archaeology have many interpretations.