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Charlottenburg,
Schöneberg,
Wilmersdorf |
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Gipsformerei (Plasterworks)
der Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin |
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Index
Hugendubel
at Tauentzien
Ty
Breizh-Savoie Rire
Cadillacs
in Concrete
Church
Hohenzollerndamm
Nature
Reserve Schöneberg
Registry
Office
The
Arabic Book
The
Schildhorn Column
Universum
Cinema
Villa
Harteneck's Garden
Ahmadiyya
Mosque
Heerstraße
Cemetery
Canzone
- World music
Country
House Garden
Plasterworks
Georg
Kolbe Museum
Bookkeeper's
Cellar
Literature
Hotel |
The Gipsformerei (Plasterworks), whose first director was the famous Prussian sculptor Christian Daniel Rauch, were founded in 1819 and are the oldest part of Berlin’s state museums.
Today the works are located in an austere factory building noted locally for being four storeys high and eleven windows wide. In stark contrast to the bland exterior, the building, which had two extra wings added in 1889 and 1891, houses a rich archive of world culture whose worth is almost priceless.
The 100 m² showroom gives an idea of the collection’s diversity. Almost anything can be cast, from the tiniest seal-stones, measuring just a few centimetres, to a life-size group of figures weighing several tons. Unlike archaeological artefacts, the value of the cast is determined by the size of the object; small objects the size of a thumbnail can be priced at under one hundred Euros.
The Gipsformerei boasts 7800 castings representing (alongside the Louvre in Paris), the world’s largest collection of this kind. Castings from specific countries or periods are displayed in special catalogues: Egypt and the Middle East, the Christian ages or the prehistoric and early historical eras, each of which is particularly significant from an art history perspective. Central- and South-American, Indian and African sculptures can also be cast.
The importance of the collection increases with the loss and damage to these originals of our cultural heritage caused by natural or man-made catastrophes. Any misgivings one might have about mass-producing these unique treasures soon give way to the seductive idea of ambling through the museums and picking out a favourite figure or medallion, deciding whether it should be cast in white plaster or painted, and taking it home.
At 10 a.m. on the first and third Wednesday of the month, you can see the plasterers and painters at work in a free guided tour, and glimpse the store rooms, packed floor to ceiling with old plaster-molds. |
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Address: Sophie-Charlotten-Str. 17-18, 14059 Berlin, +49 (0)30 3267690, gf@smb.spk-berlin.de
Hours of opening: Mon-Fri 9.00-16.00, Wed 9.00-18.00
Bus, Tube, Tram: S41, S42, S46 Westend; Bus 145, 309 Sophie-Charlotten-Straße |
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