Abgußsammlung des Archäologischen Instituts der Universität Göttingen

About the museum

The Göttingen collection of plaster casts of ancient sculptures is regarded as the oldest of its kind at a university. Its founder was the classical philologist Christian Gottlob Heyne, who acquired the first casts from 1765 and from 1767 regularly gave lectures on ancient art – a starting point of archaeology as an academic discipline. The casts were initially housed in the university library, and large statues later in the Paulinerkirche.

Karl Otfried Müller considerably expanded the collection: in 1823 a cast of the Venus de Milo from the Louvre was added, and in 1830 casts of the Parthenon sculptures from London followed. In 1844 the collection moved to the Aula building on Wilhelmsplatz, where, owing to new acquisitions such as the architectural sculpture of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia, it soon extended into the stairwell.

Since 1912 the collection has had its own tall exhibition halls in a wing of the institute building on Nikolausberger Weg. From 1967 it was reorganised, and later a basement storeroom for heads and busts was added, and in 1986 further halls and a Roman hall. Today it comprises more than 2,100 true-to-scale casts after originals from over 200 museums and collections; over 1,000 sculptures can be seen in eleven halls arranged by period. The main focuses are the ancient portrait and Hellenistic sculpture. The collection continues to serve teaching and is catalogued online in the Virtual Museum of Antiquities (VIAMUS).

Highlights

• World's oldest university cast collection (since 1765)
• Over 1,000 sculptures on display in eleven halls
• Casts of the Parthenon sculptures (acquired 1830)
• Pediment figures of the Temple of Aphaia on Aegina
• Architectural sculpture of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia
• Thematic Sunday tours during the semester

Permanent exhibition

• Sammlung der Gipsabgüsse antiker Skulpturen – True-to-scale casts of Greek and Roman sculptures, arranged chronologically in eleven halls – from archaic Greece to the Roman imperial period.

Founded

1765

Operated by

Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Archäologisches Institut

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