Uruk-Warka-Sammlung Heidelberg

About the museum

The Uruk-Warka Collection is a permanent loan from the German Archaeological Institute to Heidelberg University. Its objects come from excavations the institute carried out in the 1950s and 1960s in Uruk, today Warka in southern Iraq. Because the finds could not go to the Pergamon Museum in then East Berlin for political reasons, they reached the city on the Neckar via Heidelberg Assyriologist Adam Falkenstein, who had taken part in the excavations.

Between 1995 and 2013, part of the holdings was on permanent display in the rooms of the Seminar for Languages and Cultures of the Ancient Near East. The collection was then moved to its new location at Marstallstraße 6, where it is to reopen to visitors after extensive construction work and a new concept.

The holdings include around 3,400 clay tablets and fragments with cuneiform writing and about 3,600 small finds such as mosaic inlays and jewelry, as well as sculptures, architectural decoration, ceramics and seals. They reflect more than six millennia of urban history, from the Chalcolithic (Copper Age) to the Sasanian era. A particularly important group of objects documents the prehistory and early history of the world's oldest writing. Organizationally, the collection belongs to the Heidelberg Zentrum Kulturelles Erbe (Heidelberg Center for Cultural Heritage).

Highlights

• Over 7,000 finds from the metropolis of Uruk (Warka)
• Around 3,000 cuneiform documents on the history of writing in the ancient Near East
• Objects on the prehistory and early history of humanity's oldest writing
• Evidence of early temple architecture from the 4th millennium BCE
• One of the largest collections of Mesopotamian artifacts in Germany

Permanent exhibition

• Uruk-Warka-Sammlung – Original finds from Uruk – from sculptures and ceramics to seals, jewelry and cuneiform tablets – tell the story of one of the oldest cities in the world.

Founded

1950

Operated by

Universität Heidelberg (Seminar für Sprachen und Kulturen des Vorderen Orients, Assyriologie); Dauerleihgabe des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts

Director

Kristina Sieckmeyer (Kuratorin)

Admission & discounts

Admission is free.

Admission is free according to the heiCOLLECTIONS collection portal.

Accessibility

• Wheelchair accessible
• Elevator: no information
• Accessible restroom: no information
• Accessible parking: no information
• Service dogs welcome: no information
• Tactile models & exhibits: no information
• Sign language tours: no information
• Easy-to-read materials: no information
• Audio description: no information

Kids & families

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Getting there & parking

Amenities & dining

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Events & venue rental

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