The Hemlock Cup: Socrates, Athens and the Search for the Good Life by Bettany Hughes - Video Preview | Heritage Key
TPreview

Category: greece

Schliemann’s Troy Treasures

Attribution:

Jon Himoff

Neues Museum, Berlin
Germany
Key Dates

The artefacts date from throughout the occupation of the ancient Greek city of Troy, which archaeologists date as having been populated from as early as 3000 BC until as late as the 1st century BC. They were discovered during excavations in the 1870s, and donated to the “German people” in 1881. Much of the collection was looted by the Russians in 1945.

Key People

The items were discovered by the famous and eccentric German businessman and archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann.

Key People:
Heinrich Schliemann

Schliemann’s Troy Treasures comprise a varied selection of items dug up at the site of the ancient city of Troy by German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann in the 1870s. They were donated “to the German people” by Schliemann in 1881, and became among the most famous artefacts at the Neues Museum in Berlin, until it was destroyed during the Second World War.

The Trojan antiquities have now been restored to pride of place in the – as of October 2009 – newly re-opened Neues Museum in Berlin. There they occupy their own room, in the museum where Schliemann hoped they would stay “for their eternal preservation.” Sadly though, the most famous artefacts among the collection – Priam’s Treasure (items once belonging to the Homeric king Priam) – are only represented by copies. The originals were looted by the Russians after the Battle of Berlin in 1945. The Russians only admitted to having them in 1994. They have been on display at Moscow’s Pushkin Museum since 1996.