Category Archives: Object of the Month

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Object of the Month: Walter Womacka, Conquering science

14. January 2026 HZK

Object of the Month 01/2026

For now, the large-scale work can only be seen in the evening hours – the colourful stained-glass windows in the east wing of the main building shine into the garden courtyard after dark when the lights in the renovated vestibule of the Audimax are switched on. They tell of a time of optimism, of the importance of science and enthusiasm for technology in the GDR.

There are three stained glass windows in which humans are at the centre, surrounded by elements of nature, science and the cosmos.

In the left window stands a young man, his left hand raised towards an atomic model, with a dove of peace and the head of Max Planck arranged in the image fields below. The man holds his right hand lowered, with fists raised towards him from below. The peaceful use of atomic energy under socialist leadership is propagated in its global dimension by the wind rose at the top. Nature has its place in the lower fields of the image with ears of corn and a fruit-bearing tree. But here, too, man intervenes, symbolised by a winding tower and an electricity pylon.

The upper half of the middle window is dominated by a young woman in a red dress striding forward. She is holding an open book, beneath which Marx and Engels are gathered, along with Karl Marx’s 11th Feuerbach thesis, which was already on display in the foyer of the main building on the staircase at that time. In the left-hand strip, raised fists can be seen again, above them a head of Lenin. The GDR coat of arms in front of a sun, accompanied by doves of peace, rounds off the message. The lower fields of the picture are occupied by symbols of the sciences and the arts: an anch cross as a symbol of life, a mask, a harp and a palette, hieroglyphs, but also radio technology and telescopes. The profile portraits of Wilhelm and Alexander von Humboldt are inserted in the centre, which have become very similar to the symbolic image and corporate design of Humboldt-Universität.

The right-hand window is particularly relevant to the present day. Here, a man in a space suit is the central figure, surrounded by a rocket hanging from a parachute, portraits of Leibniz, Newton and Einstein, and the dove of peace. In the case of Einstein, the reference is not only significant in terms of scientific history; the physicist and Nobel Prize winner also gave lectures in the main lecture hall of Berlin’s university. The red Soviet star next to the depiction of a black hole and a galaxy refer to the conquest of space, which Yuri Gagarin achieved in 1961 with his space flight. The theme of space conquest is symbolically linked to the importance of physics, scientific research and technical prowess in the lower fields of the image with a refractor, a parabolic antenna and the portrait of Nicolaus Copernicus.

The mastery of nature and technology for the sake of peace is depicted in the stained glass windows as the task of the university in a socialist state in a sequence of individual motifs. Sometimes concrete, sometimes more metaphorical, many of the selected image elements were familiar set pieces from everyday media. Walter Ulbricht regarded innovative technology and science as a prerequisite for ‘the growth of productive forces and economic strength’ (“das Wachstum der Produktivkräfte und die ökonomische Stärke”) so that the ‘successful mastery of the scientific and technological revolution’ („erfolgreiche Meisterung der wissenschaftlich-technischen Revolution“) could be achieved as ‘a major task in the class struggle’ (“eine Hauptaufgabe im Klassenkampf”, Walter Ulbricht: Grundlegende Aufgaben im Jahr 1970. Referat auf der 12. Tagung des ZK der SED 12./13.12.1969). The so-called complex image, the dissolution of a narrative form into coherent individual motifs, artistically creates a world view in which science, technology, nature and society are closely linked and dominated by humans.

The stained glass windows also showcase modern technology, departing from the Christian stained glass tradition of church windows: small plexiglass panes are hung in front of the window bars, and the typical lead strips are only partially real, with some of them merely simulated by black lines. No sacred space is ennobled; rather, modern science and the human spirit of discovery that dominates the world are celebrated. The stained glass windows were created by Katharina Perschel, and the Mahlsdorf glass art workshop still exists today.

Walter Womacka was commissioned not only because of his expertise in architecture-related art, but also because of his socialist convictions, which he demonstrated in other large-scale projects. Not far from the Humboldt-Universität, he designed the stained glass window wall in the former seat of the State Council (the first new government building in East Berlin, now the European School of Management and Technology) in 1964. The main staircase is adorned with the ‘History of the German Labour Movement from 1918 to the Establishment of the First German Workers’ and Peasants’ State’ (Socialism Triumphs) (“Geschichte der deutschen Arbeiterbewegung von 1918 bis zur Errichtung des ersten Deutschen Arbeiter- und Bauernstaates“ (Der Sozialismus siegt)). The elaborate glass bonding technique used for this was developed by the PGH Kunsthandwerk und Glasgestaltung (Artisans’ Cooperative for Arts and Crafts and Glass Design) in Magdeburg – the artisanal and artistic technique thus underlines the importance of technical progress using one’s own skills.

The stained glass windows bear witness to a very special moment in art history, politics and social history, in which Humboldt-Universität also played a part.

Author: Christina Kuhli
Photos: Iris Grötschel, https://www.math.berlin/orte/fenster-hub.html [last access: 09.02.2026]

Literature:

Jörg Haspel: ‘Vorsicht Stufe’. Konservieren und kommentieren? Sozialistische Denkmalkunst in Berlin als Objekt und Ort künstlerischer Interventionen und Interpretationen, in: Von der Ablehnung zur Aneignung? Das architektonische Erbe des Sozialismus in Mittel- und Osteuropa (= Visuelle Geschichtskultur, 12), edited by Arnold Bartetzky, Christian Dietz and Jörg Haspel, Cologne/Weimar/Vienna 2014, pp. 195-213;
Luise Helas: Walter Womacka. Sein Beitrag zur architekturbezogenen Kunst in der DDR, in: Luise Helas, Wilma Rambow, Felix Rössl: Kunstvolle Oberflächen des Sozialismus. Wandbilder und Betonformsteine (= Forschungen zum baukulturellen Erbe der DDR, 3), Weimar 2014, pp. 19-102;
Sigrid Hofer: Kosmonaut Ikarus. Weltall, Erde, Mensch – Die planbare Zukunft als bildnerische Projektion, in: Abschied von Ikarus. Bildwelten in der DDR – neu gesehen, exhibition catalogue, Neues Museum Weimar 2012–2013, edited by Karl-Siegbert Rehberg, Wolfgang Holler and Paul Kaiser, Cologne 2012, pp. 2015–215;
Wolfgang Hütt: Walter Womacka, Dresden 1980;
Walter Womacka: Die bildende Kunst – notwendiger Bestandteil der Architektur, in: Bildende Kunst 6, 1964, pp. 305–310.

Artwork of the month, News, Object of the Month

Object of the Month: The Rectors’ Portraits – Tradition Formation in the GDR, Media Diversity in the Present Day

9. December 2025 HZK

Object of the Month 12/2025

Many venerable universities have a picture gallery of professors or rectors. Berlin’s Friedrich-Wilhelm-Universität and Humboldt-Universität can also look back on a long line of rectors (later presidents). However, their pictorial representation (in contrast to the busts of scholars) only became established in the 1980s. In preparation for the university’s jubilee in 1985, Heinz Wagner’s portraits of Johann Gottlieb Fichte and Johannes Stroux set a clear tone: The first rector of the Berlin University in 1811/12 and the first rector after its reopening in 1946/47 were to represent the new self-image of Humboldt-Universität in the spirit of establishing tradition, leaving out both the National Socialist and late bourgeois past. The following rectors were also to be painted for the Senate Hall – only Hermann Dersch was removed from the list of proposals, as the lawyer had moved to the University of Cologne in the West in 1951.

In accordance with this selection, the design of the portraits was also politically approved. At first glance, the portraits appear quite different: some seated, some standing, with and without attributes, in action or at rest, almost all rectors wear the chain of office, but none wear a gown. The portrait of Karl-Heinz Wirzberger, whose term of office ran from 1967 to 1976, is an example of this being a deliberate choice.

Originally, Wirzberger’s portrait was to be painted by the well-known Leipzig painter Werner Tübke. In keeping with his working method – he often relied on historical references, both thematically and pictorially – he wanted to depict the rector in his academic gown. However, the request to borrow the regalia from the Traditionskabinett (Tradition Cabinet) was denied by the Cultural Commission of the SED-Kreisleitung (District Leadership) and the University History Research Centre. The reasoning cited not only the abandonment of gowns following the third university reform in 1968, but also the need to avoid misunderstandings that could have negative publicity. Otherwise, given the differences of opinion that still exist today about the decisions made at that time, the portrayal could lead to interpretations that are not in line with the measures taken at the time (HU, Custody, letter from Walter Mohrmann to Rector Helmut Klein, 14 December 1982 (carbon copy)). This was also stipulated for the other portraits. In particular, the brushwork of most of the portraits – such as those of Walter Friedrich by Heinrich Tessmer (1984), Werner Hartke by Arno Rink (1987) and Kurt Erich Schröder by Walter Womacka (1985) – as well as the framing and positioning of the subjects make the series of rectors appear lively and individual.
However, it is not immediately apparent that the English scholar Wirzberger is depicted as a rector. The portrait appears to be a vivid snapshot: Wirzberger, wearing a dark suit and tie, looks up from his work at the viewer, the document he has just been working on still in his hands and ready to be placed on the pile of completed documents. The desk at which he sits separates him from the viewer’s space and at the same time forms a spatial unity with the background. With this industrious pose, the portrait stands out from the other, much more representative rector portraits of the 1980s.

Even after the end of the GDR, the portrait series continued – now with portraits of university presidents, whereby the subjects themselves were allowed to choose an artist and the manner of their representation. Marlis Dürkop-Leptihn was the first woman to hold this office, and the sociologist chose a woman artist to paint her portrait (2006). With Ruth Tesmar, long-time professor of artistic-aesthetic practice at the HU and director of the Menzel-Dach, a change in media also took place – collage with photos and writing on glass as the image support replaced the classic oil painting and conveyed a versatile personality and a multi-layered office.

Sabine Curio, on the other hand, takes us into the private sphere with her portrait of Jürgen Mlynek (2009). The physicist and rector from 2000 to 2005 stands at a desk in front of a patio door with a view of greenery. Mlynek, seen in profile, is engrossed in writing or editing a text and does not notice the viewer, giving the impression of a glimpse into his private working environment. The diversity of media continues with the photographs by Herlinde Koelbl, which the last presidents, Christoph Markschies (in black and white) and Sabine Kunst (in colour), chose for their portraits.

Even though the collection of portraits of rectors and presidents is not extensive, it nevertheless conveys the image of a vibrant university history with a promising future.

Author: Christina Kuhli

Artwork of the month, News, Object of the Month

Object of the Month: Humboldt diverse – Gerald Matzner’s terracotta busts and the idiosyncrasy of form

11. November 2025 HZK

Object of the Month 11/2025

Since 2009, the HU’s portfolio of Humboldt busts has been supplemented by modern adaptations by Austrian sculptor Gerald Matzner (1943-2018). From a series of 15 busts of Alexander and Wilhelm von Humboldt, which Matzner created based on models by Christian Daniel Rauch (1851) and Bertel Thorvaldsen (1808), Der abgewickelte Humboldt (The Unravelled Humboldt) and Die Brüder Humboldt (The Humboldt Brothers) were acquired for the university’s art collection. In accordance with the title of these busts from the ‘Metamorphoses’ series, the brothers are clearly removed from the original portraits. The thin-walled clay sculptures, each with its own pedestal, were painted after firing, and signatures and dates can be found on their surfaces.

Eight additional busts were added to the art collection through a donation from the artist’s widow. The spectrum of techniques used, from reshaping and wrapping in ribbons to adding attributes until the model is almost unrecognisable, gives an insight into both the diverse biographical and scientific life of the Humboldts and the imagination and expressiveness of the artist, who was trained in Vienna and Berlin and worked for many years as a freelance artist in Berlin. Not only are the subjects closely associated with the university, Matzner began his series of sculptures in 1990 – at a time when the liquidation of Humboldt Universität was on the agenda. It is, so to speak, an artistic commitment to the two scholars and their ideals, but also to the tradition of Humboldt Universität and its continuation into the present and future. Matzner himself was drawn to Berlin by the student revolts of 1968. He worked primarily in terracotta, although in the 1980s he began to produce larger formats for public spaces, including the Corinthian column for the Rostlaube building at Freie Universität Berlin and the series of pocket pyramids.

The titles alone – such as Humboldt bucht eine Reise (Humboldt books a trip), Im Insektenschwarm (In the swarm of insects), Nach Worten ringend (Struggling for words), Die Vermessung des Alexander von Humboldt (The measurement of Alexander von Humboldt), Humboldt mit Reisetasche (Humboldt with travel bag) or Abgewickelter Humboldt (Unravelled Humboldt) – refer to the creative and sometimes ironic treatment of these great men. The Humboldts are populated with plants, animals such as frogs and beetles, but also with bags, telephone receivers and garden gnomes. Amusing, sometimes sombre, not always immediately aesthetically appealing, the busts are intended to stimulate reflection. What do the scientific curiosity and industriousness of the Humboldts mean to us today? Which of their achievements do we recognise in the narrative portraits, and what impact do they (still) have? Furthermore, the alienations refer us back to ourselves; Matzner’s distortions are ‘the “natural cast” of our civilisation, the portrait […] of our world, frightening and bitterly amusing’ (Sperlich 1991, p. 24).

The fact that some of the busts are located in the so-called Humboldt Cabinet in Adlershof, a technological science centre that emerged long after the Humboldts’ time and has had an even greater impact on today’s world, would have pleased both the subjects and the artist.

Author: Christina Kuhli

Literature:
Sperlich, Martin: Gerald Matzner oder der Stil „Rustique“ oder das Irdene und das Irdische des Naturabgusses, in: Die ganze Welt ist rötlich braun. Skulpturen von Gerald Matzner. Werkverzeichnis, Berlin 1991, pp. 19-24.

News, Object of the Month

Object of the Month: Under the watchful eyes of Fichte, Humboldt, Grimm & Co. – the lunettes from the former university library

17. October 2025 HZK

Object of the Month 10/2025

The former six lunettes once adorned the reading room of the old university library at Dorotheenstr. 28 (formerly house no. 9) and thus represented the faculties and subject areas of the university.

Lunettes, which fill circular framed wall panels and are usually placed above doors or windows, are associated with the architecture due to their shape. In 1871-73, a new building was erected for the university library (after several other locations since the move from the Royal Library in 1839) and also artistically decorated, as was customary for public buildings at this time. This organic unity was lost when the library moved in 1910, as was the lunette for the natural sciences. The paintings initially ended up in the old musicology reading room and were only rediscovered there in 1997 during restoration work. They were subsequently housed in the respective faculties and in the Grimm Centre (the present-day Central Library).

While no information has yet been found on the creation and commission, the surviving drafts dated between 1874 and 1878 provide a good insight into the struggle for an adequate representation of the scientific disciplines. It can be seen from the first drafts that purely allegorical representations were initially trialled. Although these allegories were retained in the creative process, they were supplemented by portrait medallions of famous university scholars. In this way, a pictorial language that had been widespread since the late Middle Ages was chosen or adapted: the personification of the faculties in connection with a scholar. The fact that the decision as to which scholar best represented the respective discipline was not always free of conflict is evident in two specific cases. The order of the lunettes also seems to have changed, as the numbering of the designs from 1874 and 1877 differs.

In the lunette of philosophy, alongside Plato and Aristotle as young men reading and learning, are the medallions of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and the founding rector of the university, Johann Gottlieb Fichte. In the lunette of philology, which depicts the representation of language families, August Boeckh and the Grimm brothers were chosen as representatives of the discipline. The medical lunette was greatly reduced during the design process: Aesculapius with a snake baton occupies the centre of the image, framed by medallion portraits of Johannes Müller (the ‘father of medical science’) and initially Eilhard Mitscherlich. However, the chemist and mineralogist was apparently not wanted after all, as the draft already notes: ‘Mitscherlich fällt weg, dafür Schönlein’ (Mitscherlich omitted, Schönlein added instead). Accordingly, the lunette was then executed with a portrait of Johann Lukas Schönlein, a physician with wide-ranging scientific interests. On the lunette depicting jurisprudence, the medallion originally intended to feature only the portrait of Friedrich Carl von Savigny in the centre was supplemented by Carl Gustav Homeyer and the allegory of Justice was placed in the centre.

The development of the lunette of theology is particularly interesting.

The first two designs dated 1874 still envisaged separate denominational representation. Catholicism is depicted with a Cistercian monk copying manuscripts as a “preserver of earlier cultures”, supplemented by ecclesiastical symbols and the personifications of “symbolism” and “dogmatics”.

The Protestant confession shows Luther translating the Bible in the centre of the picture in a similar arrangement, with the cross, Bible, communion chalice and the Trinity as well as the personifications of ‘interpretation’ and ‘dogmatics’ next to him.

It is only in the third design, with the allegory placed in the centre and holding the open Bible in its hand, that the Protestant confession becomes dominant and is transferred to the executed lunette. As a representative of Protestant theology, she is flanked by the portrait medallions of Friedrich Daniel Ernst Schleiermacher, who also worked as an educational reformer and philosopher, and his colleague, the professor of church history August Neander. The reduction to one denomination for the Faculty of Theology appears to make perfect sense for its representation, as it has only been possible to study Catholic theology at Humboldt-Universität since 2019.

The removal of Catholic theology had finally freed up a pictorial field. The natural sciences were to be represented here. The design from 1877, which has survived in contrast to the finished lunette, contains two medallions with portraits of Alexander von Humboldt and the physician and naturalist Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg, who accompanied Humboldt on his journey through the Urals in 1829. Ehrenberg himself conducted research as a zoologist, ecologist and geologist, taught as Professor of the History of Medicine and Physiology in Berlin and held the office of Rector of Friedrich Wilhelm University in 1855/56. The many-breasted fertility goddess Artemis Ephesia fills the centre of the picture. Surprisingly, the finished lunette probably did not depict Humboldt, but the chemist and mineralogist Eilhard Mitscherlich, at least according to the inscription on the design. The great esteem in which the Berlin university lecturer and temporary rector of Friedrich Wilhelm University was held is also shown by the monument erected in his honour in front of the east wing of the university in 1894.

The lunettes of the former university library are classic representations of the faculties. From the original four faculties (theology, jurisprudence, medicine and philosophy), which already existed in the Middle Ages, further disciplines had been established, which were also included in the pictorial programmes. The planned rich iconography with allegories, personifications, famous representatives of the respective sciences, teacher-student relationships and numerous attributes of the subjects was reduced in the execution in favour of a clear schematic pictorial language that could also be easily recognised from a distance. The timeless personifications and the contemporary representatives of the subjects in a consistent scheme create an aesthetic continuity, while the various media levels (figures, fake stone, tendrils) also make art itself present. In contrast to the history painting, the lunettes are not narrative, but they also do not tell a story of rise and fall, so they are not valorising the rank of individual subjects or their representatives. Likewise, the usual hierarchy of placement has been cancelled out – there is no direction of reading, but rather a spatial allocation to the literature of the respective subject area.

Author: Christina Kuhli

Literature:

Angelika Keune: Gelehrtenbildnisse der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Denkmäler, Büsten, Reliefs, Gedenktafeln, Gemälde, Zeichnungen, Graphiken, Medaillen, Berlin 2000, p. 156f.;

Theater der Natur und Kunst. Theatrum naturae et artis. Exhibition catalogue, ed. by Horst Bredekamp, Jochen Brüning and Cornelia Weber, Berlin 2000, p. 60, cat. 2/34 (Anita Stegmeier);

Monika Wagner: Allegorie und Geschichte. Ausstattungsprogramme öffentlicher Gebäude des 19. Jahrhunderts in Deutschland von der Cornelius-Schule zur Malerei der Wilhelminischen Ära, zugl. Habil-Schrift Universität Tübingen (= Tübinger Studien zur Archäologie und Kunstgeschichte, Bd. 9), Tübingen 1989;

Karl Friese: Geschichte der Königlichen Universitäts-Bibliothek zu Berlin, Berlin 1910;
Karl-August Wirth/ Ute Götz: Fakultäten, die vier, in: Reallexikon zur Deutschen Kunstgeschichte VI, pp. 1183-1219.

News, Object of the Month

Object of the Month: Drawing in the sponsoring company. From the holdings of the former Institute for Art Education

15. September 2025 HZK

Object of the Month 09/2025

The art collection of the Humboldt University comprises a number of special portfolios containing works by students of art education. The former institute at the Humboldt Universität’s Faculty of Education taught art history and art education methodology as well as artistic practice for prospective art teachers. The political goal of educating students to become ‘all-round socialist personalities’ (allseitig gebildet[e] sozialistische Persönlichkeit, Klemm 2015, p. 49) and to ‘implement socialist realism as an art policy doctrine in society’ (sozialistischen Realismus als kunstpolitische Doktrin in der Gesellschaft einsetzen, ibid., 2015, p. 49) was also firmly anchored in this subject. The Department of Art History and Aesthetics at Humboldt University was thus tasked with shaping the new socialist personality through the arts and their scientific and educational accompaniment. Teachers in the field of art education therefore not only had to be artistically accomplished, but also socially engaged (e.g. as leaders of so-called circles in which lay people were instructed in artistic creation) and, of course, committed to Marxism-Leninism in terms of their intellectual and ideological beliefs – after all, they were training future art teachers.

For artistic practice, which was taught at the HU by visual artists (Hermann Bruse, Dietrich Kunth, Johannes Prusko, Gerenot Richter, Erhardt Schmidt, Norbert Weinke, Barbara Müller, Wolfgang Frankenstein, among others), the guidelines were relatively vague. They were to deal with life-affirming subjects, themes such as nature, homeland and the construction of socialist life, and in doing so to try out different techniques and materials. The works on industrial landscapes, recreational and private life, holidays, village views or motifs of the reconstruction of Berlin seem to follow this guideline. There is evidence that printing techniques such as etching, linocut and woodcut were practised, as well as drawing techniques using ink and charcoal and oil painting.

One exemplary group of early works shows the implementation of the curriculum requirements quite clearly: industrial pictures created in the sponsoring company of the HU, the ‘Glückauf’ lignite factory in Knappenrode. Eva-Maria Mancke, a lecturer at the Institute of Art Education in the field of artistic practice, describes this form of ‘active participation in everyday socialist life’ in detail – and probably also somewhat embellished – in an article about the students’ 14-day work assignment:

We found a willingness to help and understanding, and that helped us over many a cliff, because back pain and blisters on the hands are not the pleasant side of a job. Nevertheless, there was no hanging of heads. […] We found our motifs in the factory, in the overburden and on the assembly site, and we drew and painted everything we had already come into contact with during our labour. („Wir fanden Hilfsbereitschaft und Verständnis, und das half uns über manche Klippe hinweg, denn Rückenschmerzen und Blasen an den Händen gehören nun mal nicht zur angenehmen Seite einer Beschäftigung. Trotzdem gab es kein Kopfhängen. […] Unsere Motive fanden wir in der Fabrik, im Abraum und auf dem Montageplatz, und wir zeichneten und malten all das, womit wir während des Arbeitseinsatzes schon in Berührung gekommen waren.“; Mancke 1958, p. 13f.)

Works created after the mandatory multi-day excursions to industrial facilities such as the Glückauf coal-mining factory can be found sporadically among the numerous works of former art education students. The 1951 art education curriculum shows that the subject area ‘Man and Space’ with exercises on ‘spatial projection,’ ‘interior and exterior architecture’ and ‘building complexes’ had to be completed in three academic years.

The actual work assignment was followed by the artistic realisation of the experience. The resulting works were exhibited in the company’s cultural centre and later also at the HU. In particular, prints were produced as gift folders for the inauguration of a new conveyor bridge. The Institute’s lecture activities (‘Miners’ depictions in the visual arts”) and the planned joint visit to the IV. German Art Exhibition in Dresden, the guidelines of the so-called Bitterfeld Way were realised in exemplary fashion. However, the invoked community between artists and workers had already become obsolete in 1965 in terms of realpolitik. The works of the former Institute for Art Education are therefore not only aesthetically but also historically valuable testimonies. Unfortunately, many works dating from the 1950s to the 1980s are unsigned or unidentifiable, so only in some cases can the works be attributed to former students.

Author: Christina Kuhli

Literature:

Über die Veränderungen in der Lehrerausbildung am Institut für Kunsterziehung. Beitrag zur Lehrkörperkonferenz der Pädagogischen Fakultät an der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin 18.12.1958, UA HU, Päd. Fak. 02, 0026, [p. 4];

Eva-Maria Mancke: Studenten arbeiten und zeichnen in der Produktion, in: Kunsterziehung. Zeitschrift für Lehrer und Kunsterzieher, Heft 12, 1958, pp. 12-14;

Wolfgang Frankenstein: Zur Stellung der Kunsterziehungswissenschaft im System Kunstwissenschaft, in: Theoretische Grundlagen der bildkünstlerischen Gestaltung, Wissenschafts-Konferenz des Bereichs Kunsterziehung, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin 1978, pp. 161-169;

Marieluise Schaum: Zinnoberrot und Preußischblau oder die Kunsterziehung an der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Positionen und Potentiale kunsttheoretischer Entwicklungen am Bereich Kunsterziehung der Sektion Ästhetik und Kunstwissenschaften der Humboldt-Universität in den siebziger und achtziger Jahren, in: Wolfgang Girnus/ Klaus Meier (eds.): Die Humboldt-Universität Unter den Linden 1945 bis 1990. Zeitzeugen – Einblicke – Analysen, Leipzig 2010, pp. 467- 494;

Thomas Klemm: ‘Die ästhetische Bildung sozialistischer Persönlichkeiten’. Institutionenelle Verflechtungen der Kunstlehrerausbildung an den Hochschulen der DDR, in: Die Hochschule, 24, 2015, pp. 48-61.

News, Object of the Month, Object of the Month

Object of the month: Towns of the Near East as reflected in the Sammlung Historischer Palästinabilder (Collection of Historical Pictures of Palestine)

21. November 2024 HZK

Object of the month 11/2024

On August 26, 1907, Hugo Gressmann (1877–1927), a professor of Old Testament/Hebrwe Bible at the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität, writes to his colleague and friend Hermann Gunkel (1862–1932) in Giessen that he has „den Plan, neue Lichtbilder machen zu lassen. Die Lichtbilder sollen dienen für den Unterricht in der höheren Schule und an der Univ.[ersität]. … Da Prof. Schäfer vom ägypt. Museum mir seine tatkräftige Hilfe zugesagt hat und da mir auch die Diapositive der D[eutschen]O[rient]G[esellschaft] zur Verfügung stehen, hoffe ich die Sammlung unseres Seminars beträchtlich zu vermehren. Das würde auch mir hübsche Drucke geben: Illustrationen für A[ltes]T[estament]., besonders profane, Kulturgeschichtliches, an denen es zur Zeit ganz fehlt.“

The here mentioned collection forms the basis of the Sammlung Historischer Palästinabilder (Collection of Historical Pictures of Palestine), which is still located at the Old Testament Seminar at the Faculty of Theology at Humboldt Universität. It includes around 2000 glass plate slides, which were mainly collected by Hugo Gressmann until his sudden death on a lecture tour through the United States of America in 1927. The photographs were taken between the late 19th and early 20th century. They aim to visually capture the biblical world. Accordingly, the photographs show images from the eastern Mediterranean and southern Levant. The focus is on locations mentioned in the Bible. These are now in the territory of Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel and Palestine. The motifs include landscapes, ancient and contemporary buildings (temples, churches, mosques), people, animals and plants. The vast majority of glass plate slides were produced by professional publishers.

Gressmann had travelled to Israel/Palestine in 1906/1907 as part of a regional studies course run by the Deutsches Evangelisches Institut für Altertumswissenschaft des Heiligen Landes (German Protestant Institute of Archaeology of the Holy Land), which was founded in 1900 and is still based in Jerusalem and Amman today. He took numerous photographs himself during his travels. The experiences he had on this trip left a lasting impression on him, and he firmly embedded the study of material culture in the canon of methods used by scholars of the Old Testament. His Altorientalische Bilder zum Alten Testament (1909, second edition 1927) became a standard work. As a representative of the Religionsgeschichtliche Schule and in accordance with his understanding of theology as cultural studies, it was important to him to understand the biblical texts in the context of ancient oriental and Egyptian texts and images, as well as against the background of the concrete conditions of life. He also endeavoured to communicate his findings to an interested public beyond the confines of the university, in both word and image. One medium he used was the Religionsgeschichtliche Volksbücher für die deutsche christliche Gegenwart, published at the beginning of the 20th century by Friedrich Michael Schiele, in which he provided information about the current excavations in Palestine (RV III/10, 1908).

The Sammlung Historischer Palästinabilder now also includes glass plate slides from the estate of Gottfried Quell (1896–1976), a scholar of the Old Testament from Berlin. The loan of the library of the Deutschen Vereins zur Erforschung Palästinas (German Association for the Exploration of Palestine), which has existed since 1877, means that it is very well documented. The collection is of great importance for historical topography, for the history of archaeology, for the landscape and urban surface structure of pre-industrial Israel/Palestine, for the history of photography, but also for historical ethnology and anthropology, as well as for the Eurocentric image of the Orient in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Nr. 1 (Gaza): American Colony Magic Lantern Slides, Fr. Vester & Co, Jerusalem, Palestine.

Nr. 2 (Aleppo): Th. Benzinger, Lichtbildverlag, Stuttgart.

Nr. 3 (Beirut): American Colony Magic Lantern Slides, Fr. Vester & Co, Jerusalem, Palestine.

Nr. 4 (Baalbek): Kunst-Verlag Bruno Hentschel, Leipzig.

Nr. 5 (Jerusalem): Kunst-Verlag Bruno Hentschel, Leipzig.

Numerous photographs show important towns in the Middle East. For the object of the month for November 2024, five views of towns or individual buildings on the ground of these towns from the time around 1920 have been selected from this group of motifs. These are sites that are the focus of international attention due to the current political situation and that are under great threat due to the armed conflict. Photo no. 1 shows the minaret of the Great Mosque of Gaza, which was built on the site of the 12th-century church of St. John the Baptist. Photo no. 2 offers a view of Aleppo in colour. Photo no. 3 provides a glimpse of Beirut. Photo no. 4 shows the Temple of the Sun in Baalbek. Photo no. 5 offers a view of Jerusalem, from the Mount of Olives over the Kidron Valley to the Dome of the Rock, with a Jewish community gathered for a lament for the dead. The tears shed here may be representative of all the tears that people in the Middle East are currently experiencing in the face of the destruction in their immediate surroundings.

Sascha Gebauer, Rüdiger Liwak and Peter Welten provide comprehensive documentation of the Sammlung Historischer Palästinabilder in the book Pilger, Forscher, Abenteurer. Das Heilige Land in frühen Fotografien der Sammlung Greßmann, Leipzig 2014. The passage quoted at the beginning comes from a collection of letters from Gressmann to Gunkel, which is to be critically edited by Sascha Gebauer and Markus Witte as part of a current research project. To the life and work of Hugo Gressmann see Sascha Gebauer, Hugo Greßmann und sein Programm der Religionsgeschichte, Berlin/Boston 2020, and Markus Witte, ‘Hugo Gressmann (1877–1927) – Ein Leben für die Geschichte der Religion,’ Biblische Notizen 179 (2018): 108–120.

Website of the Sammlung Historischer Palästinabilder:
https://www.theologie.hu-berlin.de/de/professuren/stellen/at/palaestina

List of figures:
Nr. 1 (Gaza): American Colony Magic Lantern Slides, Fr. Vester & Co, Jerusalem, Palestine.
Nr. 2 (Aleppo): Th. Benzinger, Lichtbildverlag, Stuttgart.
Nr. 3 (Beirut): American Colony Magic Lantern Slides, Fr. Vester & Co, Jerusalem, Palestine.
Nr. 4 (Baalbek): Kunst-Verlag Bruno Hentschel, Leipzig.
Nr. 5 (Jerusalem): Kunst-Verlag Bruno Hentschel, Leipzig.

Source of figures:
https://rs.cms.hu-berlin.de/palaestina/pages/search.php?search=%21collection2&k=4b9927904c

Contact:
Prof. Dr. Markus Witte
Seminar für Altes Testament
Theologische Fakultät
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
markus.witte@hu-berlin.de

News, Object of the Month

Object of the month: Photo collection in the archive of the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

19. September 2024 HZK

Object of the month 09/2024

Whether it was the opening of the academic year, the reception of foreign delegations, sporting competitions, conferences or conventions – a university photographer was always present at all university events, documenting the action and capturing it in numerous photos that provide a detailed insight into the history of Humboldt-Universität. The staff at the Hochschulfilm- und Bildstelle HBF (the universities own photographic and film service) also took on specific documentary assignments: architectural and interior photographs recorded the development of the university buildings, while portraits of professors and lecturers captured the composition of the teaching staff.

All these moments in over 40 years of university history, captured on mono film, are now in the photo collection of the HU Archive – both as positives and negatives and contact sheets; they include images that were intended for publication – in the HU magazine or in other university and non-university publications – as well as snapshots that have never been seen by the public.

X. Weltfestspiele der Jugend und Studenten (10th World Festival of Youth and Students) 1973, Angela Davis. Photo: Völkel, Copyright Humboldt-Universität

The student in the construction of a new Germany. Guest student at the veterinary clinic of the university, 1947. Photo: unknown. Copyright Humboldt-Universität

Meeting with Soviet citizens, November 1977. Photo: Talmann, Copyright Humboldt-Universität

Unveiling of the Marx bust in 1953. Photo: unknown. Copyright Humboldt-Universität

The FDJ Central Council's (Zentralrat der Freien Deutschen Jugend) graduation ball and reception, 1958. Photo: unknown. Copyright Humboldt-Universität

Photos of buildings inside and outside, undated. Photo: unknown. Copyright Humboldt-Universität

1. May 1946: „Zug der Universität. Die beiden Studentinnen sind beide Schuldirektorin bzw. Abt. Ltr. im Ministerium für Planung“. Roughly translatetd: „University procession. The two female students are both headmistresses respectively supervisor at the Ministry of Planning.“ Photo: unknown. Copyright Humboldt-Universität

A central service in the field of audiovisual media (audiovisuelle Medien, abbr.: AV) has existed at the university since 1952. Initially, it mainly provided photography and film work for teaching, studies and research, and also took over the maintenance and repair of AV technology. This university image centre was founded at all universities in the GDR by a resolution of the centrally responsible Ministry of Technical and University Education (Ministerium für Fach- und Hochschulwesen). Initially assigned to the Prorectorate for Research, the HFB moved to the Directorate for Cultural and Public Relations (Direktorat für Kultur- und Öffentlichkeitsarbeit) after 1970, while the Centre for Audiovisual Learning and Teaching Materials (Zentrum für audiovisuelle Lern- und Lehrmittel, ZAL), founded in 1971 and 1979 respectively, continued to be available primarily as a service facility for research in the faculties and institutes of the university, for all members, students and teachers alike.

Although a few ZAL educational films are available in the archive, it is primarily the photos that are stored here: a unique and impressive testimony to academic life in the decades from the 1950s to the late 1990s, which has reached a volume of almost 30 linear metres and is largely untapped, despite its undoubted historical significance for the history of the HU. Despite verifiable attempts to organise and catalogue the mass of photographs in some way, the photo documents collected after the dissolution of the HBF were handed over to the archive in disarray, often unfortunately with very little information about the events and people in the photos, rarely supplemented with a note about the photographer and even more rarely dated. Creating order and retrospectively adding the missing information to the existing material is an immense and yet exciting challenge. Every time we delve into the sorted and unsorted boxes of photographs, we unearth a piece of everyday university life that tells stories on many levels: university history, but also social history, political, societal, scientific and everyday stories.

The ZAL and the HFB with their university-internal photographic laboratory were closed in the late 1990s. The university photographers took on other tasks. The possibilities for documenting life and events at the university have changed dramatically since then: analogue photographs are hardly ever taken, and every event is not only documented professionally, but also in a multitude of snapshots by participants and private individuals. The mono photographs depict a time that was characterised by different media, different resources and a long-changed university routine.

Author and contact:
Dr. Aleksandra Pawliczek
aleksandra.pawliczek@ub.hu-berlin.de
Speicherbibliothek Archiv
Wagner-Régeny-Straße 5-7
12489 Berlin

News, Object of the Month

Object of the Month: The Weiterbildungsprogramm-Archiv Berlin/Brandenburg der Abteilung Erwachsenenbildung/Weiterbildung – The creation and development of an active collection of Humboldt-Universität

31. May 2024 HZK

Object of the Month 06/2024

What learning and educational opportunities are there for adults? What topics do different providers offer as courses, events, seminars and workshops, for example on sustainability, social cohesion, culture or the requirements of the world of work between professional relevance and key qualifications? And for which target groups do they offer them? How can statements be made about topics and target groups that are and have been relevant in adult and continuing education – and therefore in society – in the past and present?

These questions can be answered through the analysis of programs (and the announcements of offers therein), which are usually published either as booklets or flyers by continuing education providers. They contain descriptions of the planned educational offers, information on participation modalities and often forewords that allow conclusions to be drawn about the educational program orientation of the providers.

Program archives collect continuing education programs, which are generally not systematically collected by municipal archives, libraries or the providers themselves, and make them available as primary research data. In this way, they aid the identification of structural developments and also document changes in the continuing education landscape. These were the two main goals of the founding of the Weiterbildungsprogramm-Archiv Berlin/Brandenburg in 1995. Wiltrud Gieseke, who founded the collection and held the department chair at that time, wanted to map the developments taking place after German reunification, including the merging of two different social, labor market and continuing education systems. For this purpose, it was necessary to actively collect the programs of continuing education providers from the states of Berlin and Brandenburg retroactively from 1990.

Today, the Weiterbildungsprogramm-Archiv (Archive of Programs of Continuing Education) comprises a collection of around 18,000 programs from more than 1,100 continuing education institutions and other providers of continuing education. The archive is actively collecting on an ongoing basis in accordance with its subject matter.

The collection is regularly used for research and theses and student groups visit the archive as part of their seminars.

In addition to our archive, there are two other program archives in German-speaking countries: the Volkshochschul-Programmarchiv am Deutschen Institut für Erwachsenenbildung – Leibniz-Zentrum für Lebenslanges Lernen (DIE) (Programme Archive of Adult Education Centers at the German Institute for Adult Education – Leibniz Centre for Lifelong Learning) and the Österreichisches Volkshochschularchiv (Austrian Archives for Adult Education). In contrast to these two collections, the Weiterbildungsprogramm-Archiv includes a wide range of different types of providers in addition to Volkshochschulen (adult education centers). For example, the programs of trade union, denominational and political institutions, chambers, non-profit associations as well as company and commercial providers are also archived here. This representation of different types of institutions makes the Weiterbildungsprogramm-Archiv unique.

The educational planners responsible for the continuing education programs identify socially relevant topics, interpret them and transform them into educational programs. Through the scientific examination of the published programs in the context of program analyses, it is precisely these interpretations of social issues and the associated ideas of educational needs and education that can be worked out. A research project at the Department (ÖkonoBi_EBWB_Pro, funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research 05.23-01.24) shows this for economic and financial education, which is currently regarded as an important political and social means of achieving participation on the one hand, sustainability goals on the other and shaping social change. Thanks to the archive, it was possible to form a sample of over 800 offers from a wide range of providers within a short space of time. The 250 offers analyzed show differentiations and focal points of a developing content area – but also, thanks to the wide range of the sample, provider-specific profiles of the interpretation and placement of economic education.

The archive is being developed continuously: in addition to the mission statement and collection concept, a new database (which links institutions and individual programmes in a branched and differentiated manner) and a pilot project to store website data from institutions (trend towards digitized publication of offers), this currently includes work on a comprehensive inventory analysis. This is linked to the aim of mapping changes in the dynamic continuing education market from an educational science perspective.

The archive is integrated into the ‘Expert:innengruppe Programmforschung’ (panel of experts on program research), a network with the other two archives mentioned above and department chairs active in program research, as well as into the structures that exist and continue to develop via the adult education laws in Berlin (2021) and for Brandenburg (amended 2024).

On principle, the Weiterbildungsprogramm-Archiv is open to all interested parties. If you would like to gain an impression of the collection yourself, you are invited to visit the archive on June 5 or June 12 between 12:00 and 14:00. In addition, the Weiterbildungsprogramm-Archiv will introduce itself as part of the Abteilung Erwachsenenbildung/Weiterbildung at this year’s Long Night of the Sciences (June 22, 2024, 17:00 – 21:00 in the auditorium of the Grimm-Zentrum).

Prof. Dr. Aiga von Hippel | Head of Collection
PD Dr. Marion Fleige | Scientific Scholarly Supervision
Annika Müllner M.A. | Archival Information Specialist

E-Mail: ewi.ebwb@hu-berlin.de or annika.muellner.1@hu-berlin.de

Homepage: https://www.erziehungswissenschaften.hu-berlin.de/de/ebwb/weiterbildungsprogrammarchiv

Visitor address:
Institut für Erziehungswissenschaften
Geschwister-Scholl-Str. 7
10117 Berlin
Room 313

News, Object of the Month

Object of the Month: A marble bust becomes a miniature – a 3D project to mark the 200th birthday of physicist Robert Gustav Kirchhoff

22. March 2024 HZK

Object of the Month 04/2024

A bust of the physicist Robert Gustav Kirchhoff (1824-1887), created in 1888 by the Berlin sculptor Carl Begas, is kept in the stacks of the Kustodie. Until 1929, it stood in the row of other marble busts of honoured professors of the university in the old Aula.
To mark the 200th anniversary of Kirchhoff’s birth, the bust was awakened from its sleep and subjected to a 3D scan. To do this, the work had to be repositioned in the magazine and could be scanned manually without contact using the correct distance, coordinated lighting and a good eye. This difficult task was undertaken by Prof. em. Dr Manfred Paasch, former head of the foundry laboratory at the Berlin University of Applied Sciences, and his former colleague Bernhard Bienia.
Using the EVA-Artec optical 3D scanner, the surface of the bust was scanned by means of slow, sweeping and rotating movements. A turntable was also used to reach all surfaces.

When scanning on site, it was important that the individual scans had overlapping areas so that the individual patches could be joined together through many iteration steps. For 3D printing, the data was processed in STL format, a special format for mesh coordinates of three-dimensional data models that depicts the surface of the object using a large number of small triangles.

The 3D printer’s software then had to be used to scale the data and define technological specifications such as layer thickness, extruder temperature, auxiliary geometries (support) and more. Layer by layer, the model with a size of 33% was created from the plasticised plastic – in 27 hours of printing time. Finally, technologically necessary supports and auxiliary structures had to be removed.

A nice gimmick or what’s the point?
The 3D print was initially produced as part of the 200th birthday celebrations of Robert Gustav Kirchhoff. However, the bust of Carl Begas could also be used to honour Kirchhoff’s memory. At the suggestion of the former president of the Berlin University of Applied Sciences, Prof. em. Gerhard Ackermann, it could serve as a model for a bust on Kirchhoff’s grave monument that no longer exists today.
It may have been the model for the bronze bust cast by Bernhard Römer in 1889, which is no longer in situ. The marble bust of the HU, which is over 130 years old, could therefore possibly still be an important starting object for a moulding and subsequent bronze casting. The Kirchhoff project thus not only combines old sculptural art with modern digital printing technology, but may also give rise to a new work using traditional hand-casting techniques. The story goes on…

Text and photos: Christina Kuhli/ Manfred Paasch

News, Object of the Month

Object of the Month: From Invalidenstrasse 110 to Adlershof. A house facade and the morphological model of an ideal crystal

1. February 2024 HZK

Object of the Month 02/2024

The model (see fig. 1) shows the ideal shape of a crystal. This is a combination of three crystal shapes that can be found in the cubic crystal system. The cube catches the eye first because of the size of the faces. In crystallography, it is called a hexahedron because it is bounded by six identical faces. The second form is a tetrahedron (bounded by 4 faces). The third shape is bounded by twelve identical faces and is called a rhombdodecahedron. The individual faces of the three shapes can be given indices. Miller’s indices correspond to the reciprocal values of the intersection points of a given face with the axes x, y and z: In the cubic crystal system these three axes are perpendicular to each other and are of equal length. In case of the rhombdodecahedron, an individual face always intersects two axes in the same ratio, while the third axis is not intersected. The axis intersections are therefore 1 : 1 : ∞. The reciprocal values are 1 : 1 : 0. If the axes are chosen accordingly, Miller indices (110) – say “one one oh” – are obtained for the face oriented towards the observer.

The mathematical consideration of the symmetry properties of crystals can not only be expressed in formulas, some people also see these shapes in completely different contexts. And that brings us to Invalidenstrasse 110: Before the Institute of Physics at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin moved to its current location at Campus Adlershof in 2003, it was housed as the Institute of Physics and Electronics in the building Invalidenstrasse 110 at the junction with Chausseestrasse (see photo below right). The Institute of Crystallography with its research focus on crystal growth and crystal characterization was also part of the institute. The crystallography course was supported by an extensive teaching collection. Today, crystallography is part of the specialization in solid state physics in the Master’s degree course in physics. The crystallography teaching collection does further exist.

The facade of the former institute building with its faces parallel to Invalidenstrasse and Chausseestrasse exhibits a 45° cut off at the junction, creating an additional third face in which the main entrance is located. Whether intentional or not: if you lay the axis system along the edges of the building, then the Miller indices of this third face correspond exactly to the house number of the building. What now reads like one of the countless conspiracy stories is probably pure coincidence. It is well known that “one one oh” is also the telephone number of the police, physicists and chemists recognize the element Darmstadtium in it and as a binary system it plays an important role in computer science. And if you do recognize a connection between the ideal shape of a crystal and the facade of the building, it should be noted not only that the building was built in 1981 according to information from the Technical Department, but also that there was an inn called “Zum Kuhstall” at this address before 1920, at least according to research conducted by Foto Marburg.

In December 2023, the HU’s Technical Department handed over the property at Invalidenstrasse 110 to the Senate Department for Urban Development, Building and Housing for the upcoming conversion and refurbishment measures. These are planned to be carried out over the next five years.

Author: Dr. Holm Kirmse

Head of Crystallographic Teaching Collection
Newtonstrasse 15
12489 Berlin

Links
Polyhedron model combination cube-tetrahedron-rhombic dodecahedron in “Sammlungen digital”: https://sammlungen-digital.hu-berlin.de/viewer/image/2949349a-7155-45e2-a88e-57126add8e1a/2/

Corner of Chausseestraße/Invalidenstraße in the Technical Department of the HU: https://www.ta.hu-berlin.de/gebaeude/no:2215 and https://www.hu-berlin.de/de/pr/30-jahre-deutsche-einheit/bildergalerie-damals-und-heute/D2_hu20mh_30Jahre_DSF1544-1.jpg/view

Restaurant “Zum Kuhstall” in photo archive Foto Marburg: https://www.bildindex.de/document/obj20555125

Hermann von Helmholtz-Zentrum für Kulturtechnik

Zentralinstitut der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

Category Archives: Object of the Month

Object of the Month: Walter Womacka, Conquering science

Object of the Month: The Rectors’ Portraits – Tradition Formation in the GDR, Media Diversity in the Present Day

Object of the Month: Humboldt diverse – Gerald Matzner’s terracotta busts and the idiosyncrasy of form

Object of the Month: Under the watchful eyes of Fichte, Humboldt, Grimm & Co. – the lunettes from the former university library

Object of the Month: Drawing in the sponsoring company. From the holdings of the former Institute for Art Education

Object of the month: Towns of the Near East as reflected in the Sammlung Historischer Palästinabilder (Collection of Historical Pictures of Palestine)

Object of the month: Photo collection in the archive of the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

Object of the Month: The Weiterbildungsprogramm-Archiv Berlin/Brandenburg der Abteilung Erwachsenenbildung/Weiterbildung – The creation and development of an active collection of Humboldt-Universität

Object of the Month: A marble bust becomes a miniature – a 3D project to mark the 200th birthday of physicist Robert Gustav Kirchhoff

Object of the Month: From Invalidenstrasse 110 to Adlershof. A house facade and the morphological model of an ideal crystal

Zentralinstitut der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin