‘Favourite Pieces’ from the Archaeological Museum

400-page Catalogue of the University Display Collection

The new catalogue of the Archaeological Museum of the University of Münster is heavyweight not only in the literal but also in the figurative sense. On 400 pages, the editors Prof. Achim Lichtenberger and Dr Helge Nieswandt have picked out their ‘favourite pieces’ from the museum and created a representative selection from the 7,000 artefacts and 10,000 coins, almost 500 casts, the 26 models of ancient sites and monuments, 221 holograms and the collection of 5,100 shards. The authors include university lecturers and, in particular, advanced students from Münster who have worked on selected pieces.

The catalogue is structured strictly chronologically in order to emphasise the interconnectedness of the cultures and break down traditional disciplinary boundaries. The individual contributions present the antiquities in their significance and relevance in a scientifically accurate yet generally understandable way. The oldest exhibits include vessels and a human figurine from the so-called Cucuteni-Trypillia culture, which existed in the Copper Age between around 4500 and 3600 BC. The most recently described piece is a copy of a large cup with two handles from around 520 B.C. The museum once also housed the original, which the first Olympic marathon champion and Greek national hero Spyridon Louis received after his victory. When the museum management realised how important the cup was for the Greek state, it was returned to Greece as a gift in 2019.

The catalogue is dedicated to Karl Lehmann-Hartleben (1894-1960), who was appointed Professor of Classical Archaeology at the University of Münster in 1929, where he was also Director of the Archaeological Museum. In 1933, he was dismissed on the basis of the ‘Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service’ due to his Jewish descent and went to Italy, from where he emigrated to the USA with his family in 1935 and was able to build a new academic career at New York University.

‘Lieblingsstücke’, ed. Achim Lichtenberger/Helge Nieswandt, 400 pages with 554 illustrations, 29 euros, available from the Archaeological Museum and the Nünnerich-Asmus publishing house.

Coins

A 450-page catalogue of the Archaeological Museum’s coin collection

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‘Coins are, in a sense, reflections of history. They provide us with fascinating insights and enable us to trace and, above all, understand historical developments,’ said Dr Robert Zeidler, a member of the board of Sparkasse Münsterland Ost, upon receiving the coin catalogue from the Archaeological Museum. This would not have been possible without the bank’s generous financial donation. “We were delighted to act as sponsors of this catalogue, both to highlight the wealth of cultural heritage here locally and to bring antiquity to life a little,” said Zeidler.

The foundations of the museum’s coin collection were laid in the 1950s. Today, the approximately 11,000 items offer a representative cross-section of the numismatics of the Ancient World, from antiquity through to the Islamic period and beyond. The first coins were minted in the seventh century BC; in some cases, they are the only traces of societies whose written sources have been lost. The depictions of deities, buildings and nature – and later also of rulers such as Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar and Cleopatra – make economic systems, religious beliefs, political interconnections and artistic developments immediately comprehensible.

The large-format, detailed illustrations of around 200 special coins from the museum’s collection allow for an in-depth examination of the objects, the largest of which weighs just 140 grams. The texts were produced as part of a university course. For many of the students involved, this marks their first academic publication – and thus serves as an outstanding example of the Archaeological Museum’s commitment to making scholarship accessible to a wide public.

“We are delighted to have the support of Sparkasse Münsterland Ost,” said Prof. Dr Achim Lichtenberger, Director of the Archaeological Museum. “Especially as this is not the first time we have been able to carry out a project with their help.”

‘Geldstücke’, edited by Achim Lichtenberger, Katharina Martin and Trixi Steil, 447 pages, published by Nünnerich-Asmus, 29 euros