Exhibition in the Diocesan Museum of Paderborn
31 March to 13 August 2017
The Wonders of Rome from a Northern Perspective
Travel through time in an exhibition in Paderborn
Rome. The focus of dreams, the goal of pilgrims, the
inspiration of philosophers, writers, and artists. Defying time
and change, the magnetism of the Eternal City has endured
undiminished for millennia. A major exhibition in
Paderborn’s Diocesan Museum, The Wonders of Rome from
a Northern Perspective – From Antiquity to the Present (31
March to 13 August 2017), invites visitors to explore the
immortal legend of the eternal, holy city. The exhibition
takes its visitors on a unique journey through time, following
in the footsteps of famous historical personages who
travelled to Rome.
Why have millions of pilgrims converged on the Holy City
every year for almost two millennia? Why did Johann
Wolfgang von Goethe stress that “I can say that only in
Rome have I felt what it is to be human”? And why did the
famous psychoanalyst C. G. Jung swoon at the very thought
of this “glowing hearth of ancient civilisations”? To explore these questions, the exhibition
presents ancient masterpieces and ecclesiastical treasures from the inventories of the Vatican
and Capitoline Museums. Alongside these charismatic witnesses to millennia of Roman
civilisation, precious medieval manuscripts, treasury art, and fragments of architecture will be on
display along with sketches, drawings, prints, sculptures, and photographs by significant artists
from northern Europe, on loan from famous museums and libraries all over Europe.
Holy places and “whispering ruins”
The exhibition begins from the perspective of a medieval traveller to Rome. In those days the
city was predominantly a pilgrimage site, thanks to its numerous holy places and martyrs’ graves.
Increasingly, however, people came to Rome to admire the ancient monuments. What they
found was a city in ruins. During the migration period, barbarian hordes had plundered the
former caput mundi and what had once been a metropolis of a million residents had dwindled to
Press contact
Diözesanmuseum Paderborn Press Office
Mirjam Flender / Silke Günnewig, projekt2508, Riesstraße 10, 53113 Bonn, Tel: +49 (0)228-184967-24,
[email protected]
Contact for regional press: Waltraud Murauer-Ziebach, Tel. +49 (0) 52 51 125 16 45,
mobil +49 (0) 171 416 88 08, [email protected]
the size of a village. Palaces, baths, the Senate House, temples, and sculptures were given over
to decay. But the crumbling fragments of former greatness exercised their own peculiar
attraction on the visitors to Rome.
Ancient grandeur and early graffiti
One of these fascinating relics is the monumental marble hand of Constantine the Great,
originally part of a colossal seated statue of the emperor dating from the early fourth century.
This hand, which has never before been on display in Germany, is impressive for its size alone,
measuring 1.70 metres in height.
A venerable object that bears witness both to the enduring grandeur of the ancient city and to
the holy places of Christian Rome is the bronze orb that once crowned the obelisk which today
stands in the centre of St Peter’s Square. As “St Peter’s Needle”, the obelisk was a destination for
countless pilgrims from the Middle Ages onwards. Learned travellers to Rome reported that
Julius Caesar had been warned of his imminent death in this exact spot and that the orb
contained the dictator’s ashes – although this claim was later debunked.
The most precious exhibits include exquisite reliquaries from the Sancta Sanctorum, the Papal
Chapel on the Lateran. Also on display will be medieval pilgrim’s guide books, remnants of
graffiti which pious travellers left on the walls of the martyrs’ tombs, and reliquary pendants in
which they took home mementoes of the saints of Rome.
Artistic model and idealisation
Ever since the Renaissance and the Baroque era, the antiquities were considered the epitome of
artistic perfection. Ancient art exerted an intense attraction on the artists of the North and long
dominated the curricula of northern European art academies. These tendencies are impressively
illustrated in the exhibition by the works of famous painters like Maarten van Heemskerk,
Hendrick Goltzius, and Peter Paul Rubens. Rome was also the preferred location for the nascent
discipline of ancient studies, as early scholarly compendia and documentations of ancient
monuments show.
In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the ancient relics increasingly became idealised in
the artists’ imaginations, as can be seen in works by Angelica Kauffman, William Turner, and
Hubert Robert. A small separate section of the exhibition documents how the publication of
ground-breaking works such as Johann Joachim Winckelmann’s History of Ancient Art in the
eighteenth century brought the ancient world into the focus of historical and archaeological
studies.
Press contact
Diözesanmuseum Paderborn Press Office
Mirjam Flender / Silke Günnewig, projekt2508, Riesstraße 10, 53113 Bonn, Tel: +49 (0)228-184967-24,
[email protected]
Contact for regional press: Waltraud Murauer-Ziebach, Tel. +49 (0) 52 51 125 16 45,
mobil +49 (0) 171 416 88 08, [email protected]
In Goethe’s Italian Journey, of which the first edition is on display, the author praises the
splendid artworks of the Eternal City. The German poet fell head-over-heels in love with a statue
of an ancient nymph which he was devastated to be unable to acquire for his own. Wistfully he
visited the graceful figure in the Vatican Museums. Known as the Ballerina di Goethe, the statue
will also be on display in Paderborn.
Realism, photography, and interpretation
With the rise of Realism in the nineteenth century, the antiquities began to be regarded in a less
emotional light and ultimately became the subject of artistic deconstruction. Documentary
photography made a crucial contribution to these changes in perception, as is illustrated in the
exhibition by the memorable works of pioneering photographers like James Anderson and
Robert Turnbull Macpherson. The last exhibition section is devoted to the works of Munichbased photo and video artist Christoph Brech, which were the Diocesan Museum’s source of
inspiration for engaging with the “Wonders of Rome”. In a grandiose series of images created in
2015, Brech reinterprets the Vatican collections through the medium of his own art. Almost as
though by chance, these pictures capture things that do not belong together and thereby offer a
new look not only at the antiquities themselves, but also at the exhibition spaces of the Vatican.
A wide range of educational activities as well as a lavishly illustrated catalogue will help to
communicate the theme of the exhibition to a wider audience.
The Wonders of Rome follows in the footsteps of Credo and Caritas as the latest in a series of
special exhibitions in the Diocesan Museum featuring significant exhibits, many of which have
never before been on display in Germany, from famous international museums and art
collections.
The exhibition is under the patronage of Gianfranco Cardinal Ravasi, President of the Pontifical
Council for Culture, and Monika Grütters, German Government Commissioner for Culture and
the Media.
www.wunder-roms.de
Press contact
Diözesanmuseum Paderborn Press Office
Mirjam Flender / Silke Günnewig, projekt2508, Riesstraße 10, 53113 Bonn, Tel: +49 (0)228-184967-24,
[email protected]
Contact for regional press: Waltraud Murauer-Ziebach, Tel. +49 (0) 52 51 125 16 45,
mobil +49 (0) 171 416 88 08, [email protected]
Exhibition highlights
Ancient bronze orb from the Vatican obelisk
This orb from the first century A.D. originally crowned an Egyptian obelisk
which, according to the thirteenth-century English traveller Magister
Gregorius, stood at the exact spot where Julius Caesar had received the
prophecy about his impending death. Caesar dismissed the warnings –
and was assassinated before the day was over. According to Gregorius,
the orb contained the ashes of the famous general; the erstwhile ruler of
the world was now enclosed in this bronze sphere. Gregorius also notes
that pilgrims coming to Rome called the obelisk with its crowning orb “St
Peter’s needle”. When the chronicler described it in the Middle Ages, the
obelisk was located to the north of St Peter’s Cathedral. Today, its
imposing height towers at the centre of St Peter’s Square. The Roman
emperor Caligula (A.D. 37–41) had originally set it up in the circus on
Vatican Hill where, according to Christian tradition, the Apostle Peter
suffered martyrdom and was buried in close proximity to the site of his
death. Above his tomb Constantine the Great built the first large church
consecrated to St Peter. The orb remained atop the obelisk as a unique
witness to the enduring grandeur of the ancient city and to the holy
places of Christian Rome until the obelisk was moved to St Peter’s Square in the sixteenth century.
Bronze orb from the Vatican obelisk, first half of 1st century A.D. Height: 132.5 cm; diameter: 80.5 cm. Rome,
Musei Capitolini, Palazzo dei Conservatori. © Rome, Musei Capitolini, Archivio Fotografico.
Marble hand of a monumental seated statue of Constantine the Great
After coming to power in A.D. 312 through a spectacular military
victory, the Roman emperor Constantine, whom later generations
came to call “the great”, erected a colossal fifteen-metre seated statue
of himself on the Capitol in Rome. In subsequent centuries the colossus
was destroyed and forgotten until fragments came to light in 1486. The
surviving pieces are today kept in the Capitoline Museums: the huge
head of the emperor, fragments of one leg, and a foot impressively
witness to the monumentality and artistic quality of ancient statuary.
Especially memorable is the emperor’s right hand, which is 1.70 metres
long and, after modern restoration, raises its index finger aloft in an
admonitory gesture. The hand is a breathtaking illustration of the
charismatic force of the ancient fragment that has captivated travellers
from the north since its rediscovery.
Marble hand of the colossal statue of Emperor Constantine the Great, c. 315.
Rome, Musei Capitolini © Rome, Musei Capitolini, Archivio Fotografico.
Press contact
Diözesanmuseum Paderborn Press Office
Mirjam Flender / Silke Günnewig, projekt2508, Riesstraße 10, 53113 Bonn, Tel: +49 (0)228-184967-24,
[email protected]
Contact for regional press: Waltraud Murauer-Ziebach, Tel. +49 (0) 52 51 125 16 45,
mobil +49 (0) 171 416 88 08, [email protected]
The power of ancient imagery: Colossal marble head of one of the sons of Constantine the
Great
The sheer size of the colossal statues and fragments of statues
that have survived the ravages of time in Rome has lost none of
its impact. Witness, for example, this mighty head that may be a
portrait of one of the sons of Constantine the Great – either
Constantius II or Constans. His upraised eyes determine the
expression of the boyish face, whose message only becomes fully
clear when it is viewed from below: the emperor’s son is shown
here as inspired and possessed of divine grace. The marble head
dates from a time of transition when the imagery of antiquity
was slowly giving way to the imageless message of Christianity.
Marble head of the colossal statue of Emperor Constantius II or
Constans, 4th century. Rome, Musei Capitolini © Rome, Musei
Capitolini, Archivio Fotografico.
Reliquary from the Papal Sancta Sanctorum chapel on the Lateran
Non est in toto sanctior orbe locus (There is no
holier place in all the world) is the inscription on an
architrave of the chapel of St Laurence in the
former Papal Palace on the Lateran, the episcopal
church of the popes of Rome. Since the early
Middle Ages, this chapel has been home to a very
special collection of relics from the Holy Land, such
as particles of the True Cross, earth from the site of
the Crucifixion, fragments of a rock on which Mary,
the Mother of God, rested, as well as an icon not
created by human hands. In the ninth century, Pope Leo III donated a cypress casket in which many of
these relics are still kept today in the chapel’s altar stone. However, the medieval reliquaries – the
containers in which the relics were kept – were transferred to the Vatican Museums in the early
twentieth century. This oval pyxis, known as the Capsella Vaticana, is one of them. When it was found,
the container held fragments of bone, a glass phial, various stones, and earth. The decoration featuring
a gemstone cross with angels standing with their hands raised in prayer below the horizontal beam as
well as a representation of the Trinity suggests that the relics kept in the pyxis may have been
connected to Christ himself.
The “Capsella Vaticana”, Constantinople, 610–641. Vatican City, Musei Vaticani © Archivio Fotografico dei
Musei Vaticani.
Press contact
Diözesanmuseum Paderborn Press Office
Mirjam Flender / Silke Günnewig, projekt2508, Riesstraße 10, 53113 Bonn, Tel: +49 (0)228-184967-24,
[email protected]
Contact for regional press: Waltraud Murauer-Ziebach, Tel. +49 (0) 52 51 125 16 45,
mobil +49 (0) 171 416 88 08, [email protected]
Rome and Aachen – A meaningful relationship
After the fall of the Roman Empire in the fifth century, Rome
became the centre of the western world and the Germanic
Frankish rulers became protectors of the Pope. One of them was
Charlemagne, who embarked on the task of renewing ancient
civilisation in a Christian guise. His renovatio was to encompass all
aspects of art and spirituality both south and north of the Alps. To
that end, he transformed Aachen into a “new Rome” – Nova Roma
– and his imperial court became the intellectual centre of the
entire western world. This policy was continued by the Ottos who
succeeded Charlemagne. One very special monument was
probably created during their time: the Pigna or Pine Cone of
Aachen. It is a copy of an ancient pine cone sculpture that once
stood next to a temple of the goddess Isis in Rome. The popes
transferred the ancient pine cone, which had always served as a
fountain, onto St Peter’s Square, where it symbolised the four
rivers of Paradise and the purifying power of baptism. Clearly it
was seen there by Ottonian rulers travelling to Rome from the
countries north of the Alps, and they had a copy made for the atrium of their cathedral in Aachen.
Here, far to the north, it remains as a witness to the close links between Aachen Cathedral and the
Basilica of St Peter in the Holy City of Rome.
Pine Cone from the atrium of Aachen Cathedral, c. 1000. Domkapitel Aachen © Domkapitel Aachen, Photo: Pit
Siebigs
On the wonders of the City of Rome. An Englishman in the Eternal City
De mirabilibus urbis Romae is the title of the first
guidebook to the wonders of the Eternal City. It was
written by the English scholar Magister Gregorius, who
described not the sacred relics of Rome, but its surviving
antiquities. The text is a remarkable example of the
aesthetic appreciation of antiquity by a medieval
observer. Gregorius even mentions the bronze orb, also
on display in the exhibition, which crowned the obelisk
outside St Peter’s. His text impressively shows that
appreciation of the magnificence of Rome’s ancient relics
predated the Renaissance, since even medieval visitors
to Rome were captivated by their beauty. In describing the wonders, he has recourse to literary devices
used by the ancient writers when they spoke of art. For example, when he praises a masterly sculpture
as a perfect imitation of nature, he is echoing Vergil, just as Dante did before him. On display is a
thirteenth-century copy which is the only surviving text of this significant work.
Magister Gregorius, De mirabilibus Urbis Romae, only surviving copy: Narracio de mirabilibus urbis Romae,
13th century, St Catherine’s College, Cambridge MS 3 © Diözesanmuseum Paderborn
Press contact
Diözesanmuseum Paderborn Press Office
Mirjam Flender / Silke Günnewig, projekt2508, Riesstraße 10, 53113 Bonn, Tel: +49 (0)228-184967-24,
[email protected]
Contact for regional press: Waltraud Murauer-Ziebach, Tel. +49 (0) 52 51 125 16 45,
mobil +49 (0) 171 416 88 08, [email protected]
The seven pilgrim churches of Rome and the Holy Year
More pilgrims flocked to Rome than ever before after the
introduction of Holy Years by Pope Boniface VIII in 1300. A
map of Rome that shows the seven main churches and
was created on the occasion of the 1575 Holy Year is
attributed to the architect and cartographer Etienne
Dupérac. The map, which represents Rome exclusively as a
pilgrimage city, shows the seven pilgrim churches instead
of the seven hills. Their arrangement follows the itinerary
of the Seven Church Walk (or Four Church Walk) revived in
1552 by St Philip Neri, who organised a pilgrim procession
for the city’s residents as an alternative event to the
carnival.. The walk became very popular in the time of the
Counter-Reformation; this map was printed in the
Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae, a copy of which is on
display in the exhibition.
Map of Rome with the seven main churches. Antoine Lafréry / Etienne Dupérac, 1575–77, Speculum Romanae
Magnificentiae © Bayerische Staatsbibliothek München.
The Vatican’s Villa Belvedere and the famous papal antiquities collection
In the early sixteenth century, Pope Julius II (1443–
1513) commissioned the architect Donato Bramante
to connect the Villa Belvedere on the northern part
of Vatican Hill with the Apostolic Palace. Bramante
designed a series of three long terraces flanked by
narrow side wings to form the Cortile del Belvedere
which became the home of the Pope’s famous new
antiquities collection. Before long, this papal
collection attracted numerous admiring visitors and
left a lasting impression on generations of artists,
scholars, noble art collectors, and travellers to
Rome. One rare witness to the early arrangement of the Vatican’s antiquities collection is a panel painting
by the Flemish painter Hendrick III van Cleve (c. 1525–1590/95). Painted from a sketch made by the
painter during his sojourn in Italy in 1550/51, it shows a panoramic view of the city of Rome in the
background. The dome of St Peter’s Cathedral is still under construction and the Vatican’s courtyards and
the famous sculpture garden may be seen at left. The arrangement of the colossal recumbent figures of
the Nile and the Tiber are clearly discernible in the centre of the courtyard, as are the niches in which
world-famous sculptures like the Laocoon Group and the Belvedere Torso were displayed.
View of the City of Rome with the Villa Belvedere in the Vatican. Panel painting, Hendrick III van Cleve, 1589. ©
Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique.
Press contact
Diözesanmuseum Paderborn Press Office
Mirjam Flender / Silke Günnewig, projekt2508, Riesstraße 10, 53113 Bonn, Tel: +49 (0)228-184967-24,
[email protected]
Contact for regional press: Waltraud Murauer-Ziebach, Tel. +49 (0) 52 51 125 16 45,
mobil +49 (0) 171 416 88 08, [email protected]
The Laocoon Group: admired by artists, desired by noble art lovers
In the second half of the sixteenth century, Rome became an
important destination for artists from the Netherlands, France, and
the Holy Roman Empire. The famous Laocoon Group, which shows
the Trojan priest Laocoon and his sons in their doomed struggle with
the serpents, was discovered in 1506 and placed in the newly created
courtyard of the Villa Belvedere by Pope Julius II. From the moment
of its rediscovery, the group was regarded as the most virtuosic
example of ancient sculpture and soon began to mesmerise artists
far and wide. Among them was the Dutch sculptor Adriaen de Vries
(c. 1556–1626), who studied the Laocoon Group during his sojourn in
Rome in 1595/96. It was probably de Vries who created the smallscale bronze copy of the central figure of Laocoon for the Danish
king’s cabinet of curiosities. Another noble art lover who admired the
Laocoon Group was the king of France. Francis I (1515–1547) had a
full-size cast of the group made in order to display it in his palace at
Fontainebleau together with other copies of the prestigious papal
sculptures at the Villa Belvedere.
Adriaen de Vries, Laocoon, 1600–25, gilt bronze, 58 x 39.5 x 23.2 cm.
Statens Museum for Kunst / National Gallery of Denmark, Kopenhagen ©
Statens Museum for Kunst Kopenhagen.
Peter Paul Rubens and the physiognomy of Laocoon
The most important artist from the North who
incorporated the visual language of Roman
sculpture into his works was Peter Paul Rubens
(1577–1640). During his sojourn in Italy (1600–
1608), he studied not only the masters of the High
Renaissance and early Baroque, but above all the
art of ancient Rome. He captured the famous
Laocoon Group in detailed sketches which he later
referred to for his own compositions. In particular,
the intense mental and physical anguish conveyed
by the figures’ expressions became the touchstone
for affective portrayals of pain, especially in the
Christian subjects called for by the Council of Trent. The bulk of these sketches have survived in the form
of copies by his co-worker Willem Panneels (c. 1628/30). Along with other sketches, the Copenhagen sheet
vividly illustrates the influence of ancient sculpture on Rubens’s artistic oeuvre. The physiognomy of
Laocoon served as a model which he used in many of his paintings to perfect his figures and bring them to
life.
Willem Panneels, Two studies of Laocoon’s face, one seen ‘en face’ from below and the other in profile to the left,
177 x 276 mm, Statens Museum for Kunst Kopenhagen, KKSgb4823 /Rubens Cantoor No. III, 2 © Statens Museum
for Kunst Kopenhagen.
Press contact
Diözesanmuseum Paderborn Press Office
Mirjam Flender / Silke Günnewig, projekt2508, Riesstraße 10, 53113 Bonn, Tel: +49 (0)228-184967-24,
[email protected]
Contact for regional press: Waltraud Murauer-Ziebach, Tel. +49 (0) 52 51 125 16 45,
mobil +49 (0) 171 416 88 08, [email protected]
Goethe and his Roman friends
This pen-and-ink sketch shows Goethe (third from right)
in the circle of his Roman friends. Its creator was
another friend of Goethe’s, the painter Friedrich Bury,
who has here portrayed himself drawing a portrait of
Goethe. The figure behind and to the left of Goethe is
probably the writer Karl Philipp Moritz, while the
painter Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein is standing
in front of the column with a large sheet of drawing
paper. The sketch was made during Goethe’s first
Italian journey (1786–1788), which marked the
beginning of the Weimar Classicism movement. The
picture documents how numerous artists and scholars
of the eighteenth century were drawn to Rome as their
ideal city and illustrates the artistic milieu in which
Goethe moved there. In addition to sketching in the outdoors with friends, the poet studied the
architectural and artistic monuments of the city, especially the ancient and Renaissance artworks which
inspired so much of the art of his own time and which he, too, regarded as ideal models to be emulated.
Goethe’s sojourn in Rome greatly influenced his later literary writings, including his famous Italian
Journey, and laid the theoretical groundwork for his ideas about art.
Friedrich Bury, Goethe among his Roman friends, pen-and-ink sketch c. 1786–1788. Goethe-Museum Düsseldorf
/ Anton-und-Katharina-Kippenberg-Stiftung © Goethe-Museum Düsseldorf / Anton-und Katharina-KippenbergStiftung.
A Greek nymph captivates the prince of poets: the Ballerina di Goethe
In his Italian Journey, Goethe extols the magnificence of the art he
encountered in Rome and gives his readers a glimpse of the
negotiations involved in the purchase of ancient art. For example, a
friend confidentially offered to sell him a Roman copy of a Greek
statue of a nymph. Enthralled by the “figure’s charming movement”,
Goethe attempted to raise the necessary funds to buy it. But when
his friends, among them the painter Angelica Kauffman, pointed out
the difficulties of purchasing – and, more importantly, exporting – an
artwork of this calibre, he abandoned the undertaking with a heavy
heart. However, he was never able to abandon the dream of owning
the piece. Wistfully he would visit it in the Vatican Museum, which
had ultimately acquired the statue. It still stands today in the place
where Goethe saw it.
Statue of a Nymph (head not original), called Ballerina di Goethe, 1st
century A.D. Vatican City, Musei Vaticani © Archivio Fotografico dei
Musei Vaticani.
Press contact
Diözesanmuseum Paderborn Press Office
Mirjam Flender / Silke Günnewig, projekt2508, Riesstraße 10, 53113 Bonn, Tel: +49 (0)228-184967-24,
[email protected]
Contact for regional press: Waltraud Murauer-Ziebach, Tel. +49 (0) 52 51 125 16 45,
mobil +49 (0) 171 416 88 08, [email protected]
Angelica Kauffman and the Allegory of Design
The painter Angelica Kauffman travelled in Italy in 1760–
1766 to study the works of Roman antiquity and the
Renaissance under the tutelage of her father. Having thus
perfected her own artistry, she achieved her first
successes in England, where she lived from 1766
onwards. Together with Mary Moser, Angelica Kauffman
was one of only two women to be appointed founding
members of the Royal Academy of Arts in 1768. For the
academy’s Meeting Room in Somerset House she created
four oval ceiling paintings which represented the
Allegories of Invention, Composition, Design, and
Colouring. Design is depicted as a young woman sketching
the Belvedere Torso, the famous sculpture in the papal
collections considered by many, including Kauffman’s mentor Johann Joachim Winckelmann, as one of
the highest achievements of art. The Royal Academy owned at least two casts of the torso which served
its students as examples of ideal beauty.
Angelica Kauffman, Design, Study for the ceiling painting in the Royal Academy Meeting Room at Somerset
House, 1787, Victoria & Albert Museum, London © Victoria & Albert Museum London.
William Turner’s Belvedere Torso
Many years before embarking on his first journey to Rome in
1819/20, Joseph Mallord William Turner studied at the Royal
Academy in London. Students began their training in the Antique
Academy at Somerset House by copying plaster casts of Roman
and Greek sculptures. Pride of place among the ancient statues
was held by the famous torso which had been on display in the
Cortile delle Statue at the Villa Belvedere since the 1530s. From
the Renaissance onwards, the Belvedere Torso was regarded as
one of the most significant examples of ancient art, and
generations of students from the North travelled to Rome to see it
with their own eyes. Before Turner saw the original torso, he
sketched the famous piece from a plaster copy held by the Royal
Academy. The chalk drawing shows a frontal view of the torso,
emphasising the precise modelling of the muscles and the slight
twist of the upper body.
William Turner, Study of the Belvedere Torso after a plaster copy, c. 1789–1793, Victoria & Albert Museum
London © Victoria & Albert Museum London.
Press contact
Diözesanmuseum Paderborn Press Office
Mirjam Flender / Silke Günnewig, projekt2508, Riesstraße 10, 53113 Bonn, Tel: +49 (0)228-184967-24,
[email protected]
Contact for regional press: Waltraud Murauer-Ziebach, Tel. +49 (0) 52 51 125 16 45,
mobil +49 (0) 171 416 88 08, [email protected]
Deconstructing ancient Rome: Peiffer Watenphul’s Roman Head
The advent of photography opened up new ways of engaging with
antiquity, and a more detached perspective emerged as
photographers focused primarily on creating documentary
records. When Bauhaus graduate Max Peiffer Watenphul stayed at
the Villa Massimo in Rome on a scholarship from 1931 to 1932,
however, he photographed the Roman antiquities with the trained
eye of a painter. He was less concerned with the sculptures as such
than with creating a special atmosphere and placing the
photographed artworks within new compositional contexts.
Max Peiffer Watenphul, Roman Head, 1932, Berlin, Bauhaus-Archiv
Berlin, permanent loan © Berlin, Bauhaus-Archiv Berlin, permanent
loan
Christoph Brech’s perspective on the antiquities
Munich-based photo and video artist
Christoph Brech was one of several
artists from all over the world invited
by Pope Benedict XVI to the Sistine
Chapel in 2009 in a bid to launch a
new dialogue between the Church
and art – as a kind of “ReRenaissance”. The dialogue gave rise
to a project during which for three
years Brech was permitted to take
photographs
in
the
Vatican
Museums, even in places usually
barred to visitors. The results were published in 2015 in an illustrated volume titled Freie Blicke. Works
from this project form the final unit of the exhibition in Paderborn. They illustrate Brech’s unique
perspective on the centuries-old Vatican collections: the perspective of an enthusiastic observer whom
the art journalist Peter von Becker aptly describes as having “a flair for organic structures and fantastic
associations”. Brech’s works from the Vatican project are accompanied by works from his time at the
Villa Massimo as well as video works.
Christoph Brech, Torso del Belvedere, Sala delle Muse, 2015 © Christoph Brech
Press contact
Diözesanmuseum Paderborn Press Office
Mirjam Flender / Silke Günnewig, projekt2508, Riesstraße 10, 53113 Bonn, Tel: +49 (0)228-184967-24,
[email protected]
Contact for regional press: Waltraud Murauer-Ziebach, Tel. +49 (0) 52 51 125 16 45,
mobil +49 (0) 171 416 88 08, [email protected]
Facts and figures
Exhibition title and dates
The Wonders of Rome from a Northern Perspective –
From Antiquity to the Present
31 March to 13 August 2017
Home page
www.wunder-roms.de
Venue/Contact
Erzbischöfliches Diözesanmuseum
und Domschatzkammer
Markt 17, 33098 Paderborn
Tel. +49 (0) 5251 125 1400
[email protected]
Directed and curated by
Diözesanmuseum Paderborn
Prof. Dr. Christoph Stiegemann, director
Dr. Christiane Ruhmann, project manager and curator
Loans
Approximately 200 exhibits
Loaners
86 loaners from Rome and the Vatican as well as
museums all over Europe
Opening hours
Tuesday to Sunday, 10am to 6pm
Closed on Mondays
Open until 8pm on the first Friday of each month
Admission prices per person
Adults
€9.00
Registered unwaged (with proof of status)
€6.00
School pupils and students (with proof of status) €6.00
Participants in a tour booked in advance
€6.00
School groups booking a guided tour
€2.50
Family ticket
€15.00
Season ticket
€30.00
999
60 minutes
€60,00
90 minutes
€80,00
Public tours: €5.00 per person
Surcharge for foreign language tours (available in
English, French, Italian, Spanish, Polish)
€15.00
Price of tours
(not including admission)
Guided tours for persons with
Press contact
Special tours for people with visual impairments as well
Diözesanmuseum Paderborn Press Office
Mirjam Flender / Silke Günnewig, projekt2508, Riesstraße 10, 53113 Bonn, Tel: +49 (0)228-184967-24,
[email protected]
Contact for regional press: Waltraud Murauer-Ziebach, Tel. +49 (0) 52 51 125 16 45,
mobil +49 (0) 171 416 88 08, [email protected]
special needs
as tours in simple language are available.
Assistance for visitors with
limited mobility
The Diocesan Museum offers assistance for visitors to
the exhibition with limited mobility. This free service can
be booked in advance at: +49 (0)5251 125-1400
Registering and booking tours
Diözesanmuseum Paderborn:
+49 (0)5251 125-1400
[email protected]
Tourist Information Paderborn:
+49 (0)5251 88-2980
[email protected]
Audio guides
Available in German and English. Special audio guides
for young visitors are also available.
Catalogue
A detailed, lavishly illustrated catalogue will be
published by Michael Imhof Verlag, Petersberg.
ROME through the ages
Press contact
Diözesanmuseum Paderborn Press Office
Mirjam Flender / Silke Günnewig, projekt2508, Riesstraße 10, 53113 Bonn, Tel: +49 (0)228-184967-24,
[email protected]
Contact for regional press: Waltraud Murauer-Ziebach, Tel. +49 (0) 52 51 125 16 45,
mobil +49 (0) 171 416 88 08, [email protected]
Nothing can equal you, o Rome, although you lie almost entirely in ruins. How mighty
you were when whole – even your fragments attest to it.
Hildebert de Lavardin, Rome, 1100
How many people held Rome more dear, more sweet, more blessed than their own
fatherland? And where was there a spirit so crude that did not grow gentler and more mature
by living in the city of Rome?
Erasmus of Rotterdam (c. 1466–1536), letter from Rome
When I regard the Belvedere Torso, I do not know whether to grieve for the loss of the
beautiful limbs or rejoice in the marvellous body that remains to us.
Johann Joachim Winckelmann, Florentine Manuscript, 1756–1762
When one regards an entity that is two thousand years old and more, that has been
changed so fundamentally and in so many ways through the vicissitudes of time, and that yet
remains the same soil, the same hill, often even the same column or wall, and with the traces
of the old character preserved in the people, one becomes privy to the great decrees of
providence […]
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Italian Journey, 1786
I can say that only in Rome have I felt what it is to be human. Never again did I attain
this height, this joy of experience.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe to Eckermann, 9 October 1828
There in the distance was Rome! There lay the still smoking and glowing embers of
ancient cultures, twined about by the roots of the Christian and occidental Middle Ages. There
antiquity still lived in all its grandeur and heinousness.
Carl Gustav Jung, Memories, Dreams, Reflections, 1917
Press contact
Diözesanmuseum Paderborn Press Office
Mirjam Flender / Silke Günnewig, projekt2508, Riesstraße 10, 53113 Bonn, Tel: +49 (0)228-184967-24,
[email protected]
Contact for regional press: Waltraud Murauer-Ziebach, Tel. +49 (0) 52 51 125 16 45,
mobil +49 (0) 171 416 88 08, [email protected]