Page 64 - BSAM 2017 Q1

Top left and right; Behind
the historical facade of the ancient Prussian palace, an ultramodern interior design will make it possible to
realize a modern concept of presentation. The spectacular 40,000 m2 Humboldt-Forum will be a centre of art, culture and science. Its opening is planned for 2019 with an estimated cost of 590 million Euro. Nearly the entire fourth oor will be dedicated to Asian artefacts from India, Indonesia, China, Tibet, Japan, Korea. Images courtesy Humboldt- Forum.
Donation of Scholar’s Rocks and Suiseki
to the Museum of Asian Art in Berlin, Germany
By Gudrun Benz, Germany
ere are not too many museums in the West spe- cializing in East-Asian arts. One of them, Museum of Asian Art was established 110 years ago in Berlin- Dahlem, a district a little bit outside of the city centre of Germany’s capital. Today it houses some 34,000 Asian artefacts. Its collection comprises excellent lac- quer works, bronze artefacts, ceramics—for example Japanese tea ceramics—furniture, an exquisite col- lection of Chinese and Japanese paintings and much, much more. World War II resulted in immense losses for the museum. While 90 percent of all the works
remains intact in Russia today as “trophy art,” ve per- cent was destroyed in the war and only ve percent returned to Berlin. Its collection was decimated to such a degree that the museum’s future was seriously in question. anks to the e orts of the museum sta , private donators and public donations it would be re- opened in 2006 and celebrate its 100th anniversary.
62 | BCI | January/February/March 2017