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Austria France Germany Russia Switzerland
Wien Paris Bonn St. Petersburg Geneva
    Berlin    
    Hamburg    
Czech Republic Italy Munich Sweden United Kingdom
Prague Firenze Stockholm London
        Oxford
         

 

 Museum Links under Service >> Links & Recources >> Europe

 

 

 

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Austria

 Kunsthistorisches Museum Wienwww-link

The collections of the National Palace Museum in Taipei, renowned as the world’s largest and most exquisite collection of Chinese art, derive from a tradition of imperial collecting that spanned a millennium. Begun and first catalogued during the Song dynasty (960-1279), the collection survived numerous changes of dynasties, foreign rulers and wars as the preservation of the country’s cultural heritage was regarded as one of the foremost duties of a Chinese emperor in order to fulfill his “heavenly mandate”.

The Qing dynasty (1644-1911) marked the high-point of this thousand-year-old history of collecting; its most dedicated collector was the Emperor Qianlong (reigned 1736-1795), celebrated by some as the greatest collector of all time. This sumptuous treasury eventually became part of the National Palace Museum Taipei which was founded in 1925 and now houses over 650.000 objects, making it one of the largest museums in the world.

Around 120 of these spectacular artworks – about a third of which have never before been exhibited abroad – will be on show at the KHM in Vienna from February 2008. Archaic ritual jades and bronze vessels, highlights from the museum’s world-famous collection of ceramics and porcelain, precious lacquer- and enamelwork, gold objects, ivory- and bamboo carvings as well artworks by some of the most famous Chinese masters of calligraphy and painting will be on show together with selected objects from the museum’s collection of precious books and documents. Together they will offer a fascinating introduction into the art of one of the world’s oldest civilisations.

 

 

 

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Prague

NATIONAL GALLERY, Zbraslav Chateauwww-link

The long-term exhibition named The Art of Korea comprises ninety artefacts, which will be on public view for a period of two years. Displayed in two halls on the second floor of the Zbraslav Chateau, the exhibition features seventy archaeological, artistic and ethnographic objects on loan from South Korea, supplemented by twenty Korean works from the National Gallery’s own Korean art holdings. The Koreans adopted stoneware and porcelain production methods from China, but they imbued their ceramic wares with distinctly Korean aesthetics of spontaneity and vigour, in which they achieved unparalleled mastery. Although some types of ceramics have assumed a world reputation as Chinese or Japanese ware, their origins may be sought in Korea’s many ceramic kilns. This is especially true of greenish stoneware jewels celadons dating from the 11th to the 14th centuries. With other kinds of ceramic ware, the Koreans were able to preserve the secrets of production for themselves. In terms of quality and beauty, buncheong ware, which is typically decorated with incised designs, inlaid or painted patterns in brownish iron-oxides, is a creative accomplishment unmatched in the world. The austere and plain beauty of white baekja porcelain reflects the refined tastes of Confucian-minded aristocracy of the late Joseon period. All these types of pottery can be admired in the exhibition room designed to resemble the Korean peninsula.

The second hall examines the spiritual world of the Korean people. In the medieval Goryeo period (which gave Korea its name), Korea was under the sway of the profound Buddhist faith and subsequently, during the Joseon era, under the influence of orthodox Neo-Confucianism. The ritual bronze objects on display attest to Buddhism’s enormous impact on the peninsula: there are three mirrors and a bell dating from the 11th century, a Buddhist statue dating from the 8th century, as well as Buddhist ritual vessels and a large coloured painting of Buddhist icons. During the five-hundred-year reign of the Joseon dynasty, the lofty ideals of Confucianism were pursued by the sizeable social class, the yangban. The world in which these state officials lived is presented to visitors through their official attire and examples of the writing utensils and furnishings typically found in their studies. This section of the exhibition is therefore largely devoted to artefacts made of metals, textiles, wood and paper. All paintings on view come from the National Gallery’s own collections.

The catalogue is essentially the first Czech publication on Korean art. The book includes reproductions of a variety of Korean National Treasures, which could not be presented in Prague either because Korean laws forbid their travel outside Korea, or simply because the objects are stationary or fixed within the permanent installations of the National Museum of Korea in Seoul. The catalogue’s introductory essay on Korean history was written by Jiří Janoš, a Czech expert on Korea, while the texts on art and the plates were selected and annotated by the curator of the National Museum of Korea, the Chief of the Conservation Department, Lee Neogg. The artworks captions for the exhibition and the catalogue were written by the twelve-member team of Korean curators of the National Museum of Korea under the leadership of Choi Eungchon, the Head of Special Exhibition Team. The names of Korean curators are listed in abbreviated form at the bottom of every illustration in the catalogue, and in full in the book’s colophon.

The Art of Korea exhibition is accompanied by a number of lectures, film projections, photography exhibitions, workshops etc. prepared by the Education Department of the National Gallery in Prague in cooperation with the Czech-Korean Society.

 

 

 

 

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Paris, France

Musée Guimetwww-link

Les dix années 1996 – 2006 ont été particulièrement riches dans le domaine des nouvelles acquisitions. L’exposition parcours organisée au sein des collections permanentes du musée Guimet met l’accent sur l’exceptionnel enrichissement, tant qualitatif que quantitatif, dont a bénéficié le musée pendant cette période.

Une sélection de plus de deux cents œuvres de l’Inde au Japon, est proposée dans un parcours original mis en exergue par une signalétique spécifique dédiée à l’évènement. Une manifestation culturelle à grande échelle qui rend hommage aux donateurs et à leur très grande générosité.

 

 

 

 

 

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Bonn

KUNST UND AUSSTELLUNGSHALLE DER BUNDESREPUBLIK DEUTSCHLANDwww-link

On display in Germany for the first time is the magnificent temple treasure from one of the most ancient monasteries in Japan: Daigoji. The exhibition shows 160 outstanding works, including large sculptures, valuable paintings and scrolls, exquisite ritual objects, artistic calligraphy, sutras – the sacred writings of Buddhism – and historical documents, of which an hitherto unseen contingent of national treasures and important cultural property. The exhibition offers viewers an introduction to the esoteric Buddhism of Japan and showcases the mountain monastery Daigoji as a first-class culture bearer, also a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1994. The Daigoji monastery south of Kyoto with a history reaching back more than 1100 years was founded in 874 B.C. The monastery has been preserved up to our day as one of the most influential religious centres and pilgrimage site.
(from the website of the museum)
 

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BERLIN

BERLINER FESTSPIELE,  MARTIN-GROPIUS-BAUwww-link

 

Sensational finds of recent years from Xinjiang, China’s westernmost province, are to be seen in this exhibition. The oldest object dates from 4000 years ago. The focus is on the people who have inhabited the area along the silk routes around the Tarim Basin and the Taklamakan desert since the Bronze Age. The Taklamakan, the world’s second largest sandy desert, has a distinct continental climate characterized by extreme aridity. This aridity, with which those who live along the silk routes have had to struggle for millennia, is the reason for the unique state of preservation of the archaeological finds.
[...] The exhibition consists of about 180 archaeological finds from the Tarim Basin. They include ceramic and metal objects as well as wood, textiles and other organic finds, which despite their age – ranging from the Bronze Age to the Han dynasty in the second century A.D. – impress visitors to the exhibition with their extraordinarily good state of preservation. Such well-preserved finds from Xinjiang have never been seen in Europe before. The exhibition conveys an idea of what life was like and the climatic and cultural factors that shaped it along the southern and northern courses of the Silk Road around the Tarim Basin and illustrates the wide variety of cultures and cultural influences that existed in eastern Central Asia up until 2000 years ago.
(from the website of the museum)

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HAMBURG

Museum für Völkerkunde Hamburgwww-link

Als 1974 Bauern in Xian in der chinesischen Provinz Shannxi beim Brunnenbau auf das Grab des ersten Kaisers und Reichseinigers, Qin Shihuangdi stießen, stieß die Nachricht von einer riesigen, lebensgroßen Armee von naturalistisch gestalteten Terrakottakriegern zunächst auf Unglauben. Mittlerweile ist dieser 1987 zum UNESCO-Welterbe erklärte Schatz aber weltweit berühmt. Kopien der Figuren in den unterschiedlichsten Stücke sind beliebte Touristensouvenirs geworden. Nur selten aber bekommt man Gelegenheit, die faszinierenden Stücke aus den Grabanlagen im Original zu sehen.

210  v. Chr. starb der Kaiser Shi Huangdi. Schon zu Lebzeiten hatte er sein prunkvolles Grab in Auftrag gegeben. Da er aber der erste und gleichzeitig der letzte Angehörige seiner auf 10.000 Jahre angelegten kaiserlichen Dynastie war, geriet seine Grabstätte rasch in Vergessenheit.

Wir zeigen, neben einer eindrucksvollen 1:1-Rekonstruktion eines Teils der Grabanlage mit einer Licht- und Tonshow und einem 250 m² großen Diorama mit 120 lebensgroßen Kriegern und 4 Pferden auch mehr als 70 authentische Exponate aus den Ausgrabungen: Gold, Jade, Bronze und Ton. Darunter befinden sich acht restaurierte Terrakotta-Figuren, die Persönlichkeiten in Hofstaat und Armee des Kaisers darstellen, sowie 2 Pferde.
(from the website of the museum)

 

Hamburg

MUSEUM FÜR KUNST UND GEWERBE HAMBURG (MGK)www-link

In his book “His ories”, Herodotus, a Greek historian, tells of the „Land of the Gold-Guarding Griffins“, said to lie somewhere in southern Siberia. In 2000-2003, the German Archaeological Institute and the State Hermitage, Saint Petersburg, carried out joint excavations in this very region. A burial mound was excavated in Arzan, in the “Valley of the Kings”, close to the border between Russia and Mongolia. The rich contents, including thousands of golden objects, are rated as one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of recent years. The find may actually be compared in importance with the tomb of Tutankhamun.
The permanently frozen ground of the high Altai Mountains yielded further spectacular finds: Above all, it is the tattooed mummies unearthed here which capture the imagination of the observer. The well-preserved clothing, the magnificently decorated horse furniture, and other artefacts of wood, textile and leather all add to the fascination. As these objects are made from perishable materials, it has never before been possible to put them on public exhibit to such an extent.
In addition to presenting the archaeological remains of the Scythians, the exhibition also takes a close look at modern excavating techniques, and at recent findings of natural sciences and anthropology. These fields increasingly contribute sensational insights, reconstructing the fascinating architecture of the tombs, the natural surroundings of the steppe nomads, or researching questions of nutrition, kinship and disease among the Scythians.
(from the website of the museum)

 

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MUNICH

KUNSTHALLE DER HYPO-KULTURSTIFTUNGwww-link

In his book “Histories”, Herodotus, a Greek historian, tells of the „Land of the Gold-Guarding Griffins“, said to lie somewhere in southern Siberia. In 2000-2003, the German Archaeological Institute and the State Hermitage, Saint Petersburg, carried out joint excavations in this very region. A burial mound was excavated in Arzan, in the “Valley of the Kings”, close to the border between Russia and Mongolia. The rich contents, including thousands of golden objects, are rated as one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of recent years. The find may actually be compared in importance with the tomb of Tutankhamun.
The permanently frozen ground of the high Altai Mountains yielded further spectacular finds: Above all, it is the tattooed mummies unearthed here which capture the imagination of the observer. The well-preserved clothing, the magnificently decorated horse furniture, and other artefacts of wood, textile and leather all add to the fascination. As these objects are made from perishable materials, it has never before been possible to put them on public exhibit to such an extent.
In addition to presenting the archaeological remains of the Scythians, the exhibition also takes a close look at modern excavating techniques, and at recent findings of natural sciences and anthropology. These fields increasingly contribute sensational insights, reconstructing the fascinating architecture of the tombs, the natural surroundings of the steppe nomads, or researching questions of nutrition, kinship and disease among the Scythians.
(from the website of the museum)

 

 

 

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Firenze

Palazzo Strozzi www-link

China: At the ourt of The Emperors is a spectacular celebration of China’s Golden Age bringing to Europe over 100 masterpieces dating from the Tang dynasty. Splendid frescoes, spectacular stone sculptures, exquisite gold and silver objects, precious ceramics, vivacious terracotta statues, exotic glass, refined jewels, precious lacquers will be on show, many of which have never been seen before in the West. The Tang era was a renaissance for the arts, crafts and literature, a time of great social, economical and cultural development for China. The Silk Road, linking the Far East to Asia and the Mediterranean, opened China to foreign influences resulting in a remarkable cosmopolitanism which was reflected in the art of the time.

One of the highlights of the exhibition will be the marvellous frescoes that reveal different aspects of Chinese society at that time, the importance of foreigners in the political world, various aspects of costume, women’s fashion, the extremely intricate hairstyles, etc. These examples, when compared to a very rare fresco from the previous Han dynasty (only three have been discovered), not only illustrate the delicate and sentimental language of Tang portraiture but also underline the importance of tolerance in a cosmopolitan society.
(from the website of the museum)

 

 

 

 

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St Petersburg

State Hermitage Museumwww-link

 

 

 

 

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Stockholm

Östasiatika Museet

A permanent exhibition about the people who lived in Eastern Asia for thousands of years before no one even had thought of a Middle Kingdom.
(from the website of the museum)
 

In the spring 2007 the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquties will open a new permanent exhibition the Middle Kingdom.

Together with the exhibition China before China the museum presents glimpses of 5000 years of Chinese history. The two exhibitions show more than 1200 object on display and are interconnected with a new presentation of the museum Far Eastern Library.

3000 year old bronze vessels, jade, oracle bones from the bronze age kingdoms, Earthen ware mortuary pottery and sculpture from the earliest dynasties, the oldest porcelain, lacquers, Chinese painting and the blue and white porcelain from the Ming Dynasty. Not to mention all the porcelain imported by the Swedish East India Company in the 18th and 19th centuries - a time when China, just like today, was the major production and export country of the East.

Closely interconnected with sculpture and painting is the script, both as a form of art calligraphy - and as historical comments written and engraved on pictures and sculptures. From the exhibition you may continue to the library which provides a point of entry to the rich an varied writing traditions in China and to the role of writing in science and art.
(from the website of the museum)
 

 

 

 

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Geneva

Collections Baur, Musee des Arts D'Extreme-Orient

Bronzes and ceramics
Over the years, the Baur Collection, Museum of Far Eastern Art has committed itself to showing to the public various facets of Asian cultures, and is now pleased to present an exhibition on the arts of ancient Vietnam. For the first time in decades, an emblematic collection of Vietnamese bronze and ceramic ware, originally assembled by the Swedish archaeologist Olov Janse (1892-1985), and later divided among the collections of the Cernuschi Museum and the Guimet Museum in Paris, has once again been brought together. This ensemble is completed by a number of prestigious Dông Son bronzes from the Barbier-Mueller Museum in Geneva, as well as important loans from major Swiss private collections. The bronze vessels and objects on show present a panorama of the production in northern Vietnam and the surrounding region during the Bronze Age, from the 5th to 3rd centuries BC, while the pieces dating from the Giao Chi period reveal the intense artistic activity which developed under Chinese occupation, from the 1st to the 3rd centuries AD. A wide choice of ceramic ware reflects the growth of this art over a millennium and a half and illustrates the cultural refinement reached under the Ly (1009-1225), Trân (1226-1400) and Lê (1428-1527) dynasties.
(from the website of the museum)
 

 

 

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London

THE BRITISH MUSEUMwww-link

This once-in-a-lifetime exhibition will explore one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of the 20th century and provide an insight into China's First Emperor, Qin Shihuangdi, and his legacy.
Objects featured in the exhibition will include a number of the world-famous terracotta warriors from Xi'an, China, which were buried alongside the First Emperor in readiness for the afterlife, as well as some of the most striking recent discoveries made on the site.
In introducing the idea of a unified state and effectively creating China in 221 BC, the First Emperor of Qin created what is today the oldest surviving political entity in the world. How that state has survived, developed and is viewed today will be explored through events, lectures and debates around the exhibition.
(from the website of the museum)
 

Jade has always been the material of the highest value to the Chinese. From very ancient times, this extremely tough translucent stone has been worked into ornaments, ceremonial weapons and ritual objects. Recent exciting archaeological finds in many parts of China have revealed not only the antiquity of the skill of jade carving, but also the extraordinary levels of development it achieved at a very early date. This exhibition illustrates the history of jade use in China from c. 5000 BC to the modern day. Over two hundred superb jades, the majority from the collection of Sir Joseph Hotung, display the subtle variety of colours and textures of this exotic stone, while demonstrating the many different types of carving, ranging from long, smooth Neolithic blades to later plaques, ornaments, dragons, animal and human sculpture and intricate 18th century pendants.
Jade, beautiful and indestructible, has acquired a mysterious presence through its many different uses over the centuries. Most highly prized by the elite of ancient China, it was worn by kings and nobles in both life and death and linked with their powers supposed and imaginary. As jade was powerful in life, it came to be regarded as powerful in death, protecting the body from decay. In later times these magical properties were perhaps less explicitly recognised, jade being valued more for its use in exquisite ornaments and vessels, and for its links with antiquity. Ancient jade shapes and decorative patterns were often copied in the Ming and Qing periods, thereby bringing the association of the distant past to the Chinese peoples of later times.
(from the website of the museum)
Catalogue: £50

 

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Oxford

THE ASHMOLEAN - Museum of Art and Archaeologywww-link

For the first time, over two hundred of the most significant objects in the Ashmolean's world-renowned collections of Archaeology, Eastern Art, Coins and Casts will be displayed side by side in an exhibition lasting throughout the Museum's major redevelopment.
(from the website of the museum)
 

 

 

 

 

 

Last modified: 15.07.2008