From the first moment I was in Karlsruhe and saw the magnificent palace of the city, I felt awe. An architectural jewelry that hosts culture, history and art. Inside the palace, where the Baden State Museum is housed – or by Baden (Badisches Landesmuseum), I felt like a strange sense of intimacy.

Between ancient Greek vessels, marble figurines and works of art thousands of years, I was greeted by Dr. Katarina Horst, head of the Museum. She spoke to me with enthusiasm and true love for the Greek collection of antiquities of the Museum, and she is originally from Greece.

A little head with a long history

It shows me a bronze head from Olympia, one of her favorite exhibits, dating from the 7th century BC. “It may seem small,” he tells me, “but for archeology it is of great importance.” The head was found at the end of the 19th century by a German teacher who bought it to Olympia and brought it to Germany.

For many years she was not given much importance. Until in the 1920s, experts realized that it was one of the first samples of bronze head to make with the “lost candle” technique, a revolutionary method of casting the time.

From objects of objects … in cooperation

The Museum is known for the collection of Cycladic antiquities. These figurines, as Dr. Horst, they were considered “bad” for decades and neglected. But everything changed in the early 20th century, when artists of modernism, such as Picasso and Montillian, were inspired by their abstract form. Since then the Cyclades have begun to plunder for their figures.

Dr. Horst reports that the Museum presented in 1970 an exhibition of about 500 Cycladic exhibits, many of which came from traders, sparking fierce reactions to the competent Greek authorities.

In 2014, the Museum returned two antiquities of Cycladic culture (namely one figurine and a stone vessel) to Greece, an act that marked the beginning of a new era of “sustainable cooperation”, as we read on the Museum’s website in Greek and German.

New model of cooperation

As the same website states, “in January 2016 a contract between the Greek Ministry of Culture and Sports and the Ministry of Science, Research and Art of the State of Baden-Wertemberg was signed in Stuttgart. Since then, cooperation has been close. Among other things, this agreement also included the “Stolen Past – Lost Future” exhibition with the partnership of the Greek Ministry of Culture and the State Museum of Baden, which has since been perhaps the most powerful example of cooperation.

It presents the effects of antiquity on the world cultural heritage. It was presented at the University of Heidelberg and crossed various cities in Germany and Switzerland, arrived in Greece. Today it is in Patras. The message is clear: if we lose the past, we lose the future.

No more ‘mine – yours’

“The worst thing we can say is” that’s mine, it’s yours, “says Dr. Chorus. “This leads to wars. We have to think in terms of cooperation, not separation. “

For her, ancient Greek objects are not only Greek. It is part of a common cultural past. As he says to DW: “The Germans learned ancient Greek at school (…) is part of their own identity.” The Museum no longer buys antiquities. On the contrary, he borrows, collaborates, makes joint reports. It is probably the most promising model for the future. With respect, research and dialogue.