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| Coin Cabinet (Münzkabinett) | |
|---|---|
| Name | Coin Cabinet (Münzkabinett) |
| Native name | Münzkabinett |
| Established | 18th century |
| Location | Berlin, Germany |
| Type | numismatic museum |
| Collection | coins, medals, monetary instruments |
Coin Cabinet (Münzkabinett)
The Coin Cabinet (Münzkabinett) is a major numismatic collection located in Berlin with origins in the Prussian court and links to European princely and scholarly traditions, reflecting intersections with figures such as Frederick the Great, Wilhelm II, Alexander von Humboldt, Hildegard von Bingen, and institutions including the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, the Berlin State Museums, the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, and the Museum Island. The collection has served collectors, historians, and economists, and it interacts with archives and libraries like the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, the Bundesarchiv, the Humboldt University of Berlin, the Deutsche Numismatische Gesellschaft, and the Deutsches Historisches Museum. The Münzkabinett's holdings inform research across classical antiquity, medieval studies, modern European history, and world numismatics, attracting collaborations with the British Museum, the Louvre, the Smithsonian Institution, the Vatican Museums, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The Münzkabinett traces provenance to princely collections accumulated by the Hohenzollern courts and collectors associated with Frederick William I of Prussia and Frederick the Great, incorporating objects from estates linked to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Alexander von Humboldt, and scholarly networks including the Berlin Academy of Sciences. During the 19th century the cabinet expanded through exchanges with the Royal Collection, Windsor, acquisitions negotiated during the era of Otto von Bismarck and the Kulturkampf, and transfers involving the Royal Library, Berlin and the Prussian State Museums. In the 20th century wartime dispersals and restitution after World War II involved actors such as the Allied Control Council, the Soviet Union, and institutions like the National Museum of China and the Hermitage Museum, while postwar reconstruction connected the Münzkabinett to the German Democratic Republic and later reunification under the Federal Republic of Germany.
The cabinet's core comprises ancient Greek and Roman coinage including issues from Athens, Alexander the Great, Caesar Augustus, Constantine the Great, and Hellenistic kingdoms, alongside Byzantine solidi and medieval coinages from Charlemagne, Otto I, Frederick I Barbarossa, and the Hanoverian and Habsburg dynasties. Modern holdings feature early modern thalers linked to Maximilian I, Charles V, Maria Theresa, banknotes associated with the Deutsche Bundesbank, and colonial-era series connected to the East India Company and the Dutch East India Company. The medallic collection contains works by artists tied to the Royal Prussian Academy of Arts, commissions for personalities such as Napoleon Bonaparte, Kaiser Wilhelm II, and cultural figures like Ludwig van Beethoven and Johann Sebastian Bach. The cabinet includes tokens, jetons, and trial pieces tied to municipal histories of Berlin, Hamburg, Nuremberg, and trade leagues such as the Hanoverian League and the Hanseatic League.
Temporary and permanent exhibitions have ranged from thematic displays on antiquity to monographic shows on figures like Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Charlemagne, and events such as the Reformation and the Thirty Years' War, presented in cooperation with the Pergamon Museum, the Altes Museum, and international partners such as the British Museum and the National Gallery of Art. Public programs include lectures with scholars from Humboldt University of Berlin, workshops for schools collaborating with the Berlin Senate Department for Education, Youth and Family, and symposiums alongside the German Archaeological Institute and the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science. Traveling exhibitions have toured institutions such as the Musée du Louvre, the Royal Ontario Museum, and the National Museum of Korea.
The Münzkabinett supports numismatic research through cataloguing projects, provenance research intersecting with restitution issues arising after World War II, and analytical campaigns using methods from laboratories at the Max Planck Society and the Fraunhofer Society; collaborations include the British School at Rome, the Institute of Archaeology, Oxford University, and the Department of Coins and Medals, British Museum. Conservation work applies metallurgical analysis, X-ray fluorescence, and microscopy coordinated with conservation departments at the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin and international conservation programs such as those of the Getty Conservation Institute. Scholarly output is disseminated in partnership with the Deutsche Numismatische Gesellschaft, journals connected to the Royal Numismatic Society and the American Numismatic Society, and monographs published by the De Gruyter and Oxford University Press.
Housed historically across buildings on Museum Island and in proximity to the Altes Museum and the Neues Museum, the Münzkabinett occupies climate-controlled galleries, secure vaults, seminar rooms, and conservation laboratories comparable to facilities at the British Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Architectural phases reflect interventions by architects associated with the Prussian Building Authority and postwar restorations influenced by preservation principles promulgated by the ICOMOS and German federal agencies, and the complex includes study rooms used by researchers from Humboldt University and visiting scholars from institutions such as the University of Oxford and Harvard University.
Administration falls under the umbrella of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin and receives oversight and support from the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, and municipal authorities including the Berlin Senate. Funding streams combine public budgets, grants from foundations like the Körber Foundation and the German Research Foundation, private philanthropy from patrons connected to the Cultural Foundation of the German States, and revenue from partnerships with commercial lenders and auction houses such as Sotheby's and Christie's when deaccession procedures apply.
Highlights include rare Roman aurei associated with Augustus, gold coins of the Visigothic Kingdom, a collection of Greek tetradrachms from Syracuse, medieval bracteates from Regensburg, medallic portraits by artists linked to the Royal Prussian Academy of Arts, and banknotes documenting episodes such as the Weimar Republic hyperinflation. Significant acquisitions came via exchanges with the British Museum and purchases from estates tied to collectors like Heinrich von Sprengel and donations from families associated with Prussia and Hohenzollern networks, as well as restituted pieces returned after provenance research involving the Allied restitution commissions.
Category:Museums in Berlin Category:Numismatic museums