From a Berlin Tragedy to Salvation; the Restoration of the Tell Halaf statues

Submitted by AlexHunger on Thursday, 19 July 2007 Page Views: 10559

Western nations have always justified taking away ancient artefacts from their places of origin by rationalising that this keeps them safe for future generations. That may be the case in the British Museum, the Metropolitan in New York or the Louvre in Paris, but unfortunately for a 12 year period between 1933 and 1945, Germany stopped being a civilised country. Bringing peace and the rule of law back to Europe saw Berlin and the remnants of its culture being turned into a moonscape. Between 22 and 26 November 1943, this also shattered the Baron Max von Oppenheim Museum together with its wonderful Tell Halaf basalt statues and orthostats, which had only been rediscovered for 30 years after lying in the Syrian dirt for nearly 3000 years.

Let’s retrace our steps to the beginning of the 20th century. Banking heir Baron Max von Oppenheim was trained as a lawyer and left Germany to take up a diplomatic post in the middle east but was sidetracked by one of the many tells, or man made mounds in the region. Through his good connections, he secured an excavation license to dig up Tell Halaf between 1911 and August 1913. His good luck and resources allowed him to make remarkable progress in digging up what turned out to be the late Hittite and Aramean city of Guzana, which had been laid waste by the Assyrians after a revolt around 808 BCE.

He found monumental basalt statues and orthostats. The most impressive were the about 5 Meter tall ensemble of 3 standing gods standing over animal figures which constituted the palace entrance. Oppenheim’s favourite was a twice life-sized seated woman, probably part of an ancestor worship cult. WWI interrupted the excavations, but Oppenheim went back in 1927 for one more season to recuperate some remaining orthostats that had been covered up in the building used by the excavation crew. He returned one last time in 1929 for one last look.

Upon his return to Germany, and during the last expedition, Oppenheim had Igor von Jachimow restore some of the damaged objects and set up a museum in a former small Berlin industrial facility, which opened to rave reviews on 15 July 1930.

The next 12 years after 1933 were not so auspicious for Oppenheim. He appeared to keep a low profile to avoid trouble with the National Socialists who could have easily been provoked to harassed him or worse on account of his Jewish origins. The real disaster came in November 1943 when allied bombings reduced his precious museum to rubble. While the bomb damage in and of itself did not cause all the damage, the resulting fires cracked most of the statues while the thermal shock from the cold fire-fighting water on the hot stones caused the rest to shatter into thousands of small pieces.

Remarkably, despite the chaos of continuing bombings within the fascist state, lack of infrastructure and shortage of manpower in the closing days of WWII, Walter Andrae, the Director of one of the departments of the Pergamom Museum, retrieved as many of the shards as possible from the craters during 1944 and stored them in the cellar vaults of his relatively safe and solid institution. The Pergamom museum however passed into East German hands and the contents of the basement slipped out of reach. With Oppenheim passing away in 1946, the Tell Halaf statues were essentially written off for nearly half a century.

Only the fall of the Berlin wall and the reunification of Germany in 1990 brought about new possibilities. The intense wave of investments and reconstruction led to the administration for all intents and purposes rediscovering dozens of large metal wire crates with 80 cubic meters of basalt fragments in 1993. A team under Dr. Lutz Martin and Dr. Nadja Cholidis was set up in 2001 to investigate what could be done with the once momentous debris. At first a minimal pro forma restoration of the best preserved items as well as a reconstruction of the surface elements of other statues was considered. Funds were secured from The Sal. Oppenheim Foundation, Alfred Freiherr von Oppenheim Foundation and the German Foreign Office. In parallel a relationship with Syrian counterparts in Aleppo was set up, as copies and some of the remaining originals were still there. This would be mutually beneficial for all concerned as a large stone bull from Aleppo, was restored free of charge as gesture of goodwill. When the Aleppo museum is completely renovated, the bull will have a suitable home.

The logic for even a nominal restoration was that western museums no longer receive new material from foreign countries who now keep their national heritage at home. The Pergamom museum could only grow its exhibits if it restored something already in Germany, ran an exchange program with an other museum or went on the open international art market. The later is now too controversial. The restoration arrangement also appeared to suit the Max von Oppenheim Foundation, as rebuilding the old museum was no longer an option. While the objects will remain the property of the Oppenheim Foundation, the Pergamom Museum will keep them as a long term to permanent exhibit in a new hall being built between the two wings. A perfect example of public/private partnership.

The team set up shop in a conveniently vacant former East German research facility with suitable room for mobile cranes on the outskirts of Berlin and started to take stock. In 2001, the tons of remains were individually laid out on wooden pallets for a thorough inspection. It was there that the team discovered that there were discernable differences in the structure of the basalt, from the colour, the size of the grains to the inclusion of mineral and crystal deposits. This allowed a better grouping of the pieces which might go together. One of the first questions I asked was if the team used some sort computer software and scanners to find compatible pieces.

The answer was a resounding no. That would have been too complicated, especially as there was no suitable software and the number of pieces would have overwhelmed any known databases. Instead, the small team of archaeologists and restorers did everything by hand using their steadily improving instincts assisted by large doses of patience.

The team finished reassembling the lion relatively quickly, which gave them courage for the rest. The modus operandi consists of finding matching pieces and labelling them with small stickers, which serve as notes. Some pieces are temporarily glued together, while waiting for more pieces, others are permanently glued together with special epoxy glue, which is thankfully commercially available. The result is largely stable for indoor display and can to a large extent support its own weight, though it must be moved carefully on special metal platforms. Considering some parts were found that could not be attributed in the 1920s, the resulting restorations will be more original than before the war. Another achieved goal was that no metal framework or pins will be required, avoiding the eyesore and corrosion that has affected other objects.

The results are quite convincing, though the break marks are still quite visible. Where larger pieces are missing, some already since the Assyrian invasion in antiquity, the team has made pro-forma complementary shapes to give an impression of what the statue would have looked like, but without faking the elaborate carvings. To achieve this, they have concocted a mixture of ground basalt, sand and resin which is in a slightly lighter shade of grey. The automotive equivalent, would have been to replace the door or fender of the priceless vintage car with a basic shape in primer, but not to have replaced the handle or the chrome accessories. You get the basic idea, but are not fooled by a pastiche. Some more sensitive souls may argue that the statues have lost any real personality or presence (soul?), but the results, particularly on the restored lion, have real character.

All in all, the Tell Halaf team already processed hundreds of square meters of debris into a good number of representative statues and orthostats and aim to finish the remaining couple of pallets by the end of 2008. Between 2008 and 2010, the objects will undergo one more final stage of restoration before the grand opening in 2010. Later, a new facilities is planned for at the Pergamom museum, but that may take until 2020.

The restoration of the Tell Halaf statues is not only a great 21st century technical achievement but it also provides huge inspiration to the archeology field. The accomplishment not only restores invaluable objects that had been believed lost for several generations and gives them back to new audiences but it also provides a precedence case that almost any damaged historical artifact can be repaired and financed, (although the costs here are considered confidential). While it's easy to simple rationalize that Germans are well organized and filled with iron determination to accomplish complex projects, but I sense a true love for these monumental objects that are meaningful for all mankind. Considering the rotten luck the Tell Halaf objects have had for about 60 years, this project looks like a real winner and will hopefully inspire others to think like this. I have seen enough broken Menhirs and Dolmen, even in France, where local councils would considerably improve the attractiveness of their communities to tourists if some funds where invested in the restoration of their monuments. Overall, I was impressed with the how quickly and un-bureaucratically the project managers, Dr. Martin, Dr. Cholidis and Mr. Geismeier granted me an interview as well as access to their facility, not to mention photographic archive material.

It's now up to other museums or communities to take up the challenge with their damaged heritage. Off to work you go.

AlexHunger (who is German)

Contributor Bio for AlexHunger: Based in Zurich, Switzerland, contributing since 2004. Favourite site: Roche Aux Fees. Occupation: Investor Relations.

<< Review of An Archaeology of Natural Places, Richard Bradley

Feature Articles

A History of Wroxeter >>