Antique sculptures

The plaster casts of monumental ancient sculptures used to belong to the collection of the University of Jena’s Archaeological Museum which was founded in 1846 and closed down in 1962. Today, they are open to the public and on display at various central university facilities. 

The collection includes more than 600 objects with the help of significant financial support from, among others, the citizens of Jena. After the museum closed down, the collection was first transferred to Sondershausen Palace. In 1983, the collection became the property of Staatliche Museen Berlin. However, starting in 1996, a part of the cast collection could gradually be returned to Jena with support from Staatliche Museen Berlin and Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz. In 2011, we succeeded in returning a grand total of 284 objects from Berlin.

Back in Jena, the returned cast collection items now regularly feature in university courses, offering our Classical Archaeology and Art History students an excellent opportunity to study three-dimensional objects and originals.

Casts are on display on Ernst Abbe Campus, in the Institute of Ancient Classics, in the University Main Building (Fürstengraben), in the University Sports Centre, and in the deposit of the Collection of Antiquities.