Voices Mag

On the occasion of the 150th anniversary in 2025, the Museum für Völkerkunde Dresden is looking back on its history. Selected objects from the collection are integrated in the different exhibitions of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen. At the Mathematisch-Physikalischer Salon, this compass can be seen, showing much more than the cardinal directions.

Gottfried Reinhardt (1935-2013) moved outside of the official cultural scene of the GDR with his critical texts. He was denied accreditation as a professional puppeteer, and so he ran his own puppet theatre, in which he controlled all aspects of the business, from stage design to acting. When he finally had to cease operations due to health complications, he donated a large part of his equipment to the Puppentheatersammlung, among them, this puppet of Jocasta.

Since 1939, this picture by Antwerp painter Frans Francken II has not been seen by the public. One reason was the disastrous condition of the painting. Now it has been elaborately restored for the exhibition "TEAMWORK in Antwerp! Pieter Bruegel, Hendrick van Balen and Others". We have documented the process on film. It becomes clear that restoration is also a matter of teamwork, with many different specialists taking part.

Pieter Bruegel the Elder was one of the most influential and successful painters of the 16th century. Particularly innovative pictorial creations such as “The Sermon of Saint John the Baptist” (Budapest, Szépművészeti Múzeum) were copied in large numbers by his sons Pieter Brueghel the Younger and Jan Brueghel the Elder as well as other artists. Today there are 36 repetitions of the motif, among which the Dresden version, with its exceptionally high quality, occupies a prominent place. The film provides an insight into the elaborate restoration of the painting.