Europa brennt - Kunst der Völkerwanderungszeit / Europe ablaze. Art from the migration period.
In the period spanning the final years of the Wilhelminian period and the Weimar Republic, Johannes Freiherr von Diergardt (1859-1934) had the largest private collection of art from the migration period worldwide. At the same time, he was a sponsor of archaeological research. A scion of a Rhenish aristocratic family, he lived in Schloss Bornheim, his ancestral seat. Inspired by Frankish burial finds in the vicinity of Schloss Bornheim, Johannes von Diergardt built up a breathtaking collection of objets d'art from classical antiquity and the early Middle Ages, with the Preussische Museen in Berlin giving him scientific support and advice. The geographical range of his collection stretches from Scythia to the realm of the Vikings, from Western Europe to the Russian steppes. The famous core of his collection documents the migration period and is among the most precious treasures of the Römisch-Germanisches Museum.
The 150th anniversary of the Baron's birth is an opportunity for the Römisch-Germanisches Museum to present masterpieces of goldwork jewelery from a period of profound changes and upheavals in Europe. "Europe ablaze" focuses on this turbulent epoch between Late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages.
Roncalliplatz 4, D - 50667 Köln
Telefon 0221-221/2 44 38 and 221/2 45 90
Email roemisch-germanisches-museum@stadt-koeln.de