Hello – and to begin with, Hilke Wagner, the museum’s director, would like to welcome you to the museum.
"A very warm welcome to the Atrium of the Albertinum. This wonderful space was created in 2010 when the museum was refurbished. Above us, there is the central storage facility for the Old and New Masters collections, as well as the main restoration workshops. The Atrium has a particular significance for us, since we see the museum as a place of exchanges and encounters – something which, naturally, this space especially encourages.
The Albertinum connects East and West, sculpture and painting, and the present with the future. Of course, connecting three centuries is a special challenge. Yet at the same time, this has proved especially fruitful, as we could often find points linking the topics of the past and the world today.
The Sculpture Collection, in particular, is intimately connected with this building. After all, in the nineteenth century, this was home to the collection under its renowned director Georg Treu, originally an archaeologist. We have Georg Treu to thank for acquiring what is today one of the largest collections of Auguste Rodin’s works in the world – and most certainly in Europe. Later the Gemäldegalerie – the Picture Gallery – was separated off from the Old Masters Collection and also moved into these rooms. Today, our aim to apply contemporary approaches to combining these various styles and genres and integrate their presentation with film, installations, and a variety of media to enable visitors to experience these riches to the full.
I hope you have a very enjoyable time discovering our collection. Incidentally, as a state collection, it also belongs to our visitors – after all, our task is to preserve, protect, research and pass on this important cultural heritage to the following generations."
