102. Copies in Museums

On Berlin’s Museum Island, four stone lion statues perch in the Pergamon Museum. Three of these lions are originals — that is to say, lions carved from dolerite rock between the 10th and 8th centuries BCE in Samʼal (Zincirli) in southern Turkey. And one is a plaster copy made a little over 100 years ago.

Pergamon Museum curator Pinar Durgun has heard a range of negative visitor reactions to this copy — from disappointment to feeling tricked — and engages visitors to think more deeply about copies. As an archeologist and art historian, Durgun is fascinated by the cultural attitude and history of copies: the stories they tell about their creators’ values, how they can be used to keep original objects in situ, and their role in repatriation or restitution cases.

In this episode, Durgun describes the ways that museum visitors’ perception of authenticity has changed over time, how replicas jump-started museum collections in the late 19th-century, and some of the ethical implications of copies in museums.

Image: Reconstructed Lion Sculpture Sam'al near modern Zincirli Höyük, Turkey 10th-8th century BCE by Mary Harrsch

Topics and Notes

• 00:00 Intro
• 00:15 Sam’al/Zincirli Lions
• 01:09 Pinar Durgun
• 01:22 Museum Island
• 01:40 Find Divison
• 02:28 Gipsformerei
• 03:12 Replicas Jump-Started Museum Collections
• 04:35 Trending Away from Copies
• 05:27 When Visitors Feel Tricked
• 06:00 When Visitors Are Okay With Copies
• 07:28 Ancient Cultural Contexts About Copies
• 08:07 Hokusai’s Great Wave
• 08:35 “Immersive Experiences” Made Up of Digital Copies
• 09:08 Digital Copies
• 12:39 Museum Archipelago 97. Richard Nixon Hoped to Never Say These Words about Apollo 11. In A New Exhibit, He Does.
• 13:32 How Should Museums Present Copies in Their Collections?
• 14:36 Outro | Join Club Archipelago 🏖

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Transcript

Below is a transcript of Museum Archipelago episode 102. For more information on the people and ideas in the episode, refer to the links above. View Transcript

Welcome to Museum Archipelago. I'm Ian Elsner. Museum Archipelago guides you through the rocky landscape of museums. Each episode is rarely longer than 15 minutes, so let's get started.

On the Museum Isl...