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Conservation in Dialogue
A look at the hidden work of museum conservators, through restored objects such as Canadian crest poles, a Qing lacquer cabinet and a Mongolian shrine.
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The gungervaa is a Mongolian wooden shrine about 55 cm high, with a lama figure, small paintings and pieces of silk, pearls, papier-mâché and bone behind a glass front. No other museum is known to hold one with almost all its contents. Its conservator's instinct was to keep everything inside, until she spent summer 2023 asking people in Mongolia. Most wanted the contents laid out around the box, in view.
You walk into one room, 301 on the third floor, with five such cases: crest poles from the Haida and Tsimshian of Canada's Northwest Coast, a Qing cabinet in Coromandel lacquer and an Umoⁿhoⁿ ceremonial pipe. Pupils' audio pieces and the "Who Cares?" brochure explain the choices. The brochure's pest page stars the larva of the Berlin beetle, a local with a taste for collections.
It's covered by the €9 collections ticket, step-free, in German and English. On 18 October 2026 the curators give talks at 14:00, 15:00 and 16:00 and lead tours of the conservation workshops.
Look for
The gungervaa and its contents
Look for the Mongolian shrine with its glass front, and its lama figure and offerings shown around the box, as most people consulted in Mongolia asked.
The Haida and Tsimshian crest poles
Two carved poles from Canada's Northwest Coast, both tested for toxic pesticide residue before going on show; the brochure shows conservators cleaning one in protective suits.
The Coromandel lacquer cabinet
An ornate Qing-dynasty cabinet in Coromandel lacquer, one of the five conservation projects the curators walk you through.
Good for
- An Hour Or Less
- Locals Who've Seen It All
- Nerding Out
Skip if
You want a big show: it's one room, five objects and the conservators' reasoning behind them.
Free in the same building
- Flashbacks36 objects placed throughout the building in unconventional settings, each recalling a moment from the site's history.
- History of the SiteFree displays covering 800 years of Schlossplatz, from medieval cellars and palace sculptures to the Palace of the Republic, with original objects and media stations.
- Impressions. The Humboldt BrothersFree display on Alexander and Wilhelm von Humboldt's lives, curiosity and cosmopolitan worldview, in the ground-floor stairwell hall.
- Palace CellarFree walk through the archaeological remains of a medieval monastery and the original palace foundations beneath the building.
- The Gate of SanchiFree full-scale replica of the East Gate of the Great Stupa of Sanchi, a UNESCO World Heritage site in India, installed outside on the Lustgarten side.
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Image credits
9
- Conservation in DialogueStiftung Humboldt Forum im Berliner Schloss / Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Ethnologisches Museum, Foto: Christoph Schmidt / Gemäldegalerie
- A Country in a Container – The Disposal of East German State SymbolsCourtesy of DDR Museum
- Founded on Antiquity: Berlin's First MuseumPhoto: Johannes Laurentius
- Nature and German History. Faith – Biology – PowerCourtesy of Deutsches Historisches Museum
- Humboldt ForumMike Peel / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- DDR MuseumAndreas Praefcke / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0
- Altes MuseumJean-Pierre Dalbéra / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
- Deutsches Historisches MuseumAvda / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Alte NationalgalerieManfred Brückels / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain