Field of Focus III - Transfer Pop-up exhibition “Archaeology and Politics.“
he Two Lives of the Tropaeum Traiani between Heidelberg an Adamclisi
Project Lead: Dr. Polly Lohmann
Among the rich holdings of the Heidelberg Collection of Antiquities are 54 copies (plaster casts) of parts of the so-called Tropaeum Traiani in Adamclisi, Romania. The ancient Roman monument was built under emperor Trajan in 108/109 AD and symbolised his victory over the local Dacians. As a political monument of the winners, it showed stereotypical depictions of superior Romans and their defeated „barbarian“ enemies (lat. barbari).
During the First World War, the University of Heidelberg made use of the German occupation of the Romanian Dobruja by ordering plaster casts of the Tropaeum Traiani in 1918. The extraordinary political circumstances of the war served as a welcome chance to expand the Collection of Antiquities of the university.
Having arrived at Heidelberg, the casts were partially subject of political controversies. The original monument at Adamclisi, on the other hand, was being differently received in Romania, especially during the Ceaușescu period. The pop-up exhibition deals with these two stories, or different lives, of the Tropaeum Traiani – in Heidelberg and in Adamclisi. It is has been designed together with students of Archaeology and Modern History in the curse of an interdisciplinary seminar. In Summer 2021, it will, together with the students, travel from Heidelberg via Vienna, Cluj, Sibiu and Bucharest to Constanta at the Black Sea and thereby follow the route of the plastcasts backwards.
The main topics of the pop-up-exhibition and the students seminar are the intersection of archaeology and politics, the political instrumentalisation of cultural heritage, and the social significance of archaeology as an objective academic discipline.
Since November the casts of the Tropaeum Traiani are on display in Heidelberg's Heuscheuer. There, they can be visited in the newly renovated foyers with improved lighting and signage. A digital stele allows visitors to view a 3D model, a drone flight and the history of the monument, .
Participating Institutions at Heidelberg University
- Heidelberg Center for Cultural Heritage
- Institute for Classical Archaeology and Byzantine Archaeology
Cooperation Partners
- Vienna Museum of Art History, Ephesos Museum
- Institutul de Arheologie „Vasile Pârvan” Bukarest
- Universatea din București, Fakultatea de Istorie
- Muzeul de Istorie Națională și Arheologie Constanța
- Institute for Classical Archeology Vienna University
- Cultural and meeting centre „Friedrich Teutsch“ Sibiu