Gol­den dra­gons and ba­ro­que tre­asu­res: An en­coun­ter in Go­tha

From 22 Ju­ne 2025 to 11 Ja­nu­ary 2026, two fa­sci­na­ting cul­tures will be brought tog­e­ther in a uni­que ex­hi­bi­ti­on at the Go­tha Du­cal Mu­se­um: China’s gold and Got­ha’s tre­asu­res. Ever sin­ce the duchy was foun­ded, Go­tha has be­en fa­sci­na­ted by the world and has coll­ec­ted Far Eas­tern tre­asu­res. Now mas­ter­ly golds­mit­h’s work from the Ming dy­nasty from the Xi’an Qujiang Mu­se­um of Fi­ne Arts meets the Er­nes­ti­ne Will­komm — an out­stan­ding work of Eu­ro­pean golds­mit­h’s art — and va­luable eccle­si­a­sti­cal ar­te­facts from Go­tha churches.

The ap­pro­xi­m­ate­ly 75 groups of works in the ca­bi­net ex­hi­bi­ti­on in­vi­te vi­si­tors to compa­re Asia and Eu­ro­pe ar­tis­ti­cal­ly and en­ter in­to an in­ter­na­tio­nal dia­lo­gue. The jux­ta­po­si­ti­on of gol­den dra­gons and gem-stud­ded phoe­ni­xes wi­th ba­ro­que mas­ter­pie­ces ho­no­urs the open­ness and cul­tu­ral ex­ch­an­ge that Go­tha and Thu­rin­gia stand for. An­yo­ne in­te­res­ted in gold, histo­ry and ex­tra­or­di­na­ry art will make num­e­rous fa­sci­na­ting dis­co­veries in this ex­hi­bi­ti­on.