In the foot­s­teps of Ge­org Schwein­furth — re­se­ar­cher, bo­ta­nist and pio­neer of Egyp­to­lo­gy

An­yo­ne vi­si­ting the Neu­es Mu­se­um in Ber­lin this autumn will be im­mer­sed in the fa­sci­na­ting world of Ge­org Schwein­furth. The spe­cial ex­hi­bi­ti­on “On Un­tra­vel­led Paths — Ge­org Schwein­furth and Egyp­to­lo­gy” ho­no­urs the mul­ti­face­ted le­ga­cy of the im­portant Af­ri­can re­se­ar­cher, who di­ed 100 ye­ars ago. Schwein­furth was not on­ly a pio­neer of bo­ta­ni­cal sci­ence, but al­so pa­ved the way for the young field of Egyp­to­lo­gy wi­th his ex­per­ti­se. His pas­si­on for plants, maps and ar­te­facts shaped the com­bi­na­ti­on of na­tu­ral sci­ence and ar­chaeo­lo­gy that ad­van­ced the di­sci­pli­ne in the la­te 19th and ear­ly 20th cen­tu­ries.

For the first time sin­ce 1992, the ex­hi­bi­ti­on brings tog­e­ther im­portant finds from Schwein­fur­th’s es­tate — in­clu­ding the fa­mous flo­ral wreaths from roy­al mum­mies from the mum­my cachet of Deir el-Bah­ri, co­lou­red tex­ti­les from Fayum, pre­vious­ly un­pro­ces­sed pa­py­ri as well as pre­his­to­ric tools and ear­ly works of art. Schwein­fur­th’s me­ti­cu­lous coll­ec­tions and his vi­sio­na­ry sup­port of num­e­rous mu­se­ums led to the sci­en­ti­fic es­tab­lish­ment of Egyp­to­lo­gy. In ad­di­ti­on to ori­gi­nal ar­te­facts, re­con­s­truc­tions and ex­ten­si­ve dia­ry ent­ries pro­vi­de in­sights in­to the mul­ti­face­ted per­so­na­li­ty of a re­se­ar­cher who, as a net­wor­ker, had a de­cisi­ve in­fluence on the de­ve­lo­p­ment of an en­ti­re branch of sci­ence. Spe­cial co-ope­ra­ti­ons bet­ween mu­se­ums and coll­ec­tions in Ber­lin en­rich the ex­hi­bi­ti­on and il­lus­tra­te Ge­org Schwein­fur­th’s las­ting im­pact.