Mere masterpieces at reopened National Museum of Antiquities

The Rijksmuseum van Oudheden (RMO) in Leiden reopens on Tuesday 15 December after a major renovation and asbestos remediation. The museum immediately unpacks with a completely revamped Classics department: Greeks, Romans and Etruscans. There will also be three small temporary exhibitions.

Anyone entering the hall of the museum will not immediately notice any difference: the Egyptian Taffeta Temple is fortunately still in its place, but so are the ticket office, café, shop and cloakroom. Yet much has happened since 10 May, when the museum closed. More than 500 m3 of asbestos has been removed, including from behind the natural stone walls of the Taffeh hall. But climate control, fire safety and logistics have also been improved.

Switching trick

For the (permanent) visitor, the main change is a major changeover trick. The two superimposed rooms that used to house the temporary exhibitions now house the permanent collection Classic World. The exhibition space has moved to the 1st-floor corridor above the main hall. This space will not open until April 2016. Until then, the museum has three small exhibitions, more on this later.

The RMO is opting for phased renewal. Already, Near East and Archaeology of the Netherlands received new presentations. Egypt, a department that remains closed until then, will follow in October 2016, and Roman Netherlands in 2017.

Classic World: less is more

In the line-up Classic World curator Ruurd Halbertsma aspired to what Aristotle rhythmos called, an inner movement that does not command rational admiration but touches the senses. In the indeed beautifully decorated halls, some things stand out.

1. There is less space, so a choice was made for a less is more-concept of purely masterpieces.
2. The quality of those masterpieces is enhanced by the extensive restorations to the Greek vases in particular and by the excellent lighting. It is a benefit of the LED era that many museum objects are allowed more light than before, as LED lighting gives off less heat.
3. As for the restorations: at the correcting faulty restorations from the 19th century sometimes created a dilemma, according to conservator Renske Dooijes: after all, hasn't that old restoration now also become historical heritage? An in-room video presentation tells more about this, but there is also an interesting blog found on the website.

   

4. The pieces on display no longer represent isolated cultures ('the Greeks, cradle of our civilisation') but show context and interaction with other peoples. A contemporary approach, but a rakish one.On the second floor, we see how the Greeks absorbed influences from Egyptians (sculpture) and Persians, for example. On the first floor, it is the Greeks who actually inspire others: Romans, of course, but also Etruscans and those same Egyptians: the last Egyptian dynasty, the Ptolemies, descended from a Greek family. Projections on the floor show the impressively complex relationships. Further up on the first floor are the Etruscan and Roman collections. Closing are a number of Roman urns and funerary monuments in a columbarium, a Latin word that appears to mean nothing more than dovecote. Roman grave humour.

Accessed

Whether displaying fewer pieces more beautifully is ultimately the right choice remains a question. The vast majority of visitors will get to see more than before the refurbishment due to the better and more accessible arrangement, but those who want to go in depth out of scholarly interest may now be limited by the smaller amount of material on display.

The museum also offers a new audio tour. This one is no longer just for children. There are now versions for children as well as adults. Both tours can be listened to on the same device. Scan the target group icon next to an object and you will hear the version you want.

Children's tour

The children's tour is voiced by Nienke de la Rive Box of Het Klokhuis. Her practical instructions work especially well. To make it clear that early Greek kouros- and korèstatues still looked a lot like Egyptian statues, she explains, for instance, how to stand in such a pose yourself. Less accessible are some formulations: explaining a sphinx as a 'mythical' creature that gave riddles to 'passing' travellers does assume some development on the part of listeners.

Three temporary exhibitions

Until the main space for temporary exhibitions is open, the National Museum of Antiquities presents three small exhibitions:

1. Meuse and people

Finds from the Dutch Meuse river basin. Not arranged by era for once, but by the place where they were found. Although there is some chronological coherence here and there. On the way from Maastricht to Maasvlakte, for instance, we pass predominantly Roman finds in the area around Nijmegen. Below Dordrecht, archaeologists found remains of the village of Kruiskerke, drowned in the Sint-Elizabethflood of 1421. Because the exhibition covers a period from Neanderthals to the present day, it sometimes loses a bit of focus, but there are some nice discoveries to be made.

2. Magnificence and precision

From the discontinued money museum in Utrecht, the RMO inherited the collection of carved stones (gems, cameos and others). After extensive research, describing the items and taking 6,500 photos, the museum shows the most special specimens in a booklet and a small exhibition. The often tiny stones, sometimes set in a ring or scroll seal, are not always easy to see, but the beautiful photographs complete the picture. A small selection has been photographed by US artist Stephen Sacks, who has attempted to expose their soul with special photographic processes.

3. Euro meltdown

This same Sacks also photographed modern euro coins, which have accidentally fallen prey to waste incineration. The idea is, they are contemporary archaeological finds with their weathered colours and battered shape. This looks more convincing in some pictures than others. Very witty is the Athenian owl on a Greek euro - an image borrowed from ancient Athenian coins. Here, the photo really becomes double-layered archaeology.

www.rmo.nl