28 October

lecture by Hadrien J. Rambach, Brussels

forty-minute lecture followed by q & a plus discussion

Prince Stanisław Poniatowski (1754-1833) and his engraved gems: a Polish Roman collector of neoclassical intaglios

The so-called 'Poniatowski gems' are supposedly well-known, with books and articles published about them for the past two hundred years. Nevertheless, many of them are handled (at auctions notably) without being identified as such. And there had not been a clear presentation of their stories and specificities. I have attempted to fill this lack when I studied two of them that are kept at the American Numismatic Society in New York.

Hadrien J. Rambach is a French citizen who has long resided in London before moving to Brussels. Formerly in charge of Roman coins for the company Spink & Son, he has since established his own company, advising high-level collectors on their purchases, and trading in cameos and intaglios. Using his extensive library, he regularly publishes scholarly articles on Ancient coins, on engraved gems, and on the history of collection, and is currently registered as a PhD-student with the universities of Lille (FR) and Tübingen (DE).

25 November

presentation by Helmut Scharpf, virtual museum, Ottobeuren

guided tour of 20 minutes followed by q & a plus discussion

Local history in the digital age: Ottobeuren's virtual museum
A museum open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year? And from which everyone can download what they like? This is possible in the virtual museum of the market town of Ottobeuren in southern Germany. After four years of preparatory work, the first pages of the purely internet-based museum went online in March 2013. By the beginning of 2017, the number of accessible topics had already exceeded 500, by mid-2025, this figure had risen to almost 900. The history of the town is divided into 160 categories, the keyword search currently includes 4,684 keywords. Chronological sorting is possible, as are thematic searches. An extensive list of links leading to newspaper archives, associations, old encyclopedias, and public archives further enriches what’s on offer. The advantages of the internet can be fully utilised: The museum is open 24/7 and is accessible worldwide.
For example, most volumes of the Ottobeurer Wochenblatt (Ottobeurer Weekly Newspaper), published between 1820 and 1909, have been scanned and uploaded as text-searchable PDF files. Numerous high-resolution images are available for download.
While many museums and online resources often restrict the use of their images and texts, Ottobeuren deliberately takes a different approach: With the exception of just a few items, such as those from the State Archives or where copyright restrictions make this necessary, the materials offered may be reused in the public domain – even commercially.
On the contrary: any reuse is welcomed, as it encourages engaging in local history and generates historical awareness. A small budget is available for transcriptions or professional scans – after all, this is a municipal website. The work on site is done by volunteers, with a few specialists helping transcribe old manuscripts and image processing. People are happy to share their ideas and make documents available. .
The internet also plays its trump cards when it comes to research.
The longest entry contains over 32,000 words and up to 60 images. Of course, the storage requirements and the data volume to be transferred cannot be expanded indefinitely, but with 100 GB a great deal is possible. What should be included in the virtual museum requires careful consideration: What is newsworthy and what is not? It is not just about pretty, colourful pictures; even controversial topics – like of issues related to National Socialism – are not excluded. Unlike print media, the articles can be subsequently updated and expanded. In general, the continuation of cultural heritage requires a focus on history and attention to contemporary changes. Therefore, the project includes not only events from long ago, but also recent topics from 2025.

As a teenager, Helmut Scharpf, collected stamps, and eventually built a local picture postcard collection for Bad Wörishofen (in southwest Bavaria), and exhibited his collection. After accepting a position as a music and English teacher at the Ottobeuren secondary school in 1993, he was certain he would not start collecting again. But unlike Bad Wörishofen, his current hometown of Ottobeuren, with its long monastic history, offers entirely different opportunities. Ultimately, lectures at the local history society sparked his interest to delve deeper into this history, which dates back to 764. Initially, he developed English basilica tours with his students, and later, he acquired his first exhibits at local flea markets. Then, the internet became increasingly popular. It were precisely these technical possibilities, offered today by image processing and the Internet, that prompted him to resume collecting.

16 December

workshop with presentations by Mariia Silina (Bochum and Montreal) and Zsófia Albrecht (Budapest)

workshop with two ten-minute presentations followed by q&a plus discussion

Museum collections in the USSR: knowledge production and provenance research

In this presentation, I aim to explore the evolution of art collections through the lens of the systemic overhaul of museums in the Russian Empire after the 1917 revolution. Following the nationalisation of museums in 1918, a large-scale transformation of museum collections commenced. This involved the assessment and amalgamation of private collections into state holdings, alongside the restructuring of existing museums based on new scholarly and geopolitical frameworks.
I will delineate key trends in this restructuring process, including the emergence of new object categories, institutional and administrative reforms impacting collections and museums’ integrity, overseas sales, confiscations linked to domestic repression and deportations, as well as annexations of neighbouring countries during the Second World War, spanning both Western and Eastern borders.
This overview sets the stage for a discussion on perspectives and challenges inherent in provenance research in the region that was under Soviet museum management for several decades. I will also use this opportunity to present my collaborative research on these matters (Canada, Germany, Sweden, Ukraine, Armenia).
Maria Silina is a Research Fellow at Ruhr-Universität Bochum and an Adjunct Professor in the Department of History of Art at UQAM, Montreal. Dr. Silina is involved in several collaborations on Communist culture and museum studies, particularly focusing on histories of museum collections and circulation of objects in the Soviet Union. Recently, they organized two conferences on critical museum history: “Museums in Central Asia, Caucasus, and Eastern Europe: Rethinking Soviet Museum Management” (Online, 30 Oct 2023) and “Ukrainian Museums at War: Conceptual, Historical, and Legal Perspectives” (Södertörn University, Stockholm, 17 Nov 2023). There are now completing their book “Art History on Display: Soviet Museum Between Two Wars (1920s-1930s)” for publication.

Objects for life: a personal collection of Dr. Géza Entz Jr. (1875–1943)
in the Art Collection of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
Since its foundation in 1825 the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (HAS) has been in possession of many significant pieces of artefacts. From 1994 the Art Collection of the HAS has been the dedicated pillar of the institution to keep, research and exhibit the treasures of the Academy. The study of the collection in the past twenty years revealed certain specific intentions of commission and collecting between group of artworks (see Bicskei, 2022). The presentation focuses on a recently added heritage belonged to the zoologist Dr. Géza Entz Jr. (1875–1943). It consists of autograph notes, both scientific and private; drawings; photographs (paper and glass plates) and various prints and cut-outs.

Our aim is to contextualise and interpret this assembly (particularly a small group of portraits on scientists and their boxcase) in the mirror of the practice of public, institutional (academic) collecting/national identity building and construction of a personalised collection with special attention on the Entz family’s relationship to art. What could have been the nature of selection of the objects, how could this have functioned as source of self-definition? Also, we would like to investigate this collection in relation with the understanding of cultural identity (Assmann, 2011).

27 January

24 February

Eliška Zlatohlávková, Palacký University Olomouc and Charles University in Prague

20-minute museum presentation followed by q&a plus discussion

The picture collection of the bishops and archbishops of Olomouc

The picture collection of the bishops and archbishops of Olomouc ranks among the most important art collections preserved in the Czech Republic. Its character was shaped by figures such as Bishop Carel of Liechtenstein-Castelcorno and Archbishop Theodor Kohn, who enriched it through acquisitions on the European art market. The collection adorned both representative and private spaces of the archiepiscopal residences, and its display evolved over the centuries. The paper will focus on the presentation of this collection at the Kroměříž Chateau, where two distinct approaches can still be observed today – the classical picture gallery and the so-called panel arrangement, a continuous wall decoration using paintings.

Eliška Zlatohlávková studied Art History at the Department of Art History of Charles University, Prague. She gained her PhD with a theses on the iconography of Rudolf II before starting to work at Studia Rudolphina, the Research Centre for Visual Arts and Culture in the Age of Rudolf II. Currently, she works as scientific researcher at Palacký University Olomouc and Charles University in Prague. Her main research focusses on art at the court of Rudolf II, spaces for art collections (studiolo, Kunstkammer) and princely collections of the early modern era. She is co-author of the monograph From Studiolo to Gallery, Secular Spaces for Collections in the Lands of the Bohemian Crown on the Threshold of the Early Modern Era and has written articles dealing with collection spaces and collecting in the early modern era.