Munich, Glyptothek

The Glyptothek, or statue museum, in Munich is the most beautiful collection of sculpture north of the Alps. Period. Founded by crown prince Ludwig I, who also commissioned the Regensburg Walhalla, the beautiful Befreiungshalle in Kelheim, and several other buildings in classical style, it became one of the most important nineteenth-century art museums in the world. Ludwig’s agents had lots of money to spend, and bought the famous Sleeping Satyr and the Aphaia reliefs from Aegina. The latter put the museum in the same rank as the Vatican (Laocoon), the British Museum (Elgin Marbles), and Louvre (Venus of Milo).

It is hard to say which statues are the best-known: is it the lovely bust of Homer or the portrait of Augustus? Is it the gladiator relief or the tombstone of Mnesarete? The statue of the dying Niobid or the sarcophagus with the dying Niobids? The Munich Kouros or the Rondanini Alexander? The gorgeous Julia Domna or the Drunken Woman? The so-called Sulla or the so-called Marius? Irene or the boy with goose? You will not find the answer. I spend four hours over there last week, making about 700 photos, which I added to about 450 photos made during an earlier visit.

This museum was visited in a/o 2009.

40 pictures related to this museum

Domitian	Plotina	Corinth, Archaic figurine of Zeus	Copy of Lysippus' Alexander
Aegina, Temple of Aphaea, East pediment, Laomedon's expedition to Troy	Aegina, Temple of Aphaea, East pediment, Laomedon's expedition to Troy	Sentinum, Mosaic of Aeon ("eternity"). The hoop is decorated with the signs of the Zodiac (in the wrong order). The woman is Fertility, together with her four children: Spring, Summer, Autumn, and winter.	Arcadius
Berenice II	Trajan	Niobe, mourning	So-called Sulla
Roman man c.170-190 CE	Berenice II	Sarcophagus of the Niobids	Livia (Munich)
Lucius Verus	Aegina, Temple of Aphaea, West pediment, Trojan War: Paris	Nero	Aegina, Temple of Aphaea, West pediment, Trojan War
Portrait of a Roman, first half sixth century	Roman, first quarter of the first century CE	Portait of a Roman man, third quarter of the second century CE	Alexander after Chaeronea ("Rondanini Alexander"). Part of a triumphal statue of king Philip
Aegina, Temple of Aphaea, East pediment, Laomedon's expedition to Troy, Heracles	Aegina, Temple of Aphaea, East pediment, Laomedon's expedition to Troy	Aegina, Temple of Aphaea, West pediment, Trojan War	Cyzicus-Panderma, Tomb of Demetrius