Michael Coombes took part in the DAAD-US Ancient Studies Museum Trip to Germany 2013; here is his story.
Trip to Germany:
Our trip to Germany included going to three beautiful and completely different towns and cities, namely Munich, Tübingen and Berlin. Starting off in Munich, we arrived at 9:30 in the morning on a Thursday and immediately made our way, via some hectic underground train navigation, to the hostel where we were to stay for the next four days. Soon after we met up with Prof. Dr. Schneider from the Ludwig-Maximilians University who took us for a fantastic trip to the stone and marble workshop of Dr. Pfanner. This visit was one of the highlights of the trip for me personally as it gave the full impact of the level of craftsmanship needed to produce the sculptures that we were to see later. That night we met up with the vice consul from South Africa who welcomed us and we had a fantastic mingling session with some of the local students.
Without going into too much detail, on the following day we visited the Köningsplatz and the Glyptothek and the Antikensammlungen, which were both fantastic. Of real interest to me were a number of items which I had studied by way of photograph during my undergrad and postgraduate degrees. For this reason they were particularly pertinent to me personally and I took great joy from seeing these pieces in person. The following day we went to the cast gallery that belongs to the University, which in turn made all of us South Africans realise how much more the German universities had in terms of actual items and full scale casts in particular, but they are expensive and delicate. However, it would be fantastic if Stellenbosch could acquire just a few.
The following day, by now I had forgotten which day of the week it was, while the rest of the group went off to Dachau, which I had been able to see on a previous visit, I was lucky to meet up with friends who live outside Munich, which was fantastic. When I came back it was evident the effect that the concentration camp had had on the group.
We left Munich the next day by train and were soon in Tübingen, a beautiful medieval town that escaped the bombing during WWII, there we visited the Troia project and were given a lecture on Troy, which was interesting and entertaining. Thereafter the group had a fun punt on the Neckar river, nearly capsizing a couple of times. The following day we visited the university museum, which, again, was absolutely fantastic and then another highlight for the girls in particular: a real castle at Berg Hohenzollern. This concluded Tübingen and leads to Berlin.
Berlin was awesome and so packed with history that it is impossible to recount all of it except for the select few highlights: After a long, but highly industrious and entertaining walk with Dr. Thom and Dr. Kotzé, we had a great meal with the Thoms. The next day we had a guided trip around the Egyptian collection at the Neues Museum, followed by a dense tour around the Pergamon Museum. The day ended with a trip on the river Spree. The following day we met up with Prof. Dr. Seyfried for a guided tour around the Altes Museum in the morning and then the cast gallery run by Prof. Dr. Scholl in the afternoon. The final full day in Berlin was occupied with a trip to the Jewish Museum and the Berlin wall memorial.
After leaving Berlin early in the morning we landed in Istanbul and immediately hopped on a tour of the city including the Hippodrome, Hagia Sophia, cisterns, Blue Mosque, the Archaeological Museum and the spice market. All in all a highly packed trip that took in all it possibly could and kept the focus very firmly on learning and making contacts with overseas universities and institutions. Thank you to the PGIO for helping us with this fantastic trip and for making it a reality.
Back home:
The vast amount of the impact that this trip had on me was directly involved with being over there standing right in front of the actual objects that I had studied in my undergraduate and some postgraduate studies. Being as intimately acquainted with some of these objects as I was, meant that the impact of seeing and appreciating these vases, sculptures and mosaics in close proximity was an almost visceral experience which meant a huge amount to me.
Back home I have developed an even deeper appreciation for the skill and artistic talent of these ancient works, many unacknowledged or simply brilliant copies of Greek originals, as well as a realisation that a number of the works that I had preconceived ideas about size and colours were incorrect. As such, the trip has forced me to reconsider much of what I thought about art from the ancient world, if anything I have become even more fascinated with the sheer intricacy of much of what I have seen and the skill involved in their creation.
This final point has direct bearing on a couple of social projects that I have been trying for a few years to get off of the ground in my home province of Mpumalanga. These projects are directly associated with art and culture and attempting to massively increase the technical ability of the artists in the area and as a result to increase the value and artistic value of their handiwork to a level at which the overseas market will respect their quality. Having gone on this trip I now have a far better understanding of the manner in which such quality might be attained.
Tips for other travelers:
There are a few extremely resonant points that I learnt from this trip. Firstly, pack light and use either a backpack or a suitcase with heavy duty wheels, the wheels bit being very important. There were a number of times when trying to catch trains, planes or walking to and from accommodation when those with inappropriate luggage struggled. As for the packing light, I would say its just as important, we had one person who simply had too much luggage and could barely carry it, as a result that person was almost always late and last, which became irritating, because others had to help her. So only take what you can comfortably carry yourself! Laundry facilities were available everywhere we went and were cheap. Also take along appropriate clothing and shoes.
Money. Get yourself a travel wallet card, but make sure you also have cash when you land, I didn’t and it was frustrating. Keep the card very safe though, if it gets stolen or lost so is the money and there is no way of stopping it or getting your money back. Another important consideration is to remember that pickpockets aren’t only in South Africa, be very careful with belongings and take several locks. Small combination locks work well because you don’t need keys. Take your cellphone along, but pick up a SIM card as soon as possible and remember to take your passport along for all the forms, which take a long time to complete. Eat the local food and don’t stress about taking stuff for every eventuality, you can get everything there if you want and its usually well priced, just remember to get tax rebate forms for expensive stuff and get it signed at the airport before checking in.
Future plans:
I’m not sure how much of this particular section you would want to use for future use since I was the exception on the trip: I’m a PhD student at the end of my studies and so highly unlikely to go back and do more studying. Nonetheless I gained a huge amount from the trip and plan to use the knowledge gained therefrom to help with a couple of exceptional projects that I have in mind. These may be far-fetched, but I believe in aiming high.
I realised the disadvantage of South African students in studying Ancient history and art in that they have very little, if any, access to actual pieces from these times. And having an actual object in your hand to study as opposed to photographs cannot be compared. Apart from the quality of the photos, the ability to see in three dimensions what you are studying helps immensely not just in appreciating and understanding the objects but selling the idea of the subject to potential students.
One of my grandiose plans is to try and get the SA government to back me in a plan to erect a museum locally that will showcase parts of the massive reserve collections that these fantastic overseas museums hold, since they rarely if ever get seen by the public. With the help of the overseas museums and their governments I believe that something like this is possible and could significantly contribute to getting more students studying the classics in SA.