Special exhibition Collections of Antiquities: Our Myths. Our Roots – Unsere Mythen. Unsere Wurzeln
2025-10-15 00:00 - 2026-01-31 23:59 (Europe/Berlin) | Staatliche Antikensammlungen, Königsplatz 1, München, 80333, Germany
15.10.2025 – 25.01.2026
FIDEM XXXVIII. World Exhibition of Modern Medallic Art
The world exhibition of modern medal art takes place in Munich for the first time (FIDEM XXXVIII). On display will be 500 art medals from over 30 countries, designed by 350 artists and oscillating between classical form and modern small sculpture. The works from Europe, Oceania, Asia and America, which have already won awards in their countries of origin, will enter into a dialog with each other under the heading “Our Myths – Our Roots”. The diversity of the countries is reflected in the objects, which open up different perspectives on current and timeless themes.
The medal is part of a 500-year-old tradition that originated in Renaissance Italy and found its most famous representative in Germany in Albrecht Dürer. Then as now, medals are usually double-sided, with the main side presenting the motif and the other a symbol as a commentary. While German or American medal art often takes up political themes, countries such as the Netherlands and Latvia are known for their avant-garde small sculptures. Japan and New Zealand, on the other hand, are particularly sensitive to indigenous traditions.
The exhibition is linked to the XXXVIII. Art Medal Congress Munich 2025, which will take place from October 15–18. The event is organized by the Bavarian State Coin Collection under the direction of the Fédération Internationale de la Médaille d’Art and its president Philip Attwood, former director of the British Museum London. The patron of the event is HRH Duke Franz of Bavaria. The venues are the State Coin Collection, the State Collections of Antiquities, the Central Institute for Art History and the Amerikahaus. The main exhibition in the State Collections of Antiquities will be enriched by a comprehensive program of lectures by leading medal experts, artist workshops and other exhibitions in the city.
Further information can be found on the website of the Munich State Coin Collection.
The images provided here may be used free of charge in the context of editorial reporting on the State Coin Collection and the State Collections of Antiquities and Glyptothek with reference to the exhibition “FIDEM XXXVIII. World Exhibition of Modern Medallic Art: Our Myths – Our Roots” may be used free of charge, provided the source is cited as © FIDEM. Use for commercial purposes is not permitted.

Special exhibition Glyptothek: Greek Temples. Black and white photographs by Richard Berndt
2025-11-12 08:00 - 2026-02-08 17:00 | Glyptothek, Königsplatz 3, München, 80333
The Glyptothek has a tradition of displaying works of contemporary art alongside the ancient originals at regular intervals. In the exhibition “Greek Temples”, Richard Berndt, an ambitious amateur, presents his black and white photographs of ancient sanctuaries and takes us back to Greece and lower Italy. Ancient sculpture thus meets ancient architecture, which usually provided the setting for its installation. In other respects, too, the location for the presentation of such photographs could hardly have been better chosen with the neoclassical Glyptothek and its façade inspired by Greek temple architecture.

The temples of the Greeks, which have usually only survived as ruins, are among the most impressive images that remain in the memory of a trip to ancient Greek sites. Richard Berndt has captured some of them with his camera in a very unique way: The large-format images show sections and thus draw the eye to the diverse details of Greek temple architecture. Some well-known temples can therefore only be identified at second or third glance. The fragmentary that Richard Berndt literally brings out with his camera allows the viewer to discover both the new and the familiar in the selected temples – a very similar experience to the one that visitors can have on their hundredth visit to the Glyptothek when looking at a supposedly very familiar sculpture. In this way, the exhibition opens the eyes to the undiscovered in the familiar.

Glyptothek permanent exhibition: Masterpieces of ancient sculpture
2026-01-01 00:00 - 2026-12-31 23:59 | Glyptothek, Königsplatz 3, München, 80333
The Glyptothek owes the exceptional status of its exhibits to its founder and benefactor: Ludwig I (1786–1868), King of Bavaria from 1825 to 1848, wanted to acquire only high-quality antiquities for his museum. The fact that this actually succeeded was thanks to his Roman art agent Johann Martin von Wagner (1777–1858), who combined an unerring eye for antique art with a brilliant scientific talent and great business acumen. Between 1810 and 1820, a collection of first-class sculptures was created in a short period of time, which was then enhanced by subsequent acquisitions.
The chronological arc of the ancient originals spans from Archaic times (6th century BC) to the Greek Classical Period (5th/4th century BC) and Hellenism (3rd-1st century BC) to the Roman Imperial Period and Late Antiquity (1st–5th century AD). In addition to sculptures that were once used to decorate sanctuaries, public buildings and squares as well as funerary monuments, the Glyptothek’s marble sculptures also include numerous portraits of outstanding ancient poets, thinkers and rulers from Homer to Plato, from Alexander the Great to Augustus and Marcus Aurelius.

Kuros from Tenea

Medusa Rondanini

Aphrodite of Knidos

Barberine Faun

Republican

Torso of Diomedes

Permanent exhibition Collections of Antiquities: the entire spectrum of ancient "small art"
2026-01-01 00:00 - 2026-12-31 00:00 | Staatliche Antikensammlungen, Königsplatz 1, München, 80333, Germany
In order to distinguish it from “great” art – architecture, sculpture and painting – art history has coined the term “small art” for the many forms of small-format sculptures and decorated objects. Accordingly, the State Collections of Antiquities used to be called the “Museum of Ancient Small Art”.
A visit to the Collections of Antiquities at Königsplatz shows that small art need not shy away from comparison with great art. Masterpieces of vase art, small-scale sculpture in bronze or terracotta, goldsmithing and stone carving or glassblowing are presented to the visitor in an educational way.

Kuros from Tenea

Medusa Rondanini

Aphrodite of Knidos

Barberine Faun

Republican

Torso of Diomedes

Pompejanum special exhibition: Ancient Troublemakers - Can the hybrid creatures still be tamed?
2026-03-27 08:00 - 2026-10-31 17:00 | Pompejanum Aschaffenburg, Pompejanumstraße 5, Aschaffenburg, 63739
The troublemakers of antiquity are on the loose!

Medusa, Minotaur, Centaurs & Co – who doesn’t know them, the hybrid creatures of antiquity? Composed of the bodies of humans and various animals, they populated the mythical world of ancient Greece and Rome. They are often referred to as monsters, abominations or monsters. They disrupted human order, caused chaos and spread fear and terror. That is why they had to be tamed. This task was usually carried out by a hero, and the taming was usually accompanied by the death of the monster. Nevertheless, the creatures have their own history and origin. They are associated with certain places and are portrayed in a certain way. Although this sometimes changed over time, they were and are always immediately recognizable and nameable.

Students at the Institute of Classical Archaeology at the LMU Munich have been dealing with these “troublemakers“, but also somewhat more sociable hybrid creatures, in a practical museum exercise to “tame” them themselves and make them the focus of this year’s special exhibition “Ancient Troublemakers – Can the hybrid creatures still be tamed?” in the Pompejanum. To this end, they have made a selection of top-class objects from the State Collections of Antiquities in Munich, which are now being presented in Aschaffenburg. We invite you to immerse yourself in the world of ancient myths and enjoy the wonderful depictions of our incredible “troublemakers” and their “tamers”.

Publication accompanying the exhibition (PDF)

The exhibition can be seen at the Pompejanum Aschaffenburg from 28.03. to 31.10.2026.

Exhibition venue:PompejanumPompejanumstraße 563739 Aschaffenburgwww.antike-am-koenigsplatz.mwn.de/pompejanum-aschaffenburg/www.schloesser.bayern.de/deutsch/schloss/objekte/as_pom.htm

Opening hours:March 28-31: 9 am – 4 pm (last admission 3:30 pm)April – October 3: 9 am – 6 pm (last admission 5:30 pm)October 4 – 31: 10 am – 4 pm (last admission 3:30 pm) Closed on Mondays (except Easter, May 1, Whit Monday, August 15, October 3)30 hrs)Closed on Mondays(except: Easter Monday, May 1, Whit Monday, August 15, October 3)November 2026-March 26, 2027: closedAdmission: € 7,- / € 6,-; free up to 18 years (no card payment possible!)

Upcoming special exhibition: Collecting with style. Caroline Murat, Ludwig I and antiquity
2026-07-08 00:00 - 2027-01-17 23:59 | Staatliche Antikensammlungen, Königsplatz 1, München, 80333, Germany
In March 1826, Leo von Klenze signed a contract on behalf of the Bavarian King Ludwig I to purchase the antique collection of Countess Lipona. The “Lipona” in question was Caroline Murat, the youngest sister of Napoleon Bonaparte. From 1808 to 1815, she ruled the Kingdom of Naples together with her husband Joachim. During this time, she took an active part in the archaeological discoveries in her kingdom and brought together archaeological finds in Naples. She even initiated excavations in Pompeii and around Naples herself. In her chambers in the royal palace of Naples, a private museum of antiquities was created piece by piece.

Ludwig, who was born four years after Caroline Murat, already shared her enthusiasm for antiquity as crown prince and also a passion for collecting antique art objects. In 1804/1805, he traveled to Italy for the first time, was fascinated by the antiquities he saw and from then on was inspired by the desire to convey this beauty north of the Alps in his homeland. Caroline and Ludwig also knew each other personally: in 1806, she attended the wedding of his sister Auguste Amalie to Napoleon’s stepson, Eugène de Beauharnais, in Munich. A little later, Ludwig also spent several months in Paris, where he visited the Louvre several times and probably also met Caroline.

With the fall of Napoleon, the Murats lost their kingdom in Naples in 1815. Caroline managed to abscond with part of her art collections to Habsburg territory, where she lived from then on as Countess Lipona – an anagram of Napoli. Due to a lack of income, she was soon forced to sell her art objects one by one, as a result of which Ludwig came into possession of her collection of antiquities one year after his coronation as king, which has been in Munich ever since.

The special exhibition takes the purchase of the Lipona Collection exactly 200 years ago as an opportunity to take a closer look at the two royal collectors who were so enthusiastic about antiquity. The focus is on Caroline Murat as the founder of the collection. Ludwig I, on the other hand, is viewed primarily in the role of the buyer, who thus laid an important foundation stone for his collection of antique art and the later State Collections of Antiquities. For the first time, the Lipona Collection is presented in its entirety – and in an atmosphere that brings the 19th century back to life.

The exhibition “Collecting with style. Caroline Murat, Ludwig I and Antiquity” can be seen at the Staatliche Antikensammlungen from July 8, 2026 to January 17, 2027.

Exhibition duration: 08.07.2026 – 17.01.2027

Exhibition venue: Staatliche Antikensammlungen MünchenKönigsplatz 180333 Munichwww.antike-am-koenigsplatz.mwn.de

Opening hours:Tue to Sun: 10 am – 5 pmWed until 8 pmAdmission: € 6,- / € 4,-; up to 18 years free; Sun € 1,-
