Turkish Chamber in Dresden

ariel · 6th February 2016, 05:05 PM

Several years ago in Vienna I saw a beautiful Algerian nimcha with a label " tulwar" ( or something like that).
Luckily, the director was there by a crazy chance and I approached him. He was horrified: he never had time to actually inspect the main exhibition. He took me to his office and pulled out old boxes with original documentation. Small cards, faded ink.... That was the extent. He also showed me pics of literally hundreds of Oriental arms and armor for sale from a major Italian collection. The museum had no funds to even think of acquiring one.....

Jens is right: training volunteers to perform simple manual tasks or computerize archives is the only feasible solution. History is being lost under our collective noses.
I hoped Dresden would be an exception, but fat chance....

6th February 2016, 05:05 PM	#15
ariel Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Ann Arbor, MI Posts: 5,503	Several years ago in Vienna I saw a beautiful Algerian nimcha with a label " tulwar" ( or something like that). Luckily, the director was there by a crazy chance and I approached him. He was horrified: he never had time to actually inspect the main exhibition. He took me to his office and pulled out old boxes with original documentation. Small cards, faded ink.... That was the extent. He also showed me pics of literally hundreds of Oriental arms and armor for sale from a major Italian collection. The museum had no funds to even think of acquiring one..... Jens is right: training volunteers to perform simple manual tasks or computerize archives is the only feasible solution. History is being lost under our collective noses. I hoped Dresden would be an exception, but fat chance....