Tartu museum celebrating anniversary of founder's birth with new exhibition
2020 marks the 250th anniversary of the birth of Johann Karl Simon Morgenstern, the founder of the University of Tartu Art Museum, longtime university library director as well as professor of rhetoric, classical philology, aesthetics and literary and art history, and to celebrate this anniversary, the art museum opened a new exhibition on Thursday titled "The Enchanting Art of Stone Cutting: Morgenstern 250."
An art museum was first established at the University of Tartu at Morgenstern's initiative in 1803, according to a university press release.
The goal of the museum was to illustrate lectures and develop students' aesthetic taste, and for this purpose, the museum collected prints, paintings, drawings, Ancient Egyptian and eastern artifacts as well as Ancient Greek and Roman coins and ceramics.
In terms of volume, Morgenstern purchased the most of plaster casts of ancient gems, which provided a sizable source of images of the antiquity. The new exhibition takes a closer look at the now-forgotten art of stone cuttting.
The exhibition was curated by University of Tartu Museum Director of Research Jaanika Anderson and designed by Mari Kurismaa, with graphic solutions by Mari Kaljuste.
The exhibition is in Estonian and English, and was supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia. It will be open through March 26, 2021.
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Editor: Aili Vahtla