War shattered artefacts of Tell Halaf Restored by Berlin Museum

[malaise]

http://www.pasthorizons.com/index.php/archives/01/2011/war-shattered-artefacts-of-tell-halaf-restored-by-berlin-museum
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The story began like an Indiana Jones film with a wealthy member of the Oppenheimer banking dynasty taking on the role as a diplomat to Cairo in the late nineteenth century. Placed there to monitor British moves to develop their empire in North Africa and the Middle East, Max Oppenheimer indulged himself in amateur archaeology and is credited with the discovery of the palace of an Aramaean king, close to where the Berlin to Baghdad railway was being constructed in an area now part of North East Syria.
Excavated grave goods in the southern area of the citadel Tell Halaf, 1913 © Max Freiherr von Oppenheim-Stiftung, Cologne

Excavated grave goods in the southern area of the citadel Tell Halaf, 1913 © Max Freiherr von Oppenheim-Stiftung, Cologne

Naming the place Tell Halaf, he sought permission to excavate and began work only for it to stall with the beginning of The Great War, though work recommenced after the Armistice and was completed nine years later.

A fabulous treasure trove of sculptures and smaller objects were excavated and Oppenheimer shared the finds between the museum at Aleppo in Syria and a new museum that he built in an old iron foundry in Berlin.

In November of 1943 the Berlin Tell Halaf-Museum was bombed during an air raid and was consumed in flames. The blaze destroyed all limestone orthostats and plaster casts but the basalt objects withstood the intense heat until the cold water used to extinguish the fire caused a thermal shock that fractured them into thousands of pieces. Max von Oppenheim managed to convince the director of the Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art, Walter Andrae to attempt a rescue and despite difficult circumstances they continued until August 1944 and recovered nine truckloads of basalt fragments.
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These folks sure grew wealthy robbing graves in the Middle East and North Africa. Still these are fascinating photos.