[Ich] (…) loosened the treasure from its rock-hard surroundings with a large knife, an undertaking that (…) was extremely life-threatening, because the great fortification wall (…) threatened to fall down on me at any moment. But the sight of so many objects, each of which must be of inestimable value for archaeology, made me foolhardy and made me not even think of the danger.
With these words Heinrich Schliemann (1822-1890) describes what is probably the most exciting moment of his third excavation campaign in 1873 on the settlement hill of Troy in his biography. Gold and silver vessels, filigree diadems, precious jewels and bronze clothing accessories came to light, a treasure worthy of a king. During the excavation, Schliemann publicized the discovery of this sensational treasure find in the media and named it the “Treasure of Priam” after the ruler of the city, which Homer describes in his Iliad. The discovery of Troy gold established Schliemann’s fame and, at the age of 51, made him one of the best-known and most successful German excavators.
After the secret, dangerous salvage, the “treasure of Priam” was first taken to the excavation house. In order to prevent the distribution of the individual pieces of the treasure, which he would have been obliged to do according to the Ottoman excavation permit, Schliemann illegally smuggled the finds out of the country to Greece. But the Ottoman Empire insisted on sharing the find and sued Schliemann in a court in Athens. After a settlement, the “Treasure of Priam” finally became the property of Schliemann undivided against payment of 10,000 gold francs. In order to be able to continue digging in Troy, Schliemann paid a multiple to the Imperial Museum in Constantinople.
In 1881, Heinrich Schliemann donated his Trojan antiquities to the Royal Museums in Berlin “for safekeeping without division”. There they could be seen in the Ethnological Museum and the Museum of Decorative Arts (today Martin-Gropius-Bau) until 1939. In 1941, the most valuable holdings of the Museum of Prehistory and Early History, including the treasure finds from Troy, were taken to the vault of the Prussian State Bank and later to the anti-aircraft bunker at the Zoological Garden. Immediately after the end of the war, the Red Army transported these holdings to the Soviet Union as looted art. Until 1994 it was not known outside of Russia where the golden objects from Priam’s treasury were located. In the years that followed, Germany repeatedly demanded their return. However, the treasures were declared Russian state property in 1998 by a decision of the Duma in violation of international law and have since been presented in the permanent exhibition in the Pushkin Museum in Moscow.
The silver and ceramic components of the treasure trove, on the other hand, are still part of the collection of the Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte of the Staatliche Museums in Berlin, which, as prompted by Schliemann in his donation, is the keeper of the unique “Collection of Trojan Antiquities”.
After the large special exhibition “Schliemann’s Worlds” in the Neues Museum and the James-Simon-Galerie on the occasion of the excavator’s 200th birthday last year, the Trojan finds are currently being conserved in the Museum of Prehistory and Early History for a new presentation in the Neues Museum’s permanent exhibition examined and prepared.