Antikmuseet’s collection includes more than five hundred plaster copies representing examples from the whole of Antiquity. The plaster copies may just be copies but that does not make them irrelevant nor uninteresting. Only within a collection of casts is it possible to experience so many of the ancient sculptural masterpieces in one place. Their most important feature is not just looking like but minutely reproducing the original sculpture’s three-dimensional form and size. Therefore, the copies give an experience and presence of the sculptures which would be impossible in a photograph. The plaster copies are curiosities themselves. Several originate from collections in the 1800s and come with their own fascinating story. In the 1950s and 60s, casts were expelled from art museums because of the then focus on the art works’ origins and many ended up on landfills. Luckily, a large part ended up here at Antikmuseet where the ‘unfashionable’ works have provided joy to visitors, students, and artists for decades. |  |
