Glyptothek

The Glyptothek was erected under King Ludwig I from 1816 to 1830. It was designed by Leo von Klenze as a temple complex in a Greek-Ionic style and is considered one of the most important museum buildings of its time in Europe. The Glyptothek, the Antiques Collection and the Propylaeum enclose Königsplatz like an antique market. The building was badly damaged in 1944, the stucco work and frescoes in the rooms were destroyed. The Glyptothek was restored and redecorated after plans by Josef Wiedemann and reopened in 1972. The exhibition presents the history of Antique sculpture between 560 BC and 400 AD, showing famous originals as well as good Roman copies of Classical masterpieces.

Two statues of young men of the mid and late 6th century BC are two of the most beautiful known examples of Archaic sculpture(Room I). The famous "Barberini" Faun represents the later Hellenist development in the 3rd century BC (Room III). Roman copies of masterpieces of Greek art, for example of Kephisodot's Eirene or Praxiteles' naked Aphrodite (III and IV) can be studied alongside beautiful original 5th century BC funeral reliefs (IV and VI). The gable sculptures of the late Archaic Aphaia Temple in Egina are probably the museum's most precious pieces. The anonymous sculptor of the younger east gable is one of the great masters of the period around 490 BC (VII-IX). Greek and above all Roman portraits are presented in Rooms X-XII, beginning with a portrait of the young Alexander the Great, past a vast row of beautiful examples from Augustus to the late Antique. The exhibition ends with a couple of famous works of the 3rd and 2nd Century BC (XIII).