On a Par with Gilgamesch

The reunified Staatliche Museen zu Berlin’s educational services were launched in 1992, with a team of 29 educators. The department had been launched back in 1966 by the Director-General at the time, Gerhard Rudolf Meyer. The Museumsinsel was the site of many pedagogical approaches that from today’s perspective seem highly innovative, including collaborations with special education institutions. One of the highlights of this work was the theatrical production about Gilgamesh and the Persians, which from 1977 on was a fixture in the programme. This all changed with reunification: though the focus of the education work remained training teachers from schools in East Berlin and Brandenburg, the development of info sheets to guide visitors through the exhibitions, audio stations within the exhibition spaces and audio guides using portable cassette recorders, many of the services that were previously offered on the Museumsinsel, such as youth clubs, theatre projects, as well as regular drawing classes and a children’s gallery, were all consigned to oblivion.