A comic for the Archaeological State Collection in Munich

Created: 2023-01-02 16:56

By: Michael Schleicher

The Munich State Archaeological Collection will reopen in early 2024.

© Klaus Haag

The Munich State Archaeological Collection is closed because the exhibition is being redesigned.

It is now clear what guests can expect after the reopening in 2024, among other things: Comic artist Frank Schmolke will draw for the museum.

He is one of the most important comic artists in Germany.

Frank Schmolke, born in Munich in 1967, is also at home in both production forms of the genre.

He can adapt stories by other authors and does so with a good sense of drama and the necessary courage to cut out the superfluous.

This is what happened last year with “Der Augensammler”, his graphic novel based on the thriller of the same name by Sebastian Fitzek.

The artist with the characteristically expressive line is also an excellent storyteller himself.

His books, such as "Trabanten" (2013) or the volume "Nachts im Paradies" (2019), which has just been filmed with Jürgen Vogel in the leading role, show this impressively.

The Munich State Archaeological Collection will reopen in 2024

Now Schmolke has embarked on something new: he is drawing a comic for the Archaeological State Collection in Munich.

As reported, the content of the permanent exhibition in the building on Lerchenfeldstraße is currently being completely revised and redesigned.

The museum is scheduled to reopen in early 2024.

Director Rupert Gebhard has now given a first glimpse of what the guests can expect in the future in addition to the exhibits: "Archaeology and comics go hand in hand in the new exhibition," he promises.

With this approach, the visitors are to be emotionally addressed and “encourage mental leaps in time between the past and the present”, according to the State Archaeological Collection.

"The pictures thus complement the concept of the Atelier Brückner on which the exhibition is based, which envisages

to arrange the rooms thematically rather than chronologically.” Schmolke will create a kind of graphic novel, in which large-scale drawings and the panels typical of comics, i.e. individual images, will complement each other.

"Picture stories are not only vivid and immediate, they also require an interpretive reception, a lot of openness, but also a critical view," says the museum.

Frank Schmolke is currently drawing for the Archaeological State Collection in Munich.

© Schmolke

Frank Schmolke will be working on his archeology comic until May, of course in close cooperation with the institution's scientific departments.

In terms of content, it deals with topics from prehistory, from Roman times, the Middle Ages and modern times.

But the house's Mediterranean collection and the wide field of numismatics also feature.

Schmolke has just created a battle scene in his studio and a triptych with an early medieval burial.

And in a year his comics will actually be ready for a museum.

Its Time.