Among Zoroastrian burial items, there is a camel-shaped zoomorphic OSTADON lying there. It was found…
The Linden-Museum in Stuttgart is one of the most famous ethnological museums in Europe. Its collections represent about 150,000 exhibits including highly artistic works including household items, highly artistic works of decorative and applied arts and an exceptional set of photographs.
The Orient Department has outstanding international reputation thanks to those objects from the East of the Islamic world including Central Asia. These objects have become widely known for exhibitions and publications. So, the exhibition “Heirs of the Silk Road. Uzbekistan” was held in 1995 in Stuttgart. This was the first international exhibition for which a newly independent State provided exhibits for temporary use.
The desire for systematically building up a collection led to another travel to Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan (April 25 – August 10, 1978), this time by Johannes Kalter. In northern Afghanistan he focused on the acquisition of objects that represented the nomadic culture of the Turkmens. Several “Uzbek” products were bought there, too. However, it should be noted that the actual origin of items bought at the Kabul bazaar still remains doubtful6. For example, embroidered clothing is described as manufactured by “Turkmens or Uzbeks”. However, other similar objects are attributed as “Turkmen”.
These contradictory data are also related to the objects purchased in the region of Aqcha inhabited mostly by Turkmens. About children’s bibs brought from northern Afghanistan, J. Kalter cautiously writes that these pieces could have been made by either Turkmen, or Lakai-Uzbeks, or both styles could be used on the same object. A clear attribution of the material culture remained problematic.
You can learn more about the topic in the book-album "Collections of the Federal Republic of Germany" (volume XI) in the series "Cultural Legacy of Uzbekistan in the World Collections".
The main sponsor of the project is the oilfield services company Eriell-Group.
