Thrice found Troy – Newspaper Kommersant No. 30 (7475) of 02/17/2023

Project “Schliemann. Troy is near” The Pushkin Museum celebrates the 200th anniversary of the birth of the German archaeologist-adventurer Heinrich Schliemann (1822–1890) and the 150th anniversary of his sensational discovery of the “Gold of Troy” – the precious “Priam Treasure”, excavated in 1873 in the depths of the Hissarlik hill in Turkey . And even if these treasures found according to the text of the Iliad have nothing to do with Homer’s Troy, and the search methods are just a crime by today’s standards, the personality of Heinrich Schliemann and his discoveries are still inspiring.

It is worth recalling that the “Priam Treasure”, once donated by Schliemann to Berlin, but considered lost during World War II, was “discovered” in Russia in 1993. He was taken out of Germany in 1945 as a trophy and carefully hidden for nearly fifty years. In 1996, the exhibition “Treasures of Troy from the excavations of Heinrich Schliemann” at the Pushkin Museum, which for the first time in half a century showed 259 items – gold jewelry and various utensils, became a world sensation. Of course, the German side made a lot of efforts to return the “Gold of Troy”, but every time this trophy received a decisive refusal: they say that the treasures were taken out legally, after their voluntary transfer in May 1945 to the Soviet commandant’s office. As a result, the Pushkin Museum has long allocated a separate hall No. 3 to the Gold of Troy in the permanent exhibition, where objects are placed in bulletproof display cases – perhaps this is the most valuable part of the collection of antiquities.

This hall became the core of the Schliemann. Troy is near, despite the fact that little has changed in it: an interactive panel dedicated to the archaeologist was added, and after examination and restoration, axes-hammers made of semi-precious stones were returned to the exposition. Schliemann’s enemies doubted their authenticity, and there were many of them. Researchers from the Pushkin Museum are now responding to skeptics: on the bushings of two “dubious” axes that Schliemann allegedly could have ordered from Turkish carvers, with the help of special devices, they found traces of gilding, clearly indicating their ancient origin.

Hall 3 also became the core of the project because three new routes through the permanent exhibition lead to it: audio guides to them are available on the project website https://schlieman.pushkinmuseum.apt. There is a lot of other information about Schliemann, presented in a very intricate way. The peculiarity of the routes is that the museum exhibits included in them may not directly relate to the theme of the exhibition and its main character, but they create a background for the story. The route dedicated to Schliemann’s biography, of course, runs through the Greek courtyard (it is suggested to go even twice), because, according to him, he was puzzled by the search for Troy as a child, when he came across the engraving “The Destruction of Troy” in the “World History for Children” . However, having matured, Schliemann became a merchant – it’s time to look into the hall of Flemish painting, to approach the painting “On the Market” by Joachim Beikelaar: although it depicts the trading peasants of the 16th century, their passion, merchant grip is visible. Schliemann definitely possessed these qualities, who did not try himself until his business brought him to Russia, and at the “right time”: during the Crimean War. Having become rich, he even became a Russian citizen, a merchant of the first guild, married the daughter of an honorary citizen of St. Petersburg, Ekaterina Lyzhina. But as soon as he realized that there were things more interesting than trade, he divorced, despite three common children, and left Russia.

For the next chosen one, Schliemann, who had already visited Greece and firmly decided to give up commerce for the sake of searching for Troy, made special demands – knowledge of the Greek language and Homer’s poems. Such a girl was found. 17-year-old Sophia Engastromena was so carried away by the 47-year-old eccentric rich man that she later participated in excavations and, it seems, fully shared her husband’s passion – they even named their children Andromache and Agamemnon, like characters in the Trojan War. Until now, not a single exhibition about the “Gold of Troy” can do without a photograph of Sophia in a golden diadem, earrings and beads from the Treasure of Priam: Schliemann was sure that these jewelry belonged to Helen the Beautiful herself, because of whose abduction the Trojan War began .

The routes “Iliad” and “Archaeology” are dedicated to the excavations themselves. They are also built around free associations that link the biography of Schliemann, who was looking for Troy with a volume of Homer’s Iliad in his hands. The amateur archaeologist was not let down by his intuition: Schliemann dug quite close to the places where antiquities dating back to the period of the Trojan War were later unearthed. However, the passion with which he approached the matter, and his confidence that Troy should be located at the very base of the Hissarlik hill, led to the fact that, having reached the cherished treasures, Schliemann destroyed several archaeological layers, including the very “Trojan” . “Troy was destroyed not by the Achaeans, but by Schliemann,” archaeologists have been joking since the end of the last century.

It is clear that the current exhibition does not concern the history of the movement of these treasures to Moscow. But there are exhibits on it, indicating that Ivan Tsvetaev, the founder of the museum, was familiar with the German archaeologist, and, perhaps, he had plans for Schlimann’s finds. The English edition of Schliemann’s book Ilion. The city and country of the Trojans” is a detailed account of how he searched for and found Troy: judging by the sticker, the book was donated by the author. And on the wall hangs a portrait of the archaeologist commissioned by Tsvetaev.

Igor Grebelnikov