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Renown museums and notable institutions, have made a range of significant and eye-catching items available on loan which all bear witness to the millennia- and globe-spanning human quest for consolation from death.

 

Traveling Exhibition
Strap eyelets
Neck ring
Bracelet
Ankle ring
Bracelet
Spectacle brooch
Spectacle brooch
Golden spiral
Golden belt pieces
Golden belt plate
Fibula
Hair-pins
Pin
Spiral
Chain
Spiral
Armlet
Knive
Knive
Belt hook
Rings
Strap eyelet
Ring-footed knobs
Rings
Mouth piece
Mouth piece
Animal figurine
Amber bead
Belt plate
Belt plate
Patella
Dagger
Bracelet
Spectacle brooch
Belt plate
Bracelet
Hair pins
Hohlwulstring
Sword
Knive
Earrings
Earrings
Bucket iron ring
Ring
Earrings
Earring
Necklace
Knive
Statuette
Statuette
Statuette
Statuette
Miniatur spoon
Miniatur vessel
Miniatur vessel
Animal figurine
Statuette
Knops for cloak
Knops for cloak
Earrings
Knive
Nozzles
Mounts for wagon
Mounts for wagon
Mounts for wagon
Mounts for wagon
Mounts for wagon
Ring-footed knob
Mounts for wagon
Mounts for wagon
Mounts for wagon
Mounts for wagon
Mounts for wagon
Mounts for wagon
Yoke mounts
Yoke rosette
Knive
Rings (left)
Rings (right)
Rings
Amber beads
Amber beads
Ring
Pin
Comb
NÖ Landesmuseum
Tutuli (Copy)
Spiral finger-rings (Copy)
Beads
Spiral beads (Copy)
Pins (Copy)
Dagger
Diadem (REQUESTED)
Traveling Exhibiton
Animal headed vessel
Vessel
Horse gear
Pendant
Axe
Spear head
Spear head
Spit
Harpoon
Child's mummy
Bracelet
Bracelet
Bracelet
Bowl
Ring
Pendant
Spectacle brooch
Horse brooch
Amber necklace
Amber ring
Amber ring
Amber ring
Amber necklace
Amber beads
Glass bead
Limestone beads
Gold bracelet
Gold bracelet
Gold bracelet
Gold bracelet
Gold spiral
Gold fragments
Gold sheet
Gold sheets
Pin
Pin
Belt plate
Poletop
Knops
Brooch
Vessel
Handschutzspirale
Glass bead
Glass bead
Rings
Glass bead
Glass bead
Belt hooks
Belt plate
Spectacle brooch
Horse gear
Animal headed vessel
Armschutzspirale
Bracelet
Cauldron
Figurine
Figurine
Figurine
Glass bottle
Horse gear
Oil-lamp
Urn
Urn with burned bones
Traveling Exhibition
Coffin keys
Death mask of Josef Kainz
Hair of Johann Nestroy
Traveling Exhibition
Face mask for "Krimml St. Nicholas play": Hell's messenger
Face mask for "Krimml St. Nicholas play": Death
Ossuary in Hallstatt: Painted skull: "Matthias Mosshammer"
Gouache painting: way to heaven and to hell
Oil painting: Last judgement
Oil painting: Symbol of death with ten ages / stages of life
Little dead ("Tischsargl" / "Table coffin")
"Altar pyramid", domestic devotional object
"Hair picture" in commemoration of the dead
Memento mori folding letter
Child's coffin
Spasms- / death-bonnet
Traveling Exhibition
Bowl
Cup
Animal teeth, pendant / bead
Perforated bone disks, pendant / bead
Animal teeth and bone,pendant / bead
Diadem
Bowl
Neck ring
Knot headed pin
Knot headed pin
Bracelet
Spiral finger-ring
3 sheet metal beads
Fragmented burled rings
Large burled rings
Bracelet
Knot headed pin
Bracelet
Sheet metal curls
Perforated bone disks (pendants / beads)
Burled rings
Burled rings
Neck ring
Knot headed pin
Corrugated and decorated small sheet
Spiral curl
Sheet metal curls
Burled rings
Knot headed pin
Burled rings
Knot headed pin
Spiral curls and sheet metal curls
Large burled rings
Fragments of burled rings
Traveling Exhibiton
Ice-spikes, Viking Age
Traveling Exhibition
Cup, made of wax
Paten, made of wood
Vessel
"Priest's grave" of a priory graveyard (Propsteifriedhof)
"Totenkrone"
Pendant "Breverl"
Rosary
Finger-ring
Traveling Exhibition
Waga sculpture: memorial statue / grave marker (Konso, Southern Ethiopia)
Hampatong: wooden funerary figure (Ngadju-Dayak, Kalimantan (Borneo))
Sowo-Mask worn by women (Mende, Sierra-Leone)
Sowo-Mask worn by women (Mende, Sierra-Leone)
Blolo figurine (Baule, Cote d'Ivoire)
Priest drawing; Faksimile (Ngadju-Dayak, Kalimantan (Borneo))
Ship cloth (tampan), or similar, (South Sumatra, Indonesia)
Thangka scroll painting, or similar, (Tibet)
Traveling Exhibition
Grinding stone with red ochre residue
Bone bolt
Antler perforated
Stone axe
Flat axe
Endpiece of a bone point
Bone awl
Piece of graphite
Bell
Earrings
Ornamental disc / clasp with glass inlays
Melon beads for necklace
Bangle
Bow fibula
Bow fibula
Bow fibula
Iron sword with scabbard and iron lance tip
Traveling Exhibition
Aloys Wach "Totentanz" (Dance of Death): dry-point (Faksimile)
Traveling Exhibition
Ancestor figure (Batak, Sumatra, Indonesia)
Ancestor figure (Batak, Sumatra, Indonesia)
Ancestor figure (Batak, Sumatra, Indonesia)
Widow's hat (Mahafaly, Behavandra / Ampanihy, Madagaskar)
Widow's hat (Mahafaly, Behavandra / Ampanihy, Madagaskar)
Bird (Hornbill), grave decoration; Mahafaly, (Sakalava, Western Madagaska)r
Bird (Hornbill), grave decoration; Mahafaly, (Sakalava, Western Madagaska)
Male drum for funeral (Merina, Sakalava, Highland, Madagaskar)
Male drum for funeral (Merina, Sakalava, Highland, Madagaskar)
Traveling Exhibition
Sword
Composit bow
Ferrule (of a drinking horn)
Axe
Hair clips
Griffin(eagle?)-head-shaped pommel of a whip
Fire steel and flint
Harness fittings
Bell
Belt buckle
Arrow head
Terret (rein guide)
Main strap end of a Avar belt
Strap end of an Avar belt
Fittings
Belt buckle
Main strap end of an Avar belt (front side)
Main strap end of an Avar belt (reverse side)
Belt fitting with griffin
Belt buckle
Belt buckle
Skull of horse (copy)
Traveling Exhibition
Grave goods of an female grave, Early Bronze Age (copies)
Traveling Exhibit
Trepanation instruments in a leather box
Pace maker
Drawing Metzenbauer: Heart transplant
Death mask of Joseph Hyrtl
Trephine, surgical instrument
Death mask of Emil Zuckerkandl
Hand of Emil Zuckerkandl
Death mask of Theodor Escherich

William Stoehr   Bettina Eigner   Oliver Pfeiler

Painting, William Stoehr "Laine 5"
Painting, William Stoehr "Destiny 22"
Sculpture, Bettina Eigner "Cycle of Life and Death"
Drawing, Bettina Eigner "Das Innerste" / "The Innermost"
Sculptur, O. Pfeiler, B. Eigner: "Die Seele" / "The Soul"

MENU

CONSOLABLE / IMMORTAL?

3.10 The beyond and the ancestors

The beliefs in the beyond are very diverse. It is an alternative world of the dead, as opposed to the world of the living. The beyond is also a realm of the dead, where the dead reside (the Greek and Roman Underworlds, the Underworld in Norse mythology or of the ancient Egyptians, etc.) The beyond are specific, difficultly accessible places on the Earth, like mountains, caves, and forests. It is a subterranean world, the Underworld or Heaven. The beyond can be situated anywhere. In the beyond, there could be salvation. But it can also hold damnation. Ancestors possess a moral exemplary function, and can mediate between the worlds of the living and the dead. This function is for instance carried by saints in catholic Christianity, like the ʻFourteen Holy Helpersʼ. The most important rite in ancestor worship in Madagascar, is the festival of ʻthe turning of the bonesʼ, called ʻFamadihanaʼ. An example from ethnology is the tight connection with the ancestors at Nias in Indonesia.

Bird (Hornbill), grave decoration; Mahafaly, (Sakalava, Western Madagaska)r
"Altar pyramid", domestic devotional object
Oil painting: Last judgement
Sowo-Mask worn by women (Mende, Sierra-Leone)

06 ‘Farewell element’ – large

12 ‘Farewell element’ – large: Eternal?

11 A time journey

10 Religions and the soul

09 A Journey around the world

08 Touch screen: Funerals from the Stone Age until today

07 ‘Farewell element’ – small

05 ‘Spiral-like backbone’

04 ‘Farewell element’ – Death realms in Viking Age

03 Arts

02 Inevitability of the death

  

01 Cycle of Life and Death

ETERNAL?

4.1 Business with death

The imperial court in Vienna had strict mourning regulations. The lying in state, the condolence time, and the order of succession in the funeral cortège, all followed strict specifications.
At the Holy Roman Emperor Francis Iʼs nightly funeral cortège, his widow, queen Maria Theresa, arranged for the placement of candles in the windows of the houses which the procession would pass.
Figurative coffins from Ghana, made by Ghanaian artists, are famous all over the world, some of them also displayed in museums and art galleries.

Coca Cola coffin, Eric Adjetey Anang
Centre Pompidou coffin, Kudjoe Affutu
Hen coffin by Kudjoe Affutu
CONSOLABLE / IMMORTAL?

3.5 A world journey  (Ethnography)

Alongside inhumation and cremation burial, mummification of corpses is also well known archaeologically, particularly in Egypt. But other burial forms, like sky burial and water burial, cannot be understood archaeologically, as the remains are missing.
But reports of communities that used to practice these customs and still partially do, add to our image of the diversity of death- and mourning-rituals, and funeral customs, and open new perspectives and avenues in our dealings with dying.
At this exhibition element, the visitor encounters, by means of fascinating objects, pictures and videos, humankind worldwide in its dealings with death and mourning.

CONSOLABLE / IMMORTAL?

3.2 The last escort

The best is only just good enough.
Wonderful amber, from the distant Baltic region, and delicately ornate golden jewellery, is given to the dead in their grave. To whom do the things belong?
Did they previously belong to the deceased, or was it important for the living to dedicate their own best pieces to them?
Since approximately 1720, painting of skulls of exhumed dead bodies has been practiced in the Eastern Alps. With about 700 skulls the ossuary of Hallstatt possesses the largest collection. The multicolouredly painted and named skulls are stored in an ossuary, together with other bones. A painted skull of this type is displayed at the exhibition.

Ossuary in Hallstatt: Painted skull: "Matthias Mosshammer"
Amber beads
Bowl
ETERNAL?

Farewell element – Commemorative culture –

The commemorative culture enables the continued social life of a person in a community. Statues, paintings, photographs, and death masks preserve the memory of the role of the deceased person.

"Hair picture" in commemoration of the dead
Hair of Johann Nestroy
Death mask of Josef Kainz
Coffin keys
4 ETERNAL?

ʻThe eternal uneaseʼ

ʻThe alleged modern inability to mourn, is nothing else than the eternal unease at death beyond all cultures and times.ʼ (Michaels 2010, 13)
The desire for eternal youth, and beliefs in an afterlife, are old. The quest for the ʻFountain of Youthʼ, which promises eternal youth and eternal life, are taken up in many myths. In Norse mythology, Idunn is the goddess of youth and immortality. Modern anti-ageing research is about ageing without suffering, right up to an extreme prolongation of life. By means of ʻcryonicsʼ, people have their entire body, or parts of it, conserved, in the hope of being woken up and revived in a better world in the near or far future.

Spasms- / death-bonnet
Child's coffin
Memento mori folding letter
Gouache painting: way to heaven and to hell
CONSOLABLE / IMMORTAL?

Farewell element – Unusual priest‘s graves –

Since the Middle Ages, Christians have been buried without funeral objects. The corpse is wrapped in linen cloths and buried with or without a coffin. This makes some graves at the cemetery at Zwettl, in which men between 20 and 45 had been buried close to the church portal, stand out. On the upper body of the skeleton, a jar, with an downward opening, had been placed. Two of these jars had helped conceal a chalice and a wooden paten. These graves are assigned to Christian priests who were buried according to a very special rite. Until now, there have been only a very few of these, and in a very limited area. The display of one of these graves constitutes a further highlight of the exhibition.

Vessel
Paten, made of wood
Cup, made of wax
CONSOLABLE / IMMORTAL?

Farewell element – Tumulus X –

Driven to the grave in a four-wheel carriage? Under a burial mound in Mitterkirchen an der Donau, in a large wooden burial chamber, a deceased female is buried with a splendidly decorated carriage. It seems like she has been driven into the grave in it. Her jewellery is laid around her, but the large number of vessels and animal bones in the grave are remnants of rituals that speak of a concern for the proper treatment of the ʻsoul of the deadʼ.
Inside the same mound, not far away, two more women are buried. Provided with lavish jewellery, they are laid next to one another in a large wooden burial chamber. One of the two wears a garment, splendidly adorned with an abundance of small bronze studs.
At the edge of the mound, a third grave is laid out: A person, whose gender is no longer determinable, is interred in a lateral, crouching position, without jewellery and grave goods, in a, for this period, very rare type of burial.
This interesting burial mound ensemble raises many questions about rites and the burial of persons.

Mounts for wagon
Knops for cloak
Yoke mounts
Rings (left)
Amber beads
Mounts for wagon
Mounts for wagon
CONSOLABLE / IMMORTAL?

3.9 The souls

The perceptions of what form the soul takes, differ greatly. Many communities assume a presence of many souls, which can fulfil particular functions, and which could be mortal or immortal. In the most differing religions and traditions, beliefs exist in an immortal soul in a mortal body. The views on the location of the soul are divergent: in the brain, in the heart, in the blood, etc. The placenta is often seen as having a tight connection to the soul of the child. In Cameroon, it is called the ʻlittle sisterʼ, and is buried in a jar, especially manufactured for this purpose.
Exhibits from art and ethnography offer different beliefs a chance to speak. A unique funerary ensemble from the Iron Age, never before shown in its entirety outside Austria, will be presented.

Drawing, Bettina Eigner "Das Innerste" / "The Innermost"
Male drum for funeral (Merina, Sakalava, Highland, Madagaskar)
Ancestor figure (Batak, Sumatra, Indonesia)
Bell
CONSOLABLE / IMMORTAL?

3.8 Burials without remains

Some treatments of the deceased leave no remnants. The physical body dissolves. At sea and river burials, like for example in India, the body or the bone-remnants from the previous cremation is delivered into the water. The sky burial, as practised in Tibet, abandons the corpse to the animals, after comprehensive laying-out-rites.

The Dying Swan / Ulyana Lopatkina

The signature role of the Russian prima ballerina Maya Plisetskaya was ʻThe Dying Swanʼ (C. Saint-Saëns / M. Fokine). According to her last will she was to be cremated and after the death of her widower their ashes combined and spread over Russia.

 

CONSOLABLE / IMMORTAL?

3.7 A time journey (Archaeology)

Graves are the visualization of mourning and consolation for the ones left behind. Archaeology knows a variety of grave-types and funeral customs, that have been subject to continual transition.

Bone awl
Bone awl
Animal teeth, pendant / bead
Animal teeth, pendant / bead
Handschutzspirale
Handschutzspirale
Horse gear
Horse gear
Animal headed vessel
Animal headed vessel
Ankle ring
Ankle ring
Cauldron
Cauldron
Bow fibula
Bow fibula
Ornamental disc / clasp with glass inlays
Ornamental disc / clasp with glass inlays
Finger-ring
Finger-ring
CONSOLABLE / IMMORTAL?

3.6 The religions

Rites for the dead are tightly connected to the ʻreligiousʼ background of a community. Folk religion and superstition determine many rituals.
Ludwig Feuerbach believed that ʻif death had not existed, there would not be any religionʼ.
Religions provide death with meaning and content. They remind one of the finiteness of life, and give the deceased person or their soul a ʻnewʼ place in the community.
For prehistory, no ʻreligionʼ can be ascertained, but what intention stands behind the objects in the graves?

CONSOLABLE / IMMORTAL?

3.3 The grave

The grave, in our western society, serves as a reminder, as consolidation of the family affiliation, and as a display of social position.
The grave contains the physical remains of the deceased. Diverse customs and rites determine the interment and the preceding processes. Additionally, numerous variants of repeated grave disposals exist.
For nonliterate prehistory we depend on interpretations of the preserved graves. For this, we draw upon, amongst other things, whatever can be utilized from ethnographic accounts, antique writings, and, if nothing else, even from experiences and rites of our own culture.

Blolo figurine (Baule, Cote d'Ivoire)
Widow's hat (Mahafaly, Behavandra / Ampanihy, Madagaskar)
Figurine
Armschutzspirale
CONSOLABLE / IMMORTAL?

3.4 Touch screen

At this exhibition element interesting funerals and grave situations are visualized (and possibly animated). The visitor undertakes a journey around the world, to some of the most exciting and touching funerals from the Stone Age until today: The 7000 year old grave of a woman with her newborn; a dead body with injuries, buried in a pit by a settlement, and ʻcoveredʼ with cattle bones; Christian symbols, mixed with ʻtraditional onesʼ in the grave, indicating a progressing Christianisation; unbaptized newborns, buried very close to the church wall and under the church eaves, in the hope that they attain redemption; peculiar age-rituals through which old people in Nepal are prepared together with one another for death; reburial; and much more.

CONSOLABLE / IMMORTAL?

Farewell element – Graves under hills –

During the Middle Bronze Age, about 3600 years ago, in extensive areas of today‘s Europe, the dead were buried beneath burial mounds. Pitten in Lower Austria is one of the most significant burial grounds in Central Europe of this period, with outstanding burials.

Diadem (REQUESTED)
Dagger
Tutuli (Copy)
REQUESTED
CONSOLABLE / IMMORTAL?

Farewell element – Hallstatt –

The small village by the lake has been inhabited for thousands of years. Since 2010, a replica of it, faithful to the original, has existed as far away as China.
In the high valley above the village, salt has been mined on a grand scale since the Bronze Age, of about 3500 years ago. During the Iron Age, from about 2800 years ago, a large cemetery which is estimated to have contained several thousand graves, was situated outside the salt mine. Many generations of miners and their families are buried there.
It is not only remarkable that the alternative customs of cremation and inhumation existed side by side. The exceptional burial objects and unusual disposal methods emphasizes the uniqueness of this site, and has made its cemetery world-renowned. At the exhibition, we display specifically chosen graves with their burial objects.

Horse brooch
Animal figurine
Poletop
3 CONSOLABLE / IMMORTAL?

3.1 Rites

Mourning and mourning-rites connect life and death. The rites help the ones left behind at overcoming the loss.
Rites for the dead offer help to the souls of the departed. Sumptuous and valuable burial objects can be interpreted as accompaniment and support for the deceased. ʻReligiousʼ sacrificial rituals have the purpose of bestowing gifts upon the gods. Any religious community possesses its own sacrificial rites.

Statuette
Pendant
Sowo-Mask worn by women (Mende, Sierra-Leone)
Hampatong: wooden funerary figure (Ngadju-Dayak, Kalimantan (Borneo))
CONSOLABLE / IMMORTAL?

Farewell element – Cemetery of the Early Bronze Age –

Franzhausen, one of the largest cemeteries of the Early Bronze Age, ca. 4200 years ago. More than 2100 people lie buried there. While the men are buried on their left side, faces directed southwards, the women are lying on their right side with their heads in the north, but also gazing southwards. Some deceased seem to have been wrapped in cloths, while exceptional jewellery and garments have been kept on the body.

Grave goods of an female grave, Early Bronze Age (copies)
Corrugated and decorated small sheet
Animal teeth, pendant / bead
Spiral curls and sheet metal curls
CONSOLABLE / IMMORTAL?

The mourning of the ones left behind

Grief is a natural reaction to the loss of a human being or a creature, to the end of a relationship.
Rites of farewell and mourning function as consolation for the ones left behind.
All communities provide their own grieving process, that continually is subject to transitions. Graves are visible remnants of death- and mourning-rites.
From prehistory they are the only ones. They require an interpretation, however.

INCOMPREHENSIBLE
Farewell element – Viking grave –

Original iron spikes, dating from a Viking grave in Birka (Sweden), ca. 9th /10th century.
One of the many death realms in Viking Age Scandinavia was that of the two-faced Hel. Anyone who died a natural death arrived here. But the way there was troublesome and very dangerous. The roads and rivers that had to be traversed were icy. Spikes were put into the grave to help enable a secure arrival in the realm of the dead.

Ice-spikes, Viking Age
INCOMPREHENSIBLE

2b.2 Rebirth

The rebirth connects beginning and end, and removes the finality of the incomprehensible death.
In Hades, the realm of the dead in Greek mythology, the deceased exist on only as shy shadows. Only later emerges the belief in the immortality of the soul. In Tibetan Buddhism, life and death are strongly interwoven. In Sumatra ship cloth represent a conception of afterlife settling the realm of the dead on the water, beyond the water or on isles of the dead.

Drawing, Bettina Eigner "Das Innerste" / "The Innermost"
Painting, William Stoehr "Laine 5"
Thangka scroll painting, or similar, (Tibet)
Ship cloth (tampan), or similar, (South Sumatra, Indonesia)
2b INCOMPREHENSIBLE

Explaining the incomprehensible – the soul lives

According to J. Assmann, the attempts at explaining death constitute an essential element of human ʻcultureʼ.
Every community develops their own unique and specific explanatory model.
Myths and legends of our origin justify manʼs mortality (Audio point).

2b INCOMPREHENSIBLE

2b.1 Remaining alive

The notion of an immortal soul, defeating death and continuing life in the beyond, is very widespread. Conceptions of this afterlife are very diverse.
The ʻBatakʼ in Sumatra have a comprehensive conception of the soul. Their death-realm has no fixed location, and the souls of the dead occupy the entire environment.
The rites of the ʻKonsoʼ in South Ethiopia at the event of a death are not directed towards a beyond, but at a farewell from the mortal world. Reports of a life after death are scarce.
In Japan, at the Obon festival, the dead return to the mortal world on the 15th of August, and are received with great celebration, for to so once more be accompanied back to the cemetery.
 

Ancestor figure (Batak, Sumatra, Indonesia)
Waga sculpture: memorial statue / grave marker (Konso, Southern Ethiopia)
2a INCOMPREHENSIBLE

2a.1 Medicine – Disease

When the field of medicine is mainly tasked with the prolonging of life, it feels guilty and responsible when a human being dies. On the other side is dying with dignity, without pain, and not in loneliness.
In art, the Danse Macabre arises as a reaction to the horrible plague epidemic in 14th century Europe: human beings invited by ʻDeathʼ for a dance, independent of class, age and gender.
Lastly, the ars moriendi – ʻthe Art of Dyingʼ, teaches the preparation for a good death.

Aloys Wach "Totentanz" (Dance of Death): dry-point (Faksimile)
2a INCOMPREHENSIBLE

Repression of the incomprehensible – the body leaves

Through repression, man seeks to fend off the fear of death.
Real death is banned from life – real dying and mourning remains concealed.

1 INEVITABLE

1.1 Each time its own death

According to Voltaire, it is the knowledge of oneʼs own death that makes humans human. Our ways of dealing with the inevitable reality of death is culturally informed.
The ʻtamedʼ, omnipresent death of the Middle Ages formed almost a natural part of life. Death had, according to Ariès, become ʻtamedʼ.
During the Middle Ages this death-culture changed, and today, in our modern industrial society, the dying and mourning experiences are concealed from the community: The ʻanonymousʼ death of today (Ariès)?

Face mask for "Krimml St. Nicholas play": Death
Oil painting: Symbol of death with ten ages / stages of life
1 INEVITABLE
Knowledge of the inevitability of death
0 CYCLE OF LIFE AND DEATH

ʻMedia vita in morte sumusʼ – ʻIn the midst of life we are in deathʼ (8th or 9th century AD)

In our exhibition, ʻBetween Life & Death – Rites of Farewellʼ, we define the first breath of air, the moment of birth, as the entry into earthly human life. But life on earth is fleeting, and with birth, the end, or death, is also already established.
But is there something after death? And if, what is after?

Death separates – The fear of it, and mourning, unites.

Painting William Stoehr

203 x 152 cm

Painting William Stoehr

203 x 152 cm