Tartu Ülikooli raamatukogule tellitud kipsvalandid Tartu Ülikooli muuseumi kogus: Plaster casts ordered for the University of Tartu Library in the collection of the University of Tartu Museum

Abstract

Nowadays, a large part of the objects related to teaching and researchacquired for the University of Tartu in the past couple of centuriesare located in the museums of the university. The University ofTartu Museum also preserves the plaster casts ordered in 1805 fordecorating the University of Tartu Library.Exhibiting sculptures at the library was far from being a newidea. It is likely that there were libraries at ancient Greek temples,where sculptures were also displayed. In the Western world, the traditionof decorating libraries came to a halt when churches started todominate as public buildings. Ancient sculptures were considered tobe pagan and not suitable for the libraries of monasteries, churchesand universities that mostly contained books on religion and philosophy.Inventing the printing press in the 15th century broke thebond between libraries and religious institutions. In the 18th centurywhen the library became one of the symbols of the culture of the Enlightenment,ancient portrait sculptures again found their place in theinterior of the library. The canon then also expanded to encompasscontemporary great figures who were put on the pedestal similarlyto their ancient predecessors. In the 19th century, the libraries of universitiesalso started to thrive, as in addition to being a place for sharingknowledge, the creation of new knowledge became important.The University of Tartu was reopened in 1802, and in 1803, thearchitect of the university Johann Wilhelm Krause (1757–1828) preparedthe initial sketches for rebuilding the Dome Church into a library.Already during the construction period, the decision was madeto decorate the library’s halls with plaster casts to create an environmentinspiring learning and research. In 1805, the director of the libraryJohann Karl Simon Morgenstern (1770–1852) ordered suitablecasts from the Academy of Arts in Saint Petersburg. The statue ofAthena and the plaster busts of writers, statesmen and philosophers(Homer, Euripides, Socrates, Plato, Demosthenes, Sophocles, Herodotus,Theocritus, Horace, Cicero, Virgil, Marcus Aurelius, IsaacNewton and Voltaire) were placed in a hall on the third floor; ApolloMusagetes and nine muses were situated in a hall on the secondfloor. The interior design of the University of Tartu Library togetherwith its sculptures was intended to create an excellent atmospherefor studying with its harmonious alcoves in the connecting galleriesand the books placed there.The original ancient marble sculptures of the muses, Athena,Apollo and some other busts that Morgenstern ordered are situatedin the Vatican in the Pio Clementino Museum in the Hall of the Musesthat was opened in 1784. The sculptures there were unearthed atVilla di Cassio near Tivoli during Pope Pius VI’s reign in the 1770s.In addition to the muses and the sculptures of Apollo and Athena,more than 30 herms and busts of famous men from ancient Greecewere found (today, 21 have been preserved). These are likely to havebeen combined into a gallery of “talking” portraits at Villa di Cassiosimilarly to that of the Villa dei Papiri situated in the Herculaneum.The great men standing there, forming a gallery, were chosen to representthe Greek culture and learning and they were seemingly talkingto the viewers. Their teachings could be consulted on the spot,if necessary. It was strived to create an analogous milieu at the Universityof Tartu Library.The set of sculptures ordered for Tartu in 1805 was impressiveand thoroughly thought through. The order was placed at Saint Petersburgsince it was the closest place to Tartu where it was possibleto get casts copied from the original sculptures. Transporting thecasts was especially complicated and risky due to their weight andeasily breakable material.The plaster casts acquired for the interior design of the library areprobably the first made after ancient sculptures at the University ofTartu. Later, sculpture casts were also bought for the university’sdrawing school and art museum