“BERLIN. More than two hundred students, faculty members, and supporters of archaeology degree programs at Humboldt University protested on Thursday against the potential closure of the Institute of Archaeology. ‘We are here, we are loud, because you’re stealing our education,’ they chanted. For weeks, student representatives and faculty have been fighting for the institute’s future with alternative proposals, yet the university administration remains silent. They intend to discuss the substance of the matter only once the overall strategy for all budget cuts is on the table.
The demonstrators found encouragement in a speech by a student from the University of Applied Sciences (HTW) Berlin—specifically from the degree program in Conservation, Restoration, Excavation Technology, and Field Archaeology, which was also slated for the chopping block. A decision to close that program had already been made before the academic committees had even deliberated on it; however, thanks to ongoing protests, it is now being preserved. ‘The numbers have to add up; our future doesn't seem to matter,’ the student told the demonstrators, a group that included art historian Horst Bredekamp.
After the initial gathering outside Humboldt University, the demonstrators marched to the Alte Nationalgalerie. There, Martin Maischberger, Director of the Collection of Classical Antiquities, reaffirmed the museums' reliance on the archaeology degree program. It is not merely a matter of the institute’s two-hundred-year history; archaeology is far more vital for the present and the future. Initiatives such as the Berlin Antike Kolleg, the Berlin Graduate School of Ancient Studies, and other collaborative networks would be rendered meaningless without a strong archaeology department at Humboldt University. ‘We are deeply concerned about the next generation of scholars, including those working with the collections,’ Maischberger said, pointing to Humboldt University’s numismatics program, which is closely linked to the Coin Cabinet at the Bode Museum. The four archaeological museums in the immediate vicinity of the university depend on the institute remaining open.” [1]
1. Für eine Zukunft der Archäologie. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung; Frankfurt. 05 June 2026: 4. oll.
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