The Prussian Cultural Properties Foundation has contributed more than 21,000 images of diverse works from the Berlin State Museums to the Artstor Digital Library.

The Berlin State Museums (Staatliche Museen zu Berlin) represent the culmination of centuries of collecting by historic institutions in the capital city. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the holdings increased enormously through generous donations, archaeological fieldwork and sponsored ethnological expeditions. Today the Berlin State Museums consist of seventeen institutions, each with its own area of concentration. Despite the losses suffered between 1933 and 1945, most of these collections remain among the finest in the world. The extensive selection in Artstor is both global and encyclopedic offering everything from antiquities to African, Asian and South American art, European paintings and sculpture from the Middle Ages to modernity, works on paper, decorative arts, and more.

This curated and carefully catalogued selection was made available to scholars, students, and teachers electronically for the first time with the assistance of Germany’s Institute for Museum Research. In reaching this agreement, Klaus-Dieter Lehmann, then President of the Prussian Cultural Properties Foundation expressed his enthusiasm in using digital technologies to make these rich resources more broadly available. “The Berlin State Museums have always been exceptionally significant places for scientific research and collection building. The modern possibilities of digital technology expand greatly on this potential and allow us not only to present these treasures, but also to link this effort with other important organizations, such as Artstor.”