About the collection
Since 1901, the August Kestner Museum has owned a set of uniquely successful galvanocopies of the gold finds from Mycenae and other Greek sites. These replicas were made around 1900 in the workshop of the Swiss craftsman and entrepreneur Louis Emile Emmanuel Gilliéron (1851-1924), who worked as a draughtsman for Heinrich Schliemann. His son Edouard Emile (1885-1939) later took over the production and distribution of these copies, which were sold extremely successfully for or through the WMF company.
With these replicas, Emile Gilliéron & Sohn made a significant contribution to the vivid (re)construction and reception of the Aegean Bronze Age at the beginning of the 20th century.