Dome Space

The most beautiful hall of the Humboldt Forum emerged beneath the dome of the reconstructed palace architecture: closely associated with the building, a century-old Buddhist cave was reconstructed here. Something like this is impossible to experience in a museum anywhere else in the world.

Originally, the space called the “Cave of the Sixteen Sword-Bearers” was part of a Buddhist temple complex, which was situated near the Chinese oasis Kizil on the northern Silk Road. The caves were dug into the soft stone of the mountain and, embellished with wall paintings, served the monks as accommodation and prayer rooms. Albert Grünwedel, Director of the Indian Department of the Ethnological Museum, discovered them during the Prussian “Turfan Expeditions”. With the consent of the Chinese governor of the time in 1914, the paintings were removed in panels from the walls and taken through Russia, where they were restored, conserved and scientifically researched. Now the “Cave of the Sixteen Sword-Bearers” in the Humboldt Forum has been recreated and houses beautifully its namesakes, the sword-bearers painted around 1500 years earlier.

Another unique feature of the domed hall is the wooden ceiling painted with Buddhist motifs from the eighth and tenth centuries. It served originally as the ceiling of a temple or gate porch and was also discovered by the indologist Albert Grünwedel. It was extensively restored for the Dome Hall and could be installed in a way that it gives the impression it is floating, thanks to a scarcely visible support.