Archive
Projects: Geographical Overview
Head of Zeus from Aigeira
Public dance in Elis (?)
Sardis, Temple of Artemis
The Archive of the Athens Branch
The archive of the branch office of the OeAI in Athens incorporates
- the Photo Archive of Otto Walter
- Excavation-, Plan- and Photo Archive Elis
- Excavation-, Plan- and Photo Archive Lousoi
- Excavation-, Plan- and Photo Archive Gremoulias
- Excavation-, Plan- and Photo Archive Aigeira
The photo archive of Otto Walter contains today approximately 800 glass plate negatives of differing formats as well as photographic prints and slides of the same.
Otto Walter was one of the early practitioners of photography during excavations. A part of the archive shows findings from his excavations in Elis, Lousoi and Aigeira, for example the famous head of Zeus from Aigeira. Numerous additional pictures from travels in Greece and Asia Minor show landscapes, fellow travellers and scenes of contemporary daily life. A part of the photograph collection of Otto Walter is today considered to be lost, and regrettably the original extent and organisation of the archive cannot now be reconstructed. The incorporation of the Walter Archive into the image data bank of the OeAI Vienna is planned.
The excavation archive houses the archaeological documentation (day books, plans, photographs, and approximately 7,500 slides) of the partially completed (Elis) or still current excavation projects (Aigeira, Gremoulias and Lousoi) of the Athenian branch office. Digitalisation of the excavation archive is underway and is most advanced for the excavation at Aigeira. In recent years, a digital plan archive has been constructed which in the meantime contains approximately 600 scanned plan drawings from the years 1972–1966. The majority of the original plans are located in the plan archive of the OeAI in Vienna. In an additional step, the complete excavation records (day books, notes, photographs and slides) of the excavation at Aigeira should be digitalised and a digital data bank of finds should be created. It is also intended to carry this out for all of the excavations undertaken by the Athens branch office.