Venus of Willendorf // Venus von Willendorf

Paleolithic sculpture.

To the beginnings of art, some 29,500 years back into the European Paleolithic period takes you the first object in this blog. The Venus of Willendorf is one of the most famous archaeological finds in the world, discovered in 1908 during excavations in Willendorf (Lower Austria).

In the Gravettian, the most important archaeological culture of the younger Paleolithic Age in Europe, so-called Venus statuettes made of stone, clay or ivory were widespread from the Pyrenees to Lake Baikal.

The Venus of Willendorf is 11 cm high and is made of fine limestone (oolite), which was coloured with red chalk (mixture of clay and hematite). The skulpture depicts a naked woman with luxuriant body shapes. It is noticeable that the head of the figurine is richly decorated, but lacks a face and thus an individual identity. In contrast, the gender of the Venus statuette is clearly worked out, which suggests an interpretation as a goddess of fertility. But the actual intention behind the production of the figure is subject to speculation and can never be finally clarified. By the way, at the end of 2017 a photo of the naked Venus of Willendorf was censored on Facebook. (The Art Newspaper)

_{Venus vom Galgenberg, 36,000 years old (Natural History Museum Vienna)}

The Venus of Willendorf is exhibited in the Natural History Museum in Vienna. There it is presented together with the Venus vom Galgenberg This statuette made of greenish slate rock, which was excavated near Krems (Lower Austria) in 1988, is one of the oldest sculptures of a human being worldwide (about 36,000 years old).

Further views in 3D format can be accessed via this website. Scan the World is a non-profit initiative, whose members are creating a digital archive of 3D sculptures, artwork and landmarks from around the world, available to the public free of charge.

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Plastik aus der Altsteinzeit