 The magnificent ‘parade’ helmet of a Celtic warrior made from iron and bronze, embellished with gold and coral, c. 350 BC Musée d’Angoulême; Photo G. Martron
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The exhibitionCeltic Art The Celts are the first people north of the Alps to be known by name. Celtic culture spread all over Europe, from the British Isles to Italy, from France to Bulgaria, between the 5th and 3rd century BC. Celtic art began around 700 BC and developed into an original art form in fruitful exchange with Etruscan and Greek art.
How did the typical Celtic style of art develop? What are the historical backgrounds to this first major contribution of the North to the history of European art?
For the first time an exhibition is being dedicated to the “Art of the Celts” from its origins in Central Europe to its final flowering in Ireland around AD 700.
The exhibition The exhibition in the new extension of the Historisches Museum in Bern is showing an exquisite selection of some 450 Celtic art treasures from all over Europe in an area covering 1200 sq. m.
Magnificent jewellery and richly decorated utilitarian objects made from bronze, iron, silver and gold, precious grave goods and cult objects with complex patterns or representations of fantastic beings testify to the masterly artistic creation achieved by the Celts.
The exhibition offers the chance to see for the first time some recently discovered and spectacular new finds from France that have not yet been displayed to the public. As a particular highlight it is also showing for the first time outside Germany the treasure from the burial chamber of the famous Celtic chieftain at Hochdorf
The most up-to-date exhibition techniques help to elucidate the structure of the complex and often puzzling ornamental schemes of the artefacts. The development of motifs and style is explained in dialogue with the testimonies of classical antiquity.
A production of the Historisches Museum Bern in cooperation with the Landesmuseum Württemberg in Stuttgart |
Curvilinear tendril ornament in the Waldalgesheim Style: the helmet from Canosa di Puglia (Italy), c.330 BC, Berlin, Staatliche Museen, Antikensammlung.
Relief-modelled grotesque face in the Plastic Style: bronze chariot attachment from Mezek (Bulgaria), c.270 BC, Sofia, National Archaeological Institute
with Museum.
Engraved curvilinear ornament in the Sword Style: the sword scabbard from Cernon-sur-Coole (France), c.280 BC, Châlons-en-Champagne. Musées des Beaux-Arts et d’Archéologie.
Between realism and abstraction: the wooden figures from Fellbach-Schmiden (Germany), 127 BC, Stuttgart, Landesmuseum Württemberg. 
Celtic and Roman syncretism: the Gallo-Roman bear-goddess from Muri near Bern (Switzerland), c. AD 200, Bern, Historisches Museum. 
Survival of Celtic ornament: Irish Book of the Gospels from the monastery of St. Gallen (Switzerland), c. AD 750, St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek.
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Chronological Table
7th to 6th century BC: geometrical rigour Rigorously ordered compositions are formed with linear patterns. Basic patterns are strung together in rows. In pottery the individual patterns are distinguished from each other by colour contrasts.
Mid-5th century BC: first mention in writing
5th century BC: the Early Style Trade with the Mediterranean world releases a fresh artistic impulse in North-Western Europe. Celtic artists develop plant-like ornaments and use dividers to form circular patterns. Masks and grotesque faces become one of the distinctive features of the Early Style.
4th century BC: the Waldalgesheim Style The name of this style is derived from the richly decorated grave goods of the chieftain’s grave at Waldalgesheim (near Bonn). Free-flowing undulating tendril motifs, winding in all directions, decorate jewellery and utensils.
3rd century BC: the Late Style Plastic style: if Celtic décor had hitherto been flat and two-dimensional, ornamentation is now used to create plastic bodies: the tendrils and spirals are spatially developed. Pronouncedly abstracted faces and figural motifs can be discovered amid the three-dimensional decorations.
2nd to 1st century BC: fading of Celtic art Celtic ornaments are now used only sparingly. The compositions lose in refinement. Celtic motifs, however, continue to survive in the British Isles and achieve a new period of flowering there. Artists succeed occasionally in creating works with an individual expression. Humans and animals become more realistic in representation than ever before.
1st to 3rd century AD: Gallo-Roman art The Roman expansion encompasses the Celtic world. The Roman way of life gains in acceptance and is adopted in the provinces. This leads to the development of a hybrid culture, which has been described as Gallo-Roman. Native traditions of representation occasionally become absorbed into Roman arts and crafts.
7th century AD: Irish book illumination Celtic art experiences a final high point in richly illuminated manuscripts of the Gospels. Abstracted Celtic ornaments are here combined with motifs derived from the Germanic zoomorphic style.
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