Of Dragons and Heroes. Exhibition in the Children's Gallery at the Bode Museum

An exhibition for children aged 4 to 10.

Tales of dragons and heroes are fantastical and real at once, colourful and faded, brash and gentle, grand and pithy. They've already been told a thousand times before, can be read out loud, acted out and or become the stuff of painting. But they can also be newly invented and told for the first time. In our museum, we've got a host of dragon-slayers, proud knights and women saints, just waiting to be discovered.

Saint George, that most eminent of dragon-slayers, has many exciting adventures to retell. But besides him, there were a few women saints able to tame the odd dragon too. So just what is it that makes a hero?

Dragons and heroes are all on show in this exhibition in the Children's Gallery, where a fantastical world entices young visitors to join in by telling or hearing tales, by playing and touching, or by painting and making puzzles. And, last but not least, there's a dragon's skeleton on show that needs some beautifully painted dragon scales to cover it and to bring it to life for us to admire.

Photo: Heiliger Georg im Kampf mit dem Drachen, um 1490/95, Tilman Riemenschneider

© Staatliche Museen zu Berlin; Foto: Nicole Gersdorf-Warther