Georg Steindorff (1861–1951), a professor of Egyptology at the University of Leipzig (from 1894), once attempted to bring a copy of the Rosetta Stone to Berlin with the assistance of Sir Ernest Alfred Thompson Wallis Budge, then a curator at the British Museum. While in London, Steindorff made inquiries regarding this plan. However, the endeavor was never realized. How do we know this? The evidence comes from letters Steindorff wrote from London to his mentor and superior at the Egyptian Museum in Berlin, Adolf Erman.  

At that time, Steindorff was working as Erman's assistant alongside the papyrologist Ulrich Wilcken—a collaboration that was widely regarded as a "dream team." In the archives of the Egyptian Museum of the University of Leipzig (ÄMULA), a letter dated November 10, 1892, reveals that Steindorff informed Erman of Budge's approval for Berlin to receive a plaster cast of the stone and a Middle Kingdom head. However, no further details are available in the archive.  

Interestingly, rumors persist to this day that Leipzig University possesses a copy of the Rosetta Stone. Nevertheless, it can be definitively stated that no such plaster cast exists. That said, the Institute of Near Eastern Studies and the Museum of Classical Antiquities at Leipzig house many replicas from the ancient world.  

Our German translations of the Rosetta Stone’s Hieroglyphic, Demotic, and Greek inscriptions were inspired by the work of Heinz-Josef Thissen (1940–2014), a professor at the Seminar for Egyptology at the University of Cologne. Thissen’s academic legacy, including his extensive Egyptian and papyrological library, was bequeathed to the Egyptological Institute of the University of Leipzig. During his career, he maintained strong ties to Leipzig, collaborating with numerous colleagues on various projects and co-supervising many Leipzig scholars during their doctoral or habilitation studies. Among his mentees were Ludwig Morenz, Tonio Sebastian Richter, Lutz Popko, Katharina Stegbauer, and Franziska Naether.  

While he was alive, Thissen generously shared his work on the Rosetta Stone with the Leipzig academic community, for which he is deeply appreciated. We strive to honor his legacy and contributions to the field.