Heinrich Schliemann, born in 1822 near the German city of Rostock, did not have a lucky start in life. Due to financial hardship, he broke off his studies as a young man and began a business apprenticeship. He quickly made a career using his skill and talent for languages. He built his fortune in Moscow, selling ammunition to the tsar's army. Then he began to educate himself and travel.

Schliemann married the 17-year-old Sophia in Greece in 1869. Here, she's seen wearing a head dress from the cache of gold known as Priam's Treasure, which Schliemann excavated from the Troy site in 1873 and smuggled back into Germany. After World War II, the artifact was moved to Russia, where it has been on display in the Pushkin Museum in Moscow since 1992.

The legend of Troy has inspired people for thousands of years. The epic poet Homer described the Trojan War in his "Iliad," which told the tale of the city's siege by the Greeks. They were only able to conquer Troy with deception, building a wooden horse in which they hid warriors. When the residents of Troy brought the gift horse into the city, they also brought the enemy into their midst.

Using various clues in Homer's epic "Iliad" poem, Schliemann eventually found what he had been searching for hiding under a hill in Hisarlik, in what is now northwestern Turkey. The discovery was difficult to precisely map due to the long history of the city's settlement. But in 1872, Schliemann and his assistant Wilhelm Dörpfeld were finally certain: The walls they had unearthed belonged to Troy.

On May 31, 1873, Schliemann believed he had found his ultimate prize: the palace of King Priam. He also discovered golden artifacts hidden under shards of broken pottery — this precious head dress among them. Later, however, it was determined that the relics came from a much earlier time.

Schliemann also hoped to uncover additional sites from early Greek history, other places featured in Homer's "Iliad." In 1874, at the age of 52, Schliemann traveled to the site of Mycenae, where he suspected he would find the grave of the legendary Greek leader Agamemnon. There, too, he made a sensational discovery.

During his excavations in Mycenae, Schliemann discovered a grave with two skeletons. Obsessed with his idea to uncover traces of the Trojan War, he dubbed one of the death masks "Mask of Agamemnon." It later turned out not to belong to the famous ruler, but to a Mycenaean prince.

Despite being an archaeological pioneer, Schliemann was ridiculed by his German compatriots. In initial excavations, he destroyed important findings at the Troy site. Later, he began to examine the site more closely with meticulously planned trenches, discovering ceramics which he used as "index fossils." He also left behind an accurate record of all his discoveries.

The ideal of Enlightenment is spelled out in bright white neon letters. They stand out against a bare wall and stone floor, reminiscent of the inner courtyard of a prison. The association feels strengthened by the spikes that are typically used as a bird deterrent on building ledges and commercial signage. Is it liberty's way of protecting itself or is the message turned into an empty phrase?

Ekaterina Muromtseva is a Russian artist who lives and works in Moscow. Her posters are a testimony to the political unrest in her home country. Her larger-than-life, blood-red figures lead viewers to ask themselves whether they should remain distant observers of the protests or rather join in on them.

The Lebanon-born artist Mona Hatoum often works with allegories. In this work, the remains of a building "hang by a thread," with the symmetrical arrangement of the ropes contrasting with the fragmented stones. The collapse is in constant suspension, while the remains can still be seen.

From a distance, it looks like a large-scale painting, but "Winterreise" (Winter Journey) is actually a stage installation. In this grim and warlike landscape, Anselm Kiefer refers to representatives of German Romanticism such as Madame de Staël or Robert Schubert on snow-covered signs, while the name of the Red Army Faction terrorist Ulrike Meinhof appears on a bed on wheels.

In the former Soviet Union, workers were sometimes paid in kind. These chandeliers were given to the employees of a factory where they were made, as a form of payment. But they ended up on the side of the road. Chernysheva's seemingly surrealistic works document the poetry of everyday life, while commenting on society.

In her work, Dutch artist Patricia Kaersenhout focuses on questions of power and guilt. In "Me Culpa" she depicts people in business suits on their hands and knees, crawling in penance as defined by a Christian tradition through which pilgrims demonstrated their devotion to God through physical suffering.

The polarization of society can be observed around the world; too often, opinions on current issues seem to be divided into black and white categories. With this in mind, the Berlin-based artist Monica Bonvicini brings opposites together. The white neon tubes are dazzling, but can also be understood as a symbol of the Enlightenment. "Light Me Black" is a call to explore paradoxes and gray areas.

For artist duo Lucy + Jorge Orta, the polar continent around the South Pole embodies utopian ideals: Despite different political systems, the signatory states of the Antarctic Treaty have committed to peaceful coexistence, to collaboration on scientific projects and to the preservation of Antarctica's natural resources. The tents with different flags stand for a peaceful world without borders.