The Gallery

Each exhibit is a window into what was lost — reconstructed through AI-assisted research and presented with the care of a museum placard.

140 exhibits in the collection

Medicine (Klimt University Painting) — exhibit imageArt

Medicine (Klimt University Painting)

Gustav Klimt

The second of Klimt's three University of Vienna ceiling paintings. Medicine depicted a column of suffering humanity alongside the figure of Hygieia, goddess of health, holding the serpent of Asclepius. The only University Painting partially preserved in a colour photograph.

Reconstruction Confidence65%

Lost May 1945

Philosophy (Klimt University Painting) — exhibit imageArt

Philosophy (Klimt University Painting)

Gustav Klimt

One of three controversial ceiling paintings commissioned from Gustav Klimt for the Great Hall of the University of Vienna. The painting depicted a column of intertwined nude figures representing humanity adrift in the cosmos, a radical departure from the academic allegory expected by the university.

Reconstruction Confidence60%

Lost May 1945

The Indus Valley Script — exhibit imageLanguage

The Indus Valley Script

Indus Valley (Harappan) civilisation

A corpus of symbols found on seals, tablets, pottery, and other artefacts from the Indus Valley Civilisation (Harappan civilisation). With over 4,000 inscribed objects bearing approximately 400–600 distinct signs, it remains undeciphered. Whether it represents true writing or a non-linguistic symbol system is debated.

Reconstruction Confidence10%

Lost c. 1900 BC

Etruscan Literature — exhibit imageLanguage

Etruscan Literature

Etruscan civilisation

The entire literary tradition of the Etruscan civilisation, which dominated central Italy before Rome. Although the Etruscan alphabet is readable (derived from Greek), the language is poorly understood and virtually all Etruscan literature — histories, religious texts, drama — is lost.

Reconstruction Confidence15%

Lost c. 1st century AD

Rongorongo — exhibit imageLanguage

Rongorongo

Rapa Nui (Easter Island) civilisation

A system of glyphs discovered on wooden tablets and other artefacts from Rapa Nui (Easter Island). If proven to be true writing, Rongorongo would be one of very few independent inventions of writing in human history.

Reconstruction Confidence10%

Lost c. 1860s

Linear A — exhibit imageLanguage

Linear A

Minoan civilisation

An undeciphered writing system used by the Minoan civilisation on Crete and surrounding Aegean islands. Over 1,400 inscriptions survive on clay tablets, pottery, and stone vessels, but the underlying language remains unknown.

Reconstruction Confidence10%

Lost c. 1450 BC

The Old Summer Palace (Yuanmingyuan) — exhibit imageArchitecture

The Old Summer Palace (Yuanmingyuan)

Kangxi Emperor (founder); expanded by Yongzheng and Qianlong Emperors

A vast complex of palaces, gardens, and lakes northwest of Beijing, often called the "Garden of Gardens." Covering 3.5 square kilometres, it combined Chinese landscaping traditions with European-designed Baroque palaces and contained an unparalleled collection of Chinese art and antiquities.

Reconstruction Confidence75%

Lost October 1860

The Tower of Babel — exhibit imageArchitecture

The Tower of Babel

Unknown (biblical); Nebuchadnezzar II (historical Etemenanki restoration)

A massive tower or ziggurat described in Genesis 11:1–9, likely inspired by the Etemenanki, a real Babylonian ziggurat dedicated to the god Marduk. Whether a single historical structure inspired the biblical account remains debated.

Reconstruction Confidence20%

Lost c. 323 BC

Pennsylvania Station (Original) — exhibit imageArchitecture

Pennsylvania Station (Original)

McKim, Mead & White (Charles Follen McKim, principal designer)

A monumental Beaux-Arts railway station in Midtown Manhattan, designed by McKim, Mead & White. Its main waiting room, modelled on the Baths of Caracalla in Rome, was one of the greatest public spaces in America.

Reconstruction Confidence90%

Lost 1963

The Crystal Palace — exhibit imageArchitecture

The Crystal Palace

Joseph Paxton

A cast-iron and plate-glass structure originally erected in Hyde Park, London, for the Great Exhibition of 1851, then relocated to Sydenham Hill. At the time the largest glass structure in the world, it embodied the technological optimism of the Victorian era.

Reconstruction Confidence85%

Lost 30 November 1936

Beethoven's Tenth Symphony Sketches — exhibit imageMusic

Beethoven's Tenth Symphony Sketches

Ludwig van Beethoven

Fragmentary sketches for a projected Tenth Symphony by Ludwig van Beethoven, found among his papers after death. The sketches suggest Beethoven had begun conceptualising a new symphony while completing the Ninth, but the material is too fragmentary to determine the work's intended shape.

Reconstruction Confidence30%

Lost 1827

Sibelius' Eighth Symphony — exhibit imageMusic

Sibelius' Eighth Symphony

Jean Sibelius

A symphony that Jean Sibelius worked on for over a decade but ultimately destroyed. Sibelius apparently completed or nearly completed the work, then burned the manuscript along with other papers in a bonfire at his home, Ainola, sometime in the 1940s.

Reconstruction Confidence45%

Lost c. 1945

Gallery — Vestige