Berggasse 19: Inside Freud’s Office

The Active Room: Freud’s Office and the Egyptian Tomb

“…The present analysis contributes to the greater body of work on architecture as an active entity, psychoanalysis, and ancient Egyptian history. Furthermore, this study builds upon the article “Berggasse 19: Inside Freud’s Office” in which Diana Fuss and Joel Sanders posit Freud’s “labor of self-entombment” within his office space ( Fuss and Sanders, 2015 , p. 3). The present article extends beyond Freud’s self-entombment and posits that the tomb-like elements and architecture in Freud’s office, moreover, played a central role in facilitating the transformation and liberation of the patient’s psyche.…”

“…The majority of Freud’s Egyptian treasures and furniture were kept in his study. Commenting on Freud’s Egyptian treasures, Fuss and Sanders write that Freud assembled “antiquities that would transform his office into a veritable tomb” ( Fuss and Sanders, 2015 , p. 3). Augmenting this claim, in his memoirs, Freud’s patient Sergei Pankejeff remarked that the office “in no way reminded one of a doctor’s office … Here were all kinds of statuettes and other unusual objects, which even a layman recognized as archeological findings from ancient Egypt … Everything here … contributed to one’s feeling … of being sheltered” ( Gardiner, 1973 , p. 139).…”

“…Diana Fuss and Joel Sanders point out that in 1886 Freud’s father “fell fatally ill and died of heart failure … Freud apparently felt that his father died in his place” ( Fuss and Sanders, 2015 , p. 4). Fuss and Sanders claim that Freud’s preoccupation with his own death and his father’s death played a central role in his “death deliria” ( Fuss and Sanders, 2015 , p. 3).…”

“…Diana Fuss and Joel Sanders point out that in 1886 Freud’s father “fell fatally ill and died of heart failure … Freud apparently felt that his father died in his place” ( Fuss and Sanders, 2015 , p. 4). Fuss and Sanders claim that Freud’s preoccupation with his own death and his father’s death played a central role in his “death deliria” ( Fuss and Sanders, 2015 , p. 3). Fuss and Sanders write that “the lingering death of Jakob Freud is generally recognized as the emotional crisis that galvanized Freud’s compensatory interest in collecting” antiquities ( Fuss and Sanders, 2015 , p. 3).…”

“…Fuss and Sanders claim that Freud’s preoccupation with his own death and his father’s death played a central role in his “death deliria” ( Fuss and Sanders, 2015 , p. 3). Fuss and Sanders write that “the lingering death of Jakob Freud is generally recognized as the emotional crisis that galvanized Freud’s compensatory interest in collecting” antiquities ( Fuss and Sanders, 2015 , p. 3).…”