After 48 years of work, zoological preparator Peter Mildner retires

Peter Mildner, a 64-year-old zoological preparator from the German city of Gotha, is retiring after nearly 48 years of work. A farewell ceremony will be held this Sunday in the Ballroom of Friedenstein Castle. During the ceremony, which will be accompanied by a procession, the artist's final work – a prepared Angolan lion named Bono – will be presented. The animal came from Halle Zoo and, after the presentation, will become a permanent part of the exhibition in the castle's western tower. Mildner emphasized that the key to giving a mount realism is the eyes. „If the eyes aren't good, the body can be perfect, but the animal doesn't look alive” – he said about his work. His philosophy involved bringing out the characteristic features of the creature being depicted. The craftsman's career has come full circle – it began and ended with work on lions. As a child, inspired by his mother's anatomy books, he created a model of a predatory cat, which later helped him get into a drawing school in Wismar. His body of work also included other animals, among them a southern elephant seal, which he prepared from Antarctic skin. Mildner's last workplace was located in the Perthesforum. After Sunday's ceremony, the lion Bono prepared by him, with amber eyes and a characteristically tilted head, will be permanently displayed in the museum exhibition.