Pergamon Museum

About

The Pergamon Museum (German: Pergamonmuseum; pronounced [ˈpɛʁ.ɡa.mɔn.muˌzeː.ʊm] ) is a listed building on the Museum Island in the historic centre of Berlin, Germany. It was built from 1910 to 1930 by order of Emperor Wilhelm II and according to plans by Alfred Messel and Ludwig Hoffmann in Stripped Classicism style. As part of the Museum Island complex, the Pergamon Museum was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1999 because of its architecture and testimony to the evolution of museums as architectural and social phenomena. Prior to its closing in 2023, the Pergamon Museum was home to the Antikensammlung, including the famous Pergamon Altar, the Vorderasiatisches Museum and the Museum für Islamische Kunst. In October 2023, the museum was completely closed for visitors, and is expected to remain mostly closed for 14 to 20 years – until 2037 to 2043 – for the execution of comprehensive renovation works. Its North Wing is expected to reopen in 2027.

By the time the Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum on Museum Island (today the Bode Museum ) had opened in 1904, it was clear that the space was not large enough to host all of the art and archaeological treasures being excavated by archeologists or captured by soldiers.

Excavations were underway in the areas of ancient Babylon, Uruk, Assur, Miletus, Priene and ancient Egypt, and objects from these sites could not be properly displayed within the existing German museum system. [ citation needed ] Additionally, the Ottoman Empire had come under immense financial and political pressure from the late 18th century onwards, and relied upon German and British economic support. Some authors posit that this allowed archeologists such as Carl Humann to excavate sites and return the findings to Germany without following due legal process.

Wilhelm von Bode, director of the Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum, initiated plans to build a new museum nearby to accommodate ancient architecture, German post-antiquity art, and Middle Eastern and Islamic art.

Alfred Messel began a design for the large three-wing building in 1906. After his death in 1909 his friend Ludwig Hoffman took charge of the project and construction began in 1910, continuing during the First World War (1918) and the great inflation of the 1920s. The completed building was opened in 1930.

The Pergamon Museum was severely damaged during the air attacks on Berlin at the end of the Second World War. Many of the display objects had been stored in safe places, and some of the large exhibits were walled in for protection. In 1945, the Red Army collected all of the unattended museum items, either as war booty or to steal them while the fires were raging in Berlin. Not until 1958 were most of the objects returned to East Germany. Significant parts of the collection remain in Russia. Some are currently stored in the Pushkin Museum in Moscow and the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg. The return of these items has been arranged in a treaty between Germany and Russia but, as of June 2003, is blocked by Russian restitution laws.

Among the pieces the museum displays are:

- The Ishtar Gate and the Processional Way, Babylon

- The Meissner fragment from the Epic of Gilgamesh

The collection goes back to the prince-electors of Brandenburg, who collected objects from antiquity; the collection began with an acquisition by a Roman archaeologist in 1698. It first became accessible (in part) to the public in 1830, when the Altes Museum was opened. The collection expanded greatly with excavations in Olympia, Samos, Pergamon, Miletus, Priene, Magnesia, Cyprus, and Didyma.

The collection contains sculpture from the archaic to Hellenistic ages as well as artwork from Classical antiquity : architecture, sculptures, inscriptions, mosaics, bronzes, jewelry and pottery.

The main exhibits are the Pergamon Altar from the 2nd century BC, with a 113-metre (371 ft) long sculptural frieze depicting the struggle of the gods and the giants, and the Gate of Miletus from Roman antiquity.

As Germany was divided following the Second World War, so was the collection. The Pergamon Museum was reopened in 1959 in East Berlin, while what remained in West Berlin was displayed in Schloss Charlottenburg.

Islamic Art Museum (Museum für Islamische Kunst)

Main article: Museum of Islamic Art, Berlin The Islamic Department was part of the Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum which opened in 1904. In the newly built Pergamon Museum, the museum moved into the upper floor of the south wing and was opened there in 1932.

The Middle East Museum ( Vorderasiatisches Museum )

- Main article: Vorderasiatisches Museum Berlin

The Middle East Museum exhibition displays objects found by German archeologists and others from the areas of Assyrian, Sumerian, and Babylonian culture. Additionally there are historical buildings, reliefs and lesser cultural objects and jewelry.

The main display is the Ishtar Gate and the Processional Way of Babylon along with the throne room facade of Nebuchadnezzar II. [ citation needed ]

The Vorderasiatisches Museum also displays the Meissner fragment from the Epic of Gilgamesh.