Berlin, Pergamon Museum

Q157298

The Pergamonmuseum is probably Berlin’s most famous cultural institution. It contains three major collections which, each in itself, might have been fine museums: a classical department, a department of ancient Near Eastern art, and a department of Islamic art. What they have in common is their connection to the former Ottoman Empire. In each of these departments, you will see splendid works of art.

The museum is named after the city of Pergamon, where German archaeologists found the famous altar that now stands in the central room of the museum. (In fact, the museum was built around the altar.) The north wing is devoted to Greek and Roman art, and you will find archaic sphinxes, classical reliefs, and so on.

The south wing contains the department of ancient Near Eastern art, which includes the famous Ištar Gate from Babylon and the ancient procession road, which appears to date back to the Seleucid age. Among the other objects are orthostats from Tell Halaf, prehistoric finds from Uruk, the royal tombs of Assur, bronzes from Luristan, objects from Nineveh, and of course lots of cuneiform tablets. Among the most fascinating documents is a tablet that mentions the Judaean king Jehoiachin.

If you go upstairs, you will find yourself in the department of Islamic art. Again, a complete building has been moved from its original location to the German capital: this time, a substantial part of the wall of the early Islamic Mshatta, one of Jordan’s desert castles. But there’s a lot more to see. I must have been gazing at a splendid manuscript of Saadi’s Rose Garden for at least half an hour.

It is easy to spend a day in the Pergamonmuseum, and that is also a problem: it can be extremely crowded. When I was there last June, I could easily enter the building, but last week, early August, there was a long queue. When I entered the museum, it felt muggy, and I wondered whether the humidity wasn’t dangerous for the objects.

This museum was visited in 1988, 1989, 2000, 2010.

68 pictures related to this museum

Didyma, Inscription from Justinian	Megara, Funerary relief of an athlete	Esarhaddon Stela, cast, detail	Babylonian tablet mentioning King Jehoiachin
Aššur, Royal Tombs, Glazed pottery	Babylon, Procession Street, Decoration, Lions	Samos, Temple of Hera, Column	Rhodes, Relief with the rape of Brygindis
Miletus, Harbor district, Model	Aezani, Diocletian's Edict on Maximum Prices	Van-Rusahinili, Urartian bowl	Pergamon Altar, Auge establishes the cult of Athena
Aššur, Assyrian capital	Tarsus, Figurine of a Persian man	Miletus, Theater, Relief of Apollo	Ur, Cadastre
Boeotia, Tombstone of Polyxena	Aššur, Temple of Aššur, Old-Assyrian relief of three deities (and two goats)	Nineveh, Palace of Aššurbanipal, Soldier with a captured bull and a female slave from Elam	Aššur, Glazed brick panel with the god Aššur
Zincirli, Stela of Esarhaddon	Samos, Temple of Hera, Statue of three goddesses and a lion	Tarentum, Seated Persephone	The Pergamon Altar on a coin
Miletus, Orpheus Mosaic	Babylon, Esagila, Model	Pergamon Altar, Model	Babylon, Royal procession entering the Gate of Ištar. In front: the Procession Street; center: the Ištar Gate; on the horizon: the Etemenanki.
Zincirli-Gerdshin, Statue of Hadad	Aššur, Statue of an early king	Zincirli, Figurine of a warrior	Pergamon Altar, Zeus
Didyma, Temple of Apollo, archaic column base	Piraeus, Relief of Cybele (small figures of Hermes and Hecate)	Amarna, Letter from King Abdi-Hepa of Jerusalem	Babylon, Figurine of Heracles
Kition, Relief of Sargon II	Carystus, Funerary relief of a man	Pergamon Altar, detail	Pergamon, Copy of Phidias' Athena
Nineveh, Palace of Senacherib, Assyrian soldiers	Zincirli, Inner gate, lions	Pergamon Altar, Athena	Nineveh, Palace of Senacherib, Two soldiers
Piraeus, Relief of Cybele, Hecate, and Hermes	Ur, Inscription of Šu-Sin	Pergamon, Model of the citadel (Roman age)	Babylon, Gate of Ištar
Pergamene capital	ZIncirli, Palace, Orthostats	Aššur, Glazed pottery	Zincirli, Column base: a double sphinx
Aššur, Basin of Sennacherib	Griffin on an Assyrian amulet	Hatra, Statue of the Moon goddess	Aššur-šarrat
Baalbek, temple of Jupiter, Great Court, Northern basin, Fountainhouse	Uruk, Stone vessel, Detail	Aššur, Glazed brick panel with a capricorn	Aššur, Royal Tombs, Sarcophagus of Šamši-Adad V
Aššur, Royal Tombs, Sarcophagus of Aššurnasirpal II	Magnesia on the Meander, Temple of Zeus	Ctesiphon, Sasanian relief of a boar	Zincirli, Egyptian ivory
Hattusa, Statuette of a warrior	Aššur, Figurine of Aššur	Zincirli, Northern hall, orthostat of king Barrakib receiving a scribe	Pergamon Altar, detail