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.

63 pictures related to this museum

Aššur, Royal Tombs, Sarcophagus of Aššurnasirpal II	Orpheus	Hattusa, Statuette of a warrior	Aššur, Glazed brick panel with the god Aššur
Aššur, Basin of Sennacherib	Zincirli, Statuette of a warrior	Urartaean bowl from Van-Rusahinili	Aššur, statue of an early king
Pergamon Altar, detail	Miletus, Model of the harbor area	Babylon's Ishtar Gate	ZIncirli, Palace, Orthostats
Aššur, Royal Tombs, Glazed pottery	Zincirli, Inner gate, lions	Northern basin, fountainhouse	Pergamon Altar, Athena
Aššur-šarrat	Boar, late Sasanian age	Esarhaddon Stela from Zincirli	Detail of a stone vase from Uruk
Aššur, Royal Tombs, Sarcophagus of Šamši-Adad V	Babylonian tablet mentioning King Jehoiachin	Aššur, Temple of Aššur, Old-Assyrian relief of three deities (and two goats)	Piraeus, Relief of Cybele, Hecate, and Hermes
Model of Babylon's Esagila Temple	Procession Street, decoration	Terracotta Heracles from Babylon	Sam'al: king Barrakib receiving a scribe
Sam'al, column base: a double sphinx	Nineveh, Palace of Senacherib, Two soldiers	Persian (?) statue of a man	Aezani, Diocletian's Edict on Maximum Prices (EDCS-20200011)
Rhodes, Relief with the Rape of Brygindis	Megara, Funerary relief of an athlete	Boeotia, Tombstone of Polyxena	Nineveh, Palace of Aššurbanipal, Soldier with a captured bull and a female slave from Elam
Samos, Temple of Hera, Column	Model of the citadel of Pergamon (Roman age)	Pergamon Altar, Auge establishes the cult of Athena	Samos, Temple of Hera, Statue of three goddesses and a lion
Aššur, Statuette of Aššur	Assyrian amulet	Tarentum, Seated Persephone	Magnesia, Temple of Zeus
Nineveh, Palace of Senacherib, Assyrian soldiers	Temple of Apollo, archaic column base	Aššur, Glazed pottery	Pergamon Altar, Zeus
Zincirli, Egyptian ivory	Pergamene capital	Esarhaddon Stela, cast, detail	Pergamon Altar, Model
Pergamon Altar, detail	Aššur, Glazed brick panel with a capricorn	Inscription from Justinian	Capital from Aššur
Relief of Apollo	Amarna, Letter from King Abdi-Hepa of Jerusalem	Pergamene copy of Phidias' Athena	The Pergamon Altar on a coin
Kition, Relief of Sargon II	A royal procession. Water color by W. Anger. In front: the Procession Street; center: the Ištar Gate; on the horizon: the Etemenanki.	Statue of Hadad