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

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