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

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