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

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