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

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