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