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

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