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.

62 pictures related to this museum

Persian (?) statue of a man	Esarhaddon Stela from Zincirli	Kition, Relief of Sargon II	Aššur, Glazed pottery
Model of the harbor area	Inscription from Justinian	Aššur-šarrat	A royal procession. Water color by W. Anger. In front: the Procession Street; center: the Ištar Gate; on the horizon: the Etemenanki.
Pergamene copy of Phidias' Athena	Boeotia, Tombstone of Polyxena	Esarhaddon Stela, cast, detail	Pergamon Altar, Auge establishes the cult of Athena
Aššur, Temple of Aššur, Old-Assyrian relief of three deities (and two goats)	Aššur, Glazed brick panel with a capricorn	Statue of Hadad	Aššur, statue of an early king
Nineveh, Palace of Senacherib, Two soldiers	Sam'al: king Barrakib receiving a scribe	Orpheus	Pergamon Altar, detail
Aššur, Glazed brick panel with the god Aššur	Sam'al, column base: a double sphinx	Pergamon Altar, Model	Terracotta Heracles from Babylon
Urartaean bowl from Van-Rusahinili	Babylonian tablet mentioning King Jehoiachin	Samos, Temple of Hera, Column	Nineveh, Palace of Aššurbanipal, Soldier with a captured bull and a female slave from Elam
Tarentum, Seated Persephone	Megara, Funerary relief of an athlete	Detail of a stone vase from Uruk	Northern basin, fountainhouse
Magnesia, Temple of Zeus	Assyrian amulet	Aššur, Royal Tombs, Sarcophagus of Aššurnasirpal II	Procession Street, decoration
Model of the citadel of Pergamon (Roman age)	ZIncirli, Palace, Orthostats	Temple of Apollo, archaic column base	Zincirli, Statuette of a warrior
The Pergamon Altar on a coin	Model of Babylon's Esagila Temple	Aššur, Royal Tombs, Sarcophagus of Šamši-Adad V	Piraeus, Relief of Cybele, Hecate, and Hermes
Aššur, Royal Tombs, Glazed pottery	Relief of Apollo	Babylon's Ishtar Gate	Zincirli, Inner gate, lions
Aššur, Basin of Sennacherib	Boar, late Sasanian age	Zincirli, Egyptian ivory	Hattusa, Statuette of a warrior
Nineveh, Palace of Senacherib, Assyrian soldiers	Pergamon Altar, detail	Samos, Temple of Hera, Statue of three goddesses and a lion	Aezani, Diocletian's Edict on Maximum Prices (EDCS-20200011)
Pergamon Altar, Athena	Amarna, Letter from King Abdi-Hepa of Jerusalem	Pergamene capital	Aššur, Statuette of Aššur
Capital from Aššur	Pergamon Altar, Zeus