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.

64 pictures related to this museum

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