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