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.

63 pictures related to this museum

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