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

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