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