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