Pergamon Museum in Berlin, Germany

The Pergamon Museum is situated in Berlin, Germany, which is considered as one of the best places to find religious art. This religious art museum was designed by Alfred Messel and Ludwig Hoffman and was built in between the years of 1910 to 1930. The Pergamon Museum in Berlin, Germany features original-sized, reconstructed monumental buildings such as the Pergamon Altar and the market Gate of Miletus, all consisting of parts transported from Turkey. Although, there is an issue over the legitimacy of the acquisition of the religious art collection. It was suggested that the collection should be returned to Turkey which is the original country of the excavations.

The museum is subdivided into the antiquity of its various art collection, namely: the Middle East museum and the museum of Islamic art. The Pergamon Museum in Berlin, Germany is visited by approximately 1,135,000 locals and international tourists every year, making it the most visited art museum in Germany, as of 2007.

Pergamon Museum in Berlin, Germany

The Pergamon Museum consists of three departments, namely: the Classical Antiquities, the Islamic Arts and the Sculpture Wing. The major attraction here in the Pergamon is the Zeus Altar which is from about 180 to 160 BC. This major attraction is located in the department of Classical Antiquities. Moreover, the Pergamon Museum in Berlin, Germany also features an impressive collection of paintings that are displayed on the walls of the department which show the Olympian Gods struggle over the Titans. Some of these paintings took about 20 to restore.

Zeus Altar

The department of Classic Antiquities also contains the Miletus Market Gate and a large number of other structures from the Greek and Roman cities. One of the most popular structures in this department is a goddess statue from 575 BC, which had been buried for about 2,000 years and was discovered in southern Attica. The goddess statue was well preserved and even the original paintings can be seen on the statues clothes.

Miletus Market Gate

The Pergamon Museum also have a large number of collections from the ancient cities of Assyria, Babylonia and Persia that are displayed in the North East Museum of Pergamon in Berlin, Germany. The art exhibits include the Ishtar Gate coming from about 580 BC and Emperor Nebuchadnezzar II’s throne from 604 to 562 BC. In addition, locals and international tourists can also enjoy glass and metal objects used by the ancient primitive tribes that is also displayed in the North East Museum.

Ishtar Gate

The southern part of the Pergamon Museum in Berlin, Germany, which also called as the Museum of “Islamic Art,” features the collection of various carpets, wooden carvings, illuminated manuscripts and miniatures. Besides Islamic art collections from the 8th to the 9th century ranging from India to Spain. One of the main attractions in the Islamic Art is the Mshatta facade, which originates from an unfinished early Islamic desert palace that can be found in the south of Jordan. The Mshatta facade was a gift from the Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II to Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany. Parts of the eastern portion of the faced and the ruins of the structure of which it formed a part remain in Jordan.

Islamic Art

Mshatta Facade

Another unique exhibition in the Islamic Art section of the Pergamon Museum is the Aleppo room. This area of the museum houses a reception room from a broker’s home in Aleppo, Syria that was commissioned during the Ottoman Period.

Aleppo room

Visiting the Pergamon Museum in Berlin, Germany

For locals and international tourists who wish to visit the Pergamon Museum can find it in the so-called “Museum Island,” that is located in the most central area of Berlin, near the huge square Alexanderplatz. The museum is open weekdays from ten in the morning and closes at six in the evening, except on Thursdays as it closes at ten in the evening. The Pergamon Museum in Berlin, Germany is open on all holidays, including Christmas Day. In New Year’s Eve, the museum closes at two in the afternoon and in New Year it opens at 12 noon. The regular admission fee is ten Euros while the reduced entrance fee is for five Euros. Reduced admission fee are for children below 18 years of age, unemployed and disabled.