Another day, another tourist attraction, this time the Pergamon Museum which is located on Berlin’s so-called ‘Museum Island’ just up the wide boulevard from the Brandenburg Gate and next to the Dom cathedral in the centre of the city.
The Pergamon Museum is a massive structure, built between 1910 and 1930, to house the large structures excavated and transported to Germany by archeologists over the preceding years, from areas as diverse as Greece, Turkey and Iraq.
On a visit to the museum expect to find the impressive reconstructed Pergamon Altar from the ancient Greek city of the same name (the site of its excavation is now near the modern Turkish port of Izmir), the colourful blue-glazed Ishtar Gate from ancient Babylon (the remains of which can be found in one of the provinces of modern-day Iraq) and the monumental market gate of the ancient Turkish seaport of Miletus. In addition to these huge objects you’ll also see many examples of the most intricate and sophisticated artworks from the ancient Muslim world (at a time in Western Europe when we were just about able to make simple clay pots) and an extensive collection of woven carpets and tapestries.
This is Germany’s most visited arts and culture museum, so again its definitely a good way to spend a day in Berlin. I should mention though that unlike London, most museums in Berlin charge a fee – the cost for an adult to enter the Pergamon museum is a less than modest 10 euros, but you will get a good few hours of jaw-droppingly impressive historical artifacts for your money!
From Pergamon Museum December 2010 |