Pergamon Museum

The Pergamon Museum stands on Museum Island in central Berlin. Built between 1910 and 1930 to designs by Alfred Messel and Ludwig Hoffmann, it is a Stripped Classicism building. Emperor Wilhelm II ordered its construction to house growing archaeological finds. The museum once displayed the Pergamon Altar, the Ishtar Gate from Babylon and the Market Gate of Miletus. It formed part of the Museum Island complex added to UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 1999.

The collections grew from 17th-century acquisitions by Brandenburg’s rulers. Excavations at Miletus, Priene and Babylon supplied much of the material. Carl Humann recovered the Pergamon Altar during work in Asia Minor. The Islamic Art Museum and the Middle East Museum shared the building, showing artefacts from across the Islamic world and ancient Mesopotamia. After wartime damage and Soviet removals, many pieces only returned decades later.

Visitors once entered through the Court of Honor to see the monumental halls. The Pergamon Altar’s 113-metre frieze depicted gods and giants in high relief. The Ishtar Gate’s glazed bricks glowed blue and gold along the Processional Way. Smaller rooms held the Mshatta Façade and fragments of the Epic of Gilgamesh. Temporary displays now occupy a nearby panorama space while the main building undergoes renovation.