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Museum Island

Berlin is famous for its numerous high quality museums. One guide book I used claimed Berlin has around 150 museums. I don't know if I believe that but there sure are a lot. Most of the better museums are on or near an island in the Spree River known as Museum Island. The museums here I visited include the Museum of Antiquities, National Gallery and Pergomon Museum. There are other museums nearby that I didn't visit. The Berlin Cathedral is also found on Museum Island.

The Museum of Antiquities and National Gallery are apparently in temporary quarters right now. There are other large old buildings that were being renovated. I believe those buildings once complete will then contain these collections. I took quite a few pictures of the objects in these museums but unfortunately most of the time I had no idea what I was looking at so sorry for the poor or missing descriptions of many of these items.

The Pergomon Museum contains the Collection of Antiquities (different than the Museum of Antiquities), Asia Minor Museum and Museum of Islamic Art. The highlight of this museum however is the Altar of Pergomon from the 2nd century BC. It was unearthed in what is now Turkey and moved to Berlin. In addition, the Pergomon museum contains portions of the spectacular Ishtar Gate as well as the market gate of Millet.
Click on thumbnail for a full-size picture

The bridge to the island has these cool statues on it.
And here is the other side.

The Berlin Cathedral.
The building housing the Museum of Antiquities and the National Gallery.
A huge granite bowl was displayed outside.

This is the atrium of the building.

This is the bust of Julius Ceasar.

Oh, I wonder which museum this is.
I see, it's the Pergamon Museum.
The Altar of Pergamon, one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

Scale model of the Altar of Pergamon made out of CORIAN.
Some of the better preserved parts of the relief.
The market gate of Millet.

Just one of the many old columns on display.
Another view of the Market gate of Millet.

The Ishtar Gate.
Another section of the Ishtar Gate.
Scale model of the Ishtar Gate.

This is an old floor mosaic.

An improperly restored marble statue of a young hunter and his dog.

I believe this is to be the new National Gallery once completed.

Comments From People Like You!
Museum Island : Berlin, Germany 2000		Add a Comment add a comment
Backpack Joe
27-Aug-2008 22:39
Those are wonderful pictures!

It also means I missed a lot in my first trip to Berlin. It seems the museums are amazing! Me and my friends were there for the food and beer last time. Most of them lack culture and didn't want to go to boring museums. Those pictures make me want to come back though! Thanks for posting them! Maybe next time, I shall stay longer and rent an apartment like this here: http://www.110apartments.com/new/en/search/germany/berlin/  and I shall try and visit all the things in your pictures.

THanks!
Anonymous
29-Sep-2005 10:01
Delighted to find the information. I would also like information on the Lion Gates of Babylon that I understand is housed in the Pergomon Museum and wish you would add them to the web site .
Offred
18-Jan-2005 15:37
How did Germany obtain these Middle East antiquities?

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