About the Museum that Catalogues Ancient Cultures
In Museum Island is located one of the most noticeable museums in Berlin – Pergamon Museum (Pergamonmuseum). You can be exposed to difference architecture from different time periods – ancient Greek and Roman, Middle East, and more. The museum was built between the years 1910-1930 by Alfred Bin and Ludwig Hoffman.
So what is the reason that this museum was opened for? When the Kaiser Wilhelm Museum was constructed it was already understood that not all the archeological items that were discovered and collected around the world about be housed there. This is why back in 1907, the decision was made to built another building to house the rest of the collection by Wilhelm von Bode, the Kaiser Museum curator.
More than a million visitors come to the museum each year. This museum today is considered a world heritage site, especially for its unique architecture and the unique collections it possesses.
What to See at the Museum
At the museum anyone can see a few amazing historical exhibits; the Pergamon altar, a marble altar built in the 2nd century BC, in the Greek city of Pergamon, and remained almost intact. Also, on display are 113 meters of the Frieze altar. The market gate from Miletus from the Roman period, the Ishtar Gate which was the eighth entrance to the city of Babylon, the façade of the Shata Palace, and a milk room directly from milk room in Syria. Tourists can also admire the other exhibits from Near Eastern cultures such as Babylon, Assyria, and other great empires of the ancient world.
More at the museum is the fascinating Islamic museum. The Islamic museum used to sit at the entrance to the Kaiser Wilhelm Museum, but was moved here. Among the displays is the façade of the Palace of Shata, today located South of Amman in Jordan. This frontal façade was given as a gift from the Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II to the Kaiser Wilhelm II
There is also an ancient collection of statues from marble and bronze at the museum, and architectural elements from ancient Greece and Rome such as mosaics and jewelry.
Pergamon Museum during World War II
During World War II the building of the museum was badly destroyed. This is also the reason that many of the artifacts were stored ahead of time in a shelter for their protection. Full models were covered by a protective layer. Until today one can see damage to the building from the war on its North side.
In 1945 the Red Army collected the displays and moved them to the Soviet Union. They were returned to German only 13 years later. Not all of them, only parts. The ones that were not returned one can see today in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Overall, even with Russia’s promise to return all items to Germany (an agreement that was signed in 2003), it has still not done so because of a Russian law (Russian law forbids taking archeological finds outside the country).
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