Pergamonmuseum, Archaeological museum in Museum Island, Berlin, Germany
The Pergamon Museum is an archaeological museum on Museum Island in central Berlin that houses three collections showing objects from antiquity, the ancient Near East, and Islamic art within a building designed in the neoclassical style. The interior spaces were built around large reconstructions of ancient monuments, allowing visitors to walk through recreated city gates and colonnaded halls.
Alfred Messel designed the three-wing building from 1906; after his death in 1909 Ludwig Hoffmann took over, and construction ran from 1910 to 1930, delayed by World War I and the inflation of the 1920s. It opened in 1930. Air raids at the end of World War II severely damaged the museum; many objects had been stored elsewhere or walled in, and in 1945 the Red Army removed unattended items, most of which returned to East Germany only in 1958.
The collection of Islamic art displays carpets, carved doors, and wall panels from different regions of the Middle East, including the Mshatta facade from Jordan and rooms from Aleppo with painted wood interiors. Visitors walk through reconstructed spaces decorated with tiles and see everyday objects such as ceramic vessels and illuminated manuscripts.
The museum has been fully closed since 23 October 2023 for a general renovation; the North Wing is scheduled to reopen in 2027, while full reopening is planned for 2037. The Pergamon Altar hall stays shut to the general public. The building stands at the end of a long forecourt facing the Spree, on Museum Island.
The halls were designed directly around the archaeological finds, so ceiling heights and floor plans follow the dimensions of the ancient structures themselves. Some walls still carry traces of shrapnel from World War II.
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