Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
1876, resembles a Corinthian temple and is fronted by an imposing equestrian statue
of its royal patron, Friedrich Wilhelm IV.
Particularly noteworthy among the Alte Nationalgalerie's collection are several works of
the “
German Romans
”: mid-nineteenth-century artists like Anselm Feuerbach and Arnold
Böcklin, who spent much of their working lives in Italy. Böcklin's eerie, dreamlike
Isle of
the Dead
retains its power even today. A highlight of this school is the Casa Bartholdy
frescoes
, softly illuminated paintings by Peter Cornelius, Wilhelm Veit and others that
illustrate the story of Joseph. he broad canvases of Adolph von Menzel strike a rather
different note: though chiefly known during his lifetime for his detailed depictions of
court life under Frederick the Great, it's his interpretations of Berlin on the verge of the
industrial age, such as
he Iron Foundry
, that make more interesting viewing today.
Other rooms contain important
Impressionist
works by van Gogh, Degas, Monet and
native son Max Liebermann, plus statues by Rodin. But it's on the top floor, in the
Galerie der Romantik
, with its collection of nineteenth-century paintings from the
German Romantic, Classical and Biedermeier movements, that the collection is at its
most powerful. he two central rooms here contain work by
Karl Friedrich Schinkel
and
Caspar David Friedrich
. Schinkel was the architect responsible for the Neoclassical design
of the Altes Museum (see p.56) and his paintings are meticulously drawn Gothic
fantasies, often with sea settings.
Gothic Church on a Rock by the Sea
is the most moodily
dramatic and didactic in purpose: the medieval knights in the foreground ride next to a
prayer tablet - Schinkel believed that a rekindling of medieval piety would bring about
the moral regeneration of the German nation. But more dramatic are the works of
Caspar David Friedrich
, all of which express a powerful elemental and religious approach
to landscape. Particularly characteristic of the brooding drama of his Romantic
sensibility is
Abbey Among Oak Trees
of 1809, perhaps the best known of his works.
2
Pergamonmuseum
Bodestr. 1-3 • Fri-Wed 10am-6pm, Thurs 10am-8pm • €14, €18 with all other Museum Island museums on a Bereichskarte (see p.23) •
W
smb.museum • S-Hackescher Markt
he
Pergamonmuseum
is accessible from Am Kupfergraben on the south bank of the
River Spree. It's a massive structure, built in the early part of the twentieth century in the
style of a Babylonian temple to house the treasure trove of the German archeologists who
were busy plundering the ancient world, packaging it up and sending it back to Berlin.
he most important of the museum's three sections is the
Department of Antiquities
on
the main floor. It contains the
Pergamon Altar
, a huge structure dedicated to Zeus and
Athena, from around 170 BC, which was unearthed at Bergama in western Turkey by
archeologist Carl Humann and brought to Berlin in 1903. he
frieze
shows a tremendous
battle between the gods and giants, with powerfully depicted figures writhing in a mass
of sinew and muscle. To the rear of the Altar is the
Telephos Frieze
, another amazing
Pergamon find, which originally adorned the interior of the Pergamon Altar, depicts the
life story of Telephos, the legendary founder of Pergamon, and is a bit more sedate. he
section also contains other pieces of Hellenistic and Classical architecture, including
the two-storey
market gate
from the Turkish town of Miletus. Built by the Romans in
120 AD, the gate was destroyed by an earthquake just under a thousand years later and
brought to Berlin in fragmentary form for reconstruction during the nineteenth century.
he
Middle Eastern Section
, also on the main floor, has items dating back four
thousand years to Babylonian times. he collection includes the enormous
Ishtar Gate
(see box, p.58), the
Processional Way
and the facade of the
Throne Room
from Babylon,
all of which date from the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II in the sixth century BC. It's
impossible not to be awed by the size and the remarkable state of preservation of the
deep-blue enamelled bricks - but bear in mind that much of it is a mock-up, built
around the original finds.
Pride of place in the museum's
Islamic Section
goes to the relief-decorated facade of a
Jordanian
Prince's Palace
at Mshatta, from 743 AD, presented to Kaiser Wilhelm II by
