Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
A THIRTEEN
YEAR
LONG FACELIFT
At more than 2600 years old, it's perhaps high time that the
Ishtar Gate
- one of the eight
fabled gates of the ancient city of Babylon, and one of the Pergamonmuseum's biggest draws
- got a face lift. Partly because of the museum's humidity and lack of air conditioning, the
13m-high gate needed work in around a thousand places, mainly on the glaze that seals the
enamel tiles, about one-tenth of which are original. The process involves cleaning each section
then slowly injecting chemicals into it, which will happen in front of an average of two
thousand visitors a day. Completing the entire process is expected to take until 2019.
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the sultan of Turkey. Slightly more modest is a thirteenth-century
prayer niche
decorated
with turquoise, black and gold tiles, from a mosque in Asia Minor. Another highlight
is the
Aleppo Room
, a reception chamber with carved wooden wall decorations,
reassembled in Berlin after being removed from a merchant's house in present-day Syria.
Bode-Museum
Am Kupfergraben • Tues, Wed & Fri-Sun 10am-6pm, Thurs 10am-8pm • €10, €18 with all other Museum Island museums on a
Bereichskarte (see p.23) •
W
smb.museum • S-Hackescher Markt
he stocky, neo-Baroque
Bode-Museum
at the northern tip of Museum Island suffered
such heavy damage in World War II that it was scheduled for demolition in the late
1940s, until Berliners protested in the streets.
Expensive renovation over the years has created impressive results: opulent entrances
and stairways, a swish first-floor
café
, and, most importantly, a seamless backdrop for
one of Europe's most impressive
sculpture collections
.
Wilhelm von Bode, the first
director of the museum that now bears his name, would probably have approved: his
ambition, to present a complete history of European sculpture and place in a proper
context, led to his scouring Europe for items like fireplaces, frescoes and even whole
ceilings for the museum. he present set-up isn't quite as exhaustive, but despite
wartime losses the collection represents a good tour of European sculpture between the
third and nineteenth centuries. A particular strength is the early
Italian Renaissance
with pieces by Luca della Robbia, Donatello, Desiderio da Settignano, Francesco
Laurana and Mino da Fiesole among the highlights. Also from Italy is the unusual
attraction of the
Tiepolo-Kabinett
, a small white and pastel room rich in stucco
ornamentation and immaculate frescoes by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, in a 1759
work originally located in a north Italian village.
he
German collection
is equally authoritative, particularly in sections detailing the
Middle Ages - including work by masters like the late fifteenth-century woodcarver
Tilman Riemenschneider, along with Hans Multscher, Hans Brüggemann, Nicolaus
Gerhaert van Leyden and Hans Leinberger. Equally significant, particularly in the local
context, are sculptures of several proud and imposing Prussian generals by Andreas
Schlüter, created for Wilhelmplatz - a square in Berlin's former government quarter
(see p.40); the imposing statue of Friedrich Wilhelm I sitting astride a horse in the
museum lobby is also his work.
Also in the building is a collection of
Byzantine Art
, said to be second only to that of
Istanbul's archeological museum. It's particularly strong on early Christian religious items,
as well as featuring ornamental Roman sarcophagi and several intricate mosaics and ivory
carvings. Finally, the museum is also home to an extraordinary
Numismatic
collection
.
hough mainly appealing to those with a specialist interest, it's worth a quick look for its
gigantic size - around half-a-million coins - and the prize possessions, which include
seventh-century coins that were among some of the first to have ever been minted.
he collection suffered greatly during the war, with many pieces in storage being
irreparably damaged, such as the early sixteenth-century bust by Antonio della Porta,
damaged by fire and now resembling a gruesomely disfigured figure or traumatized
victim of war, which is displayed in the museum as a memorial to the others.
