Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Most visitors come to the Neues Museum for an audience with the eternally gorgeous Egyp-
tian queen
Nefertiti
. Her bust was created around 1340 BC by the court sculptor Thutmose.
Extremely well preserved, the sculpture was part of the treasure trove unearthed around
1912 by a Berlin expedition of archaeologists who were sifting through the sands of Ar-
mana, the royal city built by Nefertiti's husband, King Akhenaten (r 1353-1336 BC).
Another famous work is the so-called
Berlin Green Head
- the bald head of a priest
carved from smooth green stone. Created around 400 BC in the Late Egyptian Period, it
shows Greek influence and is unusual in that it is not an actual portrait of a specific person
but an idealised figure meant to exude universal wisdom and experience.
Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte
Within this collection, pride of place goes to the
Trojan antiquities
discovered by archae-
ologist Heinrich Schliemann in 1870 near Hisarlik in modern-day Turkey. However, most of
the elaborate jewellery, ornate weapons and gold mugs on display are replicas because the
originals became Soviet war booty after WWII and remain in Moscow. Exceptions are the
three humble-looking 4500-year-old silver jars proudly displayed in their own glass case.
One floor up the grand staircase, just past Nefertiti and the precious
papyrus collection
(room 211), is another head turner: the bronze
Xanten Youth
(room 202), which served as a
dumb waiter in a Roman villa. The massive sculpture of the
sun god Helios
in the south
dome (room 203) also has its admirers.
The recently revamped permanent exhibit on the top floor travels back even further to the
stone, bronze and iron ages. Highlights include the 45,000-year-old
fossilised skull
of an
11-year-old Neanderthal boy found in 1909 in Le Moustier, as well as a newly added recon-
struction of his face. The biggest crowds of all gather around the 3000-year-old
Berliner
Goldhut
(Berlin Gold Hat; room 305). Resembling a wizard's hat, it is covered in elaborate
bands of astronomical symbols and must indeed have struck the Bronze Age people as
something magical. It's one of only four of its kind unearthed worldwide.
Altes Museum
Karl Friedrich Schinkel pulled out all the stops for the grand neoclassical
Altes Museum
concession €10/5; 10am-6pm Tue, Wed & Fri-Sun, 10am-8pm Thu; 100, 200, Friedrichstrasse,
Hackescher Markt)
, which was the first exhibition space to open on Museumsinsel in 1830. A
curtain of fluted columns gives way to a Pantheon-inspired rotunda that's the focal point of a
prized antiquities collection. In the downstairs galleries, sculptures, vases, tomb reliefs and
