Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Before breaking for coffee at the elegant cafe, pop back down to the ground floor where the
Museum of Byzantine Art takes up just a few rooms off the grand domed foyer. It presents
mainly western Roman and Byzantine art from the 3rd to the 15th centuries. The elaborate
Roman sarcophagi, the ivory carvings and the mosaic icons point to the high level of artistry
in these early days of Christianity.
Münzsammlung
Coin collectors will get a kick out of the Numismatic Collection on the 2nd floor. With half
a million coins - and counting - it's one of the largest of its kind in the world, even if only a
small fraction can be displayed at one time. The oldest farthing is from the 7th century BC
and displayed in a special case alongside the smallest, largest, fattest and thinnest coins.
Alte Nationalgalerie
The Greek temple-style Alte Nationalgalerie (Old National Gallery; MAP GOOGLE MAP ;
030-266 424 242; www.smb.museum ; Bodestrasse 1-3; adult/concession €10/5; 10am-6pm Tue,
Wed & Fri-Sun, 10am-8pm Thu; 100, 200, Hackescher Markt) , open since 1876, is a three-
storey showcase of first-rate 19th-century European art. It was a tumultuous century, charac-
terised by revolutions and industrialisation that brought about profound changes in society.
Artists reacted to the new realities in different ways. While German romantics like Caspar
David Friedrich sought solace in nature and the Nazarenes like Anselm Feuerbach turned to
religious subjects, the epic canvases of Adolf Menzel and Franz Krüger glorified moments
in Prussian history, and the impressionists focused on nature and aesthetics.
Johann Gottfried Schadow's Statue of Two Princesses and a bust of Johann Wolfgang
von Goethe are standout sculptures on the ground floor. In the next galleries, Adolf Menzel
gets the star treatment - look for his famous A Flute Concert of Frederick the Great at
Sanssouci , showing the king playing the flute at his Potsdam palace.
The 2nd floor shows impressionist paintings by such famous French artists as Monet, De-
gas, Cezanne, Renoir and Manet, whose In the Conservatory is considered a masterpiece.
Among the Germans, there's Arnold Böcklin's Isle of Death and several canvases by Max
Liebermann.
Romantics rule the top floor where all eyes are on Caspar David Friedrich's mystical
landscapes and the Gothic fantasies of Karl Friedrich Schinkel. Also look for key works by
Carl Blechen and portraits by Philip Otto Runge and Carl Spitzweg.
Search WWH ::




Custom Search