With so many museums in Berlin to visit and not so much time, you might only want to visit the best ones. If this is so, then don’t miss spending a day in Pergamon Museum or popularly known in German as Pergamonmuseum.
It is just one on a group of museums in Berlin called Museum Island. Alfred Messel and Ludwig Hoffman designed it between the periods 1910 to 1930. The museum has the following subdivision: the antiquity collection, the Middle East museum and the Islamic Art. It is said that Pergamon Museum is the most visited museum in Germany with approximately 850 thousand people each year.
How It Started
Before you visit Pergamon Museum, you might be interested to know that it was constructed to accommodate the many German excavations in Babylon, Uruk, Priene and Egypt. Since the Germans want to display these excavations, they need a new museum to accommodate these together with ancient architecture, German post-antiquity art and others.
Although Alfred Messel died before its finished, his close friend Ludwig Hoffman took charge even until the First World War. During the Second World War, the museum was damaged when Berlin was air attacked. Some of the items were put in safe places but majority became war booty.
Some Tips when Visiting Pergamon Museum
Better start early when visiting this museum because you really need time to explore it. You will be astounded with the efforts made by German archaeologist to uncover and retrieve even an entire temple. There are also large parts of legendary works that is amazingly sitting in this museum.
You can take the Bus 100 in Berlin and then get off at the Friedrichstrasse stop. From there, it is only a few minutes walk to the museum.
The entrance fees at the Pergamon Museum are 6 euros for adults and 3 euros for children. The entry fees already include a pair of headphones and an mp3 audio presentation. The audio presentation is available in many languages may it be English, Italian, German, Japanese and French.
If you only intend to stay for 2 or 3 hours, you will not be able to see the whole museum. It is suggested that you take one day to savor the experience and lose yourself on your journey to ancient history.
Would you like to see Pergamon Museum for free? This is also possible every Thursday night at 6:00 PM to 10:00 PM. You will have four hours to explore the museum although you cannot access all the cultural exhibitions.