Berlin’s Museum Island
Located on a narrow strip of land in the middle of the Spree River, Berlin’s Museum Island (Museumsinsel) is among Germany’s most prized cultural achievements.
Museum Island is home to five museums, built at various times in the 19th and 20th centuries. Each museum has its own history, but all have one thing in common; massive damage sustained during World War II.
The collections held in Museum Island’s institutions come from different time periods and various lands, but together they trace the history of the civilized world.
The importance of Museum Island extends beyond the value of its art and also lies in the design of its buildings and cultural ideals behind its existence. In 1999, UNESCO added Museum Island to its list of World Heritage Sites, elevating its institutions to international prominence.
Old Museum
Although the Old Museum (Altes Museum) opened in 1830, some of its gardens date back to the 17th century. King Friedrich Wilhelm III, who ruled Prussia from 1797 to 1840, ordered the construction of the museum and chose Karl Friedrich Schinkel to create the design.
Built to house the royal art collection, the king imagined the museum as an educational institution, which members of the public could access to learn about art and culture. Schinkel chose a neoclassical style, with finely replicated Greek details. A novelty at the time, the museum was Prussia’s first public museum.
Allied bombs destroyed the Old Museum during World War II, but it reopened in the 1960s. In 2012, work began on a new renovation project, which called for the construction of an atrium, with an estimated cost of around $165 million.
A deep portico stretches across the front of the Old Museum, supported by 18 grand columns. Sculptures stand along the wall of the portico and two bronze statues sit on either side of the main staircase.
The museum’s entrance hall is quite majestic, with a domed rotunda and skylight. The ground floor of the hall features tall Corinthian columns supporting the second floor, along with dozens of Greek statues. At the end of the rotunda, a broad staircase ascends to the upper floor.
The museum’s galleries branch off from two interior courtyards. Today, the Old Museum’s permanent collection includes classical antiquities from ancient Rome and Greece.
Old National Gallery
The Old National Gallery (Alte Nationalgalerie) began as a drawing made by King Friedrich Wilhelm IV in the mid-19th century. Architect Friedrich August Stüler created the design and construction commenced in 1866, five years after Wilhelm IV’s death.
Situated in the middle of Museum Island, the Old National Gallery sports a neoclassical style that resembles an ancient Greek temple. Two exterior staircases, which lead to a portico supported by eight columns, meet at the top and highlight the building’s stately appearance.
During World War II, the museum suffered extensive damage. Besides causing structural harm, Allied bombs also destroyed many of the museum’s original art collection. The collection lost more items during the division of Germany. Some pieces remained in the hands of West Germany, but the Soviets transported others to Russia.
After the fall of the Soviet Union, the collection’s pieces were reunited and placed back in the Old National Gallery. The building received a complete restoration in 2001.
Today, the Old National Gallery holds the works of various well-known artists, including Édouard Manet, Max Liebermann, Claude Monet, Caspar David Friedrich and Adolph von Menzel.
Bode Museum
Situated at the northern end of Museum Island, the Bode Museum (Bodemuseum) was completed in 1904. Originally called the Kaiser-Friedrich Museum, the Bode recently underwent several years of renovation, reopening in 2006.
The Bode, designed by architect Ernst von Ihne, features a neo-Baroque style, stone base and sandstone exterior. Corinthian columns run along all sides of the building and the circular main entrance overlooks the Spree River.
The Bode encompasses three buildings, with five courtyards. The main entrance hall features a magnificent skylight at the top of a dome and two circular staircases leading to the second level.
In the early 20th century, the museum became embroiled in controversy after its general manager bought a sculpture in London, which he attributed to Leonardo da Vinci. However, a subsequent investigation indicated that Richard Cockle Lucas, an English artist, was the actual sculptor. Undeterred, the Bode continued to display the piece as an original da Vinci. Today, the institution exhibits the sculpture, but does not name its creator.
The Bode is home to the Museum of Byzantine Art and holds vast collections of metal works, coins and German Gothic artwork.
Pergamon Museum
The Pergamon Museum (Pergamonmuseum) is the youngest institution on Museum Island. Designed by architects Ludwig Hoffmann and Alfred Messel, the building opened in 1930 amid the political and social turmoil that preceded World War II.
Originally built to hold collections of Greek antiquities, the Pergamon nearly met its end during World War II. However, museum officials moved most of the collection before Allied Forces began bombing Berlin, so most of the items survived. After the war, Russia took some of the museum’s antiquities to the Pushkin and Hermitage Museums, but later returned them to Berlin.
Like the Bode, the Pergamon sits at the edge of the Spree River. The three wings of the museum sit upon raised bases and feature grandiose exterior columns. Many interior galleries have huge skylights, which illuminate exhibits with natural light.
The Pergamon houses some of Germany’s largest antiquities, including the Pergamon Altar. Created in the Asia Minor city of Pergamon as a tribute to the Greek god Zeus, the altar stands more than 110 feet wide and 100 feet deep.
The Ishtar Gate, commissioned by Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar II in 575 B.C., measures 100 feet in width and nearly 50 feet tall. The entire Persia and Babylonia exhibit covers more than 20,000 square feet in over a dozen rooms.
New Museum
The New Museum (Neues Museum), designed by architect Friedrich August Stüler, was opened in 1855 to house a portion of the Old Museum’s burgeoning collections, which included plaster casts, prehistoric art and Egyptian antiquities. In the 19th century, few Berliners had the money to travel abroad, so the New Museum became their window to the outside world.
During World War II, the New Museum suffered massive destruction, leaving its ruins unprotected and vulnerable for decades. In the late 1990s, David Chipperfield, a renowned British architect, received a commission to restore the museum. The resurrected institution opened to the public in 2009.
While the New Museum holds most of its original collection, its layout has changed. Chipperfield redesigned the museum’s galleries in a more open and connected fashion, which allows visitors to move from room to room while following the historical timeline of the collections.
A bust of Egyptian Queen Nefertiti is the centerpiece of the institution. In 1912, Archeologists discovered the statue, which dates back to the 14th century B.C., while excavating the art studio of Thutmose, pharaoh’s official sculptor.
