Bereichsnavigation 2. Ebene
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Pergamonmuseum
Bereichsnavigation 2. Ebene
The Pergamonmuseum, the youngest of the five buildings of the Museumsinsel, was opened in 1930. The orientation of the neighbouring buildings to the Lustgarten and the Palace was given up in favour of an axis that was to pass by Humboldt University to the street Unter den Linden and on to the Brandenburger Tor. This shift of the axis and the immensity of the structure permanently changed the historic concept of the Museumsinsel.
This three winged construct drafted by Alfred Messel starting in 1906 was executed after his death by Ludwig Hoffmann under the most difficult of technical as well as political conditions and completed after 20 years of construction. The fourth wing at the Kupfergraben and the portico in the central forum were not realised. Four museums shared the new building, with the Deutsches Museum in the North Wing, the Antikenmuseum (Classical Antiquities) in the central block and the Vorderasiatisches (Ancient Near East) and Islamisches (Islamic Art) museums in the South Wing.
The war damages of 1945 were remedied between 1948 and 1959, with the Kunstgewerbemuseum (Museum of Applied Arts) and the Ostasiatisches (Far East) Museum taking the place of the Deutsches Museum in the North Wing. During 1980-1982 a new entrance pavilion was constructed to handle the rapidly rising number of visitors. Indeed, due to its unique exhibition programme of ancient monumental architecture, the Pergamonmuseum has become one of the most popular museums in Berlin, attracting approximately one million visitors every year.
