Berlin – The Germans worked hard on exploration of archaeological sites in the Middle East and North Africa in the second half of the 19th Century and in the early 20th Century. Many of the discoveries made may be viewed at museums in Berlin, including the neighbouring Neues Museum and Pergamon Museum, which have collections of Ancient Egypt, Classic Antiquity, the Ancient Middle East and Islamic art, among others.
Among the highlights of Neues Museum is the famous painted bust of queen Nefertiti, discovered in 1913 by a German expedition at a dig in the Egyptian site of Amarna, at the ruins of Akhetaten, the capital of Egypt during the reign of pharaoh Amenhotep IV, better known as Akhenaten, from 1351 to 1334 b.C.
The work impresses for its realism, different from the traditional Egyptian works, in which kings and queens are represented in a stylized manner, with perfect physical attributes. It is also impressive for the excellence of preservation of colours, not common in items that are so old. It is not just a symbol of the museum, but of the German capital itself, being referred to as the “most beautiful woman in Berlin” in the tourist promotion material.
It is, in fact, beautiful, but is the subject of dispute between Germany and Egypt, which has been requesting that the object be returned for some time.
The bust was found in what is believed to be the ruins of the workshop of Tuthmosis, head sculptor for Akhetaten, alongside several other sculptures of the kind, including one in the similarity of the pharaoh himself which, unfortunately, was very damaged and is called “the green head of Berlin”, a realist item that reveals the great evolution of art in the period. Still in the Amarna collection, another point to be highlighted is the head of queen Tiy, supposedly Akhenaten’s mother.
The collection from Ancient Egypt is vast and also includes complete mortuary chambers brought from the graves, or “mastabas”, of Saqqara, the necropolis of the first dynastic cycle in Egypt, the Ancient Kingdom, located close to Cairo; as well as sarcophagi, mummies, jewellery, statues and varied objects.
There is also a wing dedicated to the ancient region of Nubia, or Kush, the ancient Egyptian name to the region that is currently in Sudan, with items from the Meroe kingdom, which flourished after the year 3 b.C.
Beside it, Pergamon Museum is named after an ancient Greek city in Asia Minor, current Turkey. There, the Pergamon Altar, from the 2nd century b.C. was rebuilt, with its impressive frieze that tells the story of the battle between gods and titans. From Turkey, the Germans also brought, stone by stone, the monumental Roman Market Gate of Miletus.
On crossing the Roman portico, visitors travel in space and time, to arrive in the Babylon of Nebuchadnezzar II, who ruled from 604 to 562 b.C. The ruins located in what is current Iraq were dug by German archaeologists. The museum reproduced Ishtar Gate and other sculptures of the royal palace with original relief and friezes copied from the original, rebuilt like a jigsaw puzzle.
Pergamon also has a wing dedicated to Islamic art with many items from the Arab world, including sculpted wooden facing of a house in Aleppo, Syria, and handicraft from Samara, in Iraq, among others.
Apart from the collections, the museums themselves are an attraction. Neues Museum, for example, was built in the mid 19th Century and was practically destroyed, as was much of Berlin, during the 2nd World War. The building was restored in the last decade and reopened to the public only in 2009. The collections were spread throughout different museums in the capital of Berlin up to then.
Neues and Pergamon are part of the Museumsinsel, or the Museum Island, a strip of land along the River Spree, which crosses the German capital, and includes another three museums: the Bode-Museum, the Alte Nationalgalerie and the Altes Museum.
Service
Neues Museum and Pergamon Museum
Bodestrasse, 1 – 3, 10178, Berlin, Germany
Open from Friday to Wednesday from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm, and on Thursday to 8:00 pm
Tickets:
At the gate, 12 euros, or 11 euros on site https://secure.smb.museum/smb/shop/ticket_list.php?n=1
For 18 euros it is possible to buy a one-day ticket to all the museums on Museumsinsel
Children and youths up to the age of 18 may enter for free and there are discounts for other categories of visitors
Further information:
Tel.: +4930 266 42 42 42
E-mail: service@smb.museum
Sites: www.neues-museum.de and www.smb.museum/smb/standorte/index.php?p=2&objID=27&n=17
*Translated by Mark Ament
