Pergamon Museum

Berlin! First stop (because I got on the bus going the wrong direction and therefore stuffed my backpack in a locker) the Pergamon Museum





So, this is the model of the Pergamon Altar. The alter, at Pergamon in modern day Turkey, was constructed in the 184 BC by Eumenes II in honor of the goddess who brought the Pergamene's victory over their enemies.




Here you can see the altars location within the city of Pergamon.





Here at the museum, the western side of the Pergamon Altar has been reconstructed. It's awesome and so amazing to be able to climb up the stairs and walk all around it.





Beyond the great structure itself, is the frieze that runs around the entire temple. While on the steps, facing west, the museum has reconstructed much of the eastern frieze. The entire frieze is a gigantomachy, the defeat of chaos and giants by the Olympian gods. Here we have Artemis throwing down and a giant/serpent.





The frieze is HELLENISM at its finest. It's the movement and emotion in contrast to the static and "emotionless" of classicism. Here on the right, we have Athena, with her left hand, lifting up a giant by the head before throwing him to the ground, while with her right hand she beats off an attack with her shield.





Notice the goddess with the calm face and the pain/terror on the gods face.





The frieze even is squeezed into the area bordered by the steps. Here the ocean gods are forcing the enemy towards the mouth of a waiting lion.





Here, in another room, is the reconstruction of the gate to the Temple of Athena, also excavated by Pergamon.





Just seeing the Pergamon Altar would have made me happy, but I step into the next room and find the Market Gate of Miletus. Created in the 2nd century AD and was the grand portal to the towns central market. It is so well preserved because it was buried in an 12th century earthquake.






And the hits keep on coming with the reconstruction of the Ishtar Gate of Babylon. It was constructed by King Nebuchadnezzar in 575BC.





The door here is the 8th door to the inner city of Babylon. Actually, the one reconstructed here in Berlin is the SMALLER of the two. The larger one is in storage.





This is the reconstruction of the processional walkway leading to the gate. The actual processional walkway was actually wider.





One of the lions (there are also dragons) that guard the door. Each brick was individually fired and glazed and set into place.





The Germans, back in the early 1900's were quite active in archeological work in the Middle East. There is a great islamic art section. Here is the wall of a Umayyad winter palace commissioned by Al-Walid II in 743BC.





The Konya Prayer Niche









There was a great exhibit about a private art collection that was bombed during WWII. The collection was broken into pieces like this.





It's amazing how the historians can piece together the original piece. Can you imagine finding fragments of a frieze and then trying (such as the gigantomachy of the Pergamon Altar) and then piecing it back together, without actually knowing what the original picture is?





A last view of the amazing Pergamon Altar. One great event that happened during my visit to the museum was I met a fellow Bay Area museum goer. We ended up hanging out during our museum stay and then met up for drinks the next day.