visit berlin pergamon

• Pergamon Museum Berlin
• Bode Museum Berlin
• Neues Museum Berlin
• Alte Nationalgalerie Berlin
• Altes Museum Berlin

Opening Hours

Getting There

• Buy Berlin WelcomeCard
• 5-Museum Ticket
• Pergamon Museum Panorama Ticket
• Neues Museum Ticket
• Bode Museum Ticket
• Alte Nationalgalerie Ticket
• Berlin TV Tower Tickets
• Madame Tussauds Ticket
• Cafés & Restaurants
• Things to Do

PERGAMON MUSEUM BERLIN

Find here important information to plan your visit, including the historical and architectural side , collection and opening hours

Important information: The Pergamonmuseum on Museum Island Berlin is expected to be closed to visitors from October 23, 2023 until spring 2027 due to renovation work as part of the "Museum Island Master Plan" . The exhibition " The Panorama " of the Pergamonmuseum will continue to be accessible during this time.

HISTORY / ARCHITECTURE

The Historical Journey of the Pergamon Museum Berlin

The Pergamon Museum is a preserved museum located on Museum Island in the capital of Germany, Berlin. It's a must-see and one of Berlin's most visited and significant archaeological museums, under the UNESCO heritage.

Pergamon (Bergama) is a district located in the İzmir province of Turkey. The main reason for the presence of the Pergamon Altar from Pergamon in Berlin is primarily attributed to the discoveries made by the German engineer Carl Humann in the Pergamon region.

 Following the unveiling of Troy by the renowned merchant and archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann, a fervor for excavations erupted in the 19th century. German explorers journeyed to Pergamon , Miletus , Babylon , Uruk , Assur , and Egypt . During this period, the Ottoman Empire, the ruler of the area, granted permission for the export of significant architectural monuments, sculptures, and minor treasures to Berlin.

As the latest addition to Museum Island Berlin, it was inaugurated in 1930. The Pergamon Museum’s design , initiated by Alfred Messel in 1906, was completed by Ludwig Hoffmann after Messel's passing.

The Pergamon Museum Berlin Building's Architectural Side

In the early 1900s, Wilhelm von Bode, the director of the Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum , envisioned constructing a large three-winged museum to house artifacts unearthed during ongoing excavations. Inspired by this vision, the Bergama Museum, designed in the Neoclassical style by Alfred Messel, came to life between 1910 and 1930 in a simplified manner under the guidance of Ludwig Hoffmann. The museum was planned to encompass works of ancient architecture, post-antique German art , and art from the Middle East and Islamic cultures . Despite the challenges posed by World War I, the museum's construction continued, culminating in its grand opening in 1930.

The three-winged complex boasts a simple and archaic architectural design. The Pergamon Museum's exterior showcases grand facades, monumental entrances , and intricate detailing that evoke the splendor of ancient civilizations . Its design masterfully balances historical references with contemporary aesthetics. The facades often exhibit ornate decorations, friezes, and reliefs inspired by ancient architecture, establishing a visual connection to the treasures within.

Inside, the museum's layout is meticulously crafted to offer visitors a dynamic and immersive experience.

Overall, the Pergamon Museum's architecture stands as a testament to the significance of the artifacts it houses. Its design not only complements but also elevates the historical treasures, providing visitors with a captivating journey through time and culture as they explore the museum's exceptional architecture and unparalleled collection.

The Pergamon Museum's Collections (Permanent Exhibition)

Currently, the Pergamon Museum in Berlin houses three very important and worth-seeing collections.

Let's get to know these three collections more closely!

1. Antikensammlung (Collection of Classical Antiquities)

This collection includes collections of ancient Greek and Roman architectural monuments. It is exhibited in three separate museum buildings on Museum Island (Museumsinsel) in Berlin. The most impressive work of ancient Greek art is the Pergamon Altar, an example of Hellenistic art . In Roman architecture, it is the Gate of Miletus .

*The Pergamon Altar will be closed until the year 2025.

2. Vorderasiatisches Museum (Museum of the Ancient Near East)

In this section of the Pergamon Museum, you can find artifacts from the regions of Mesopotamia , Syria , and Anatolia . These remarkable pieces encompass nearly 270,000 objects from Babil, Assur, Uruk, and Sam'al. Architecturally significant , you can visit the massive architectural reconstructions of the Ishtar Gate and Babylon's Processional Way here. You should definitely explore the cuneiform writings on clay tablets, which are the oldest known written documents in history.

3. Museum für Islamische Kunst (Museum for Islamic Art)

This section contains very important and unique artifacts from the Islamic world . These artifacts encompass decorative arts and archaeological pieces.

The most impressive points are the intricately decorated stone facade of the caliph's Mshatta palace (Jordan) and the famous Aleppo Room with its brightly painted wooden panels (Syria).

Highlights of the collection

- Pergamon Altar

- Market Gate of Miletus

- Ishtar Gate with the Processional Way of Babylon

- Mshatta Facade

Pergamon Museum Berlin Tickets & Tours

Pergamon Museum Entrance Ticket

Visit the most famous part of the Berlin Museum Island. See the main attractions: the colorful Ishtar Gate and the Processional way from Babylon. Gaze in wonder at the richly decorated stone façade of the Mshatta palace

+ More details

4.6 / 5 (2.3K)

Berlin Museum Island: All Exhibitions Day-Ticket

Discover Museum Island in Berlin with this ticket that is valid for one day in all houses of the Museum Island (Altes Museum, Neues Museum, Bodemuseum, Das Panorama, Alte Nationalgalerie).

4.5 / 5 (879)

Berlin WelcomeCard: Public Transport & Museum Island + Discounts

Explore Berlin with the Berlin WelcomeCard with exclusive access to the 5 museums on Berlin’s Museum Island and free transport in AB and ABC zones.

4.3 / 5 (2.1K)

Tickets for Pergamon Museum

Take a trip back in time with the Pergamon's huge collection of art, architecture and artifacts from the ancient world. See the Ishtar Gate, one of the original Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, among other treasures of antiquity. Pick up a free audio guide with your Pergamon Museum tickets to help make sense of the fascinating pieces of human history

4.7 / 5 (409)

Neues Museum + Pergamon Museum

See the famous head of Tiye (one of the most influential women in ancient Egypt) and the bust of Nefertiti. Walk around ancient archaeological finds from the Stone, Ice, Iron and Bronze ages - a guaranteed history lesson to remember. Learn about ancient cultures, their daily lives and the art and tools that shaped their worlds, all in the middle of Berlin!

+ More Combo & City Passes

Plan Your Visit to the Pergamon Museum Berlin

James-Simon-Galerie, Bodestraße, 10178 Berlin.

(The entrances take place from here.)

Getting to Pergamon Museum Berlin

- S-Bahn: Friedrichstraße, Hackescher Markt

- U-Bahn: Museumsinsel (Museumsinsel) (U5)

- Tram : Am Kupfergraben, Hackescher Markt

- Bus: Staatsoper, Lustgarten, Friedrichstraße

Starting from October 23, 2023, the Pergamon Museum on Berlin's Museum Island will be closed for visits until the spring of 2027 due to necessary renovation works as part of the "Museum Island Master Plan”. Therefore, the working hours are as follows from July 1st (Saturday) to October 22nd, 2023 (Sunday).             >> More Information

* Everyday open from 09:00 am - 07: pm (Mondays closed)

* The Panorama of the Pergamon Museum will remain open during the closure of the Pergamon Museum.

* Working hours may change on special occasions.

Things to Know Before Visiting the Pergamon Museum Berlin

A coat check service is provided for storing coats and bulky belongings that may pose a security issue during exhibitions. You will need a coin for this service.

Children and young people under the age of 18 are admitted free of charge. Children below the age of 6 are also free. Don’t forget to bring the ID of your children .

You must read the rules of the museum ticket you purchased. It is necessary to entry the museums within the specified time slot on the ticket . 

In Berlin, Sunday is a free museum day . However, it is essential to make a reservation even for these museums.

The Pergamon Museum, located in the Museum Island of Berlin, is a large museum. We recommend choosing sports shoes as you will be walking a lot.

We recommend joining guided or audio-guided tours to understand the extensive history of the Pergamon Museum and explore its cultural heritage comfortably.

Frequently Asked Questions About Pergamon Museum in Berlin

What is the pergamon museum known for.

The Pergamon Museum in Berlin hosts three very important and worth-seeing collections. However, it is renowned for the Pergamon Altar (180-160 BC).   >Detailed information about the Pergamon Museum

Is the Pergamon Panorama worth it?

The Asisi Panorama at the Pergamon Museum offers an easily understandable and monumental concept with a 360° view of an ancient city in Asia Minor.

How long do you need at Pergamon Museum?

This may vary depending on your interest. However, it is recommended to plan for a minimum of 2 hours.  >More information about visit duration

Why is the Pergamon Museum in Berlin?

Pergamon (Bergama) is a district in the Izmir province of Turkey. The main reason for the presence of the Bergama Zeus Altar in Berlin is primarily due to the discoveries made by the German engineer Carl Humann in the Bergama region. The Zeus Altar is one of the most admired works of the Hellenistic era. The artifact has been exhibited in Berlin since 1910.

Why is the Pergamon Altar important?

Monumental architectural endeavors, including the Pergamon Altar, served as a crucial means for the Attalids to assert their legitimacy as rightful successors of Alexander's empire and, consequently, the heritage of Classical Greece. The Altar stands prominently in the foreground, while a model of the acropolis at Pergamon is displayed.

Why will Pergamon Museum close?

Starting from October 23, 2023, the Pergamon Museum on Berlin's Museum Island will be closed for visits until the spring of 2027 due to necessary renovation works as part of the "Museum Island Master Plan."

Useful links

Privacy Policy

Terms and conditions

Cafes & Restaurants

Tickets & Guided Tours

HOW TO GET THERE

Google Maps

Copyright 2023 , all rights reserved.

Visit the Pergamon Museum with Ishtar Gate in Berlin

The Pergamon Museum with its Greek temple from antiquity, the Ishtar Gate from Babylon, and Islamic art is the most popular museum in Berlin.

The Pergamon Museum on Museum Island is the most-visited museum in Berlin. The museum covers architectural structures from classical antiquity, important items from the ancient Near East, and one of the largest collections of Islamic Art in the world. The top must-see sights in the Pergamon Museum include the Greek Pergamon Altar, the Roman Market Gate of Miletus, the Ishtar Gate and Processional Way of Babylon, the stone façade of the caliph’s palace of Mshatta, and the Aleppo Room. Buy tickets online with timeslot admission or make free time reservations when using discount combination savings tickets.

NOTE: The entire Pergamon Museum will be closed from 23 October 2023 and only partly reopen in spring 2027. All tickets have sold out but are still easy to obtain for the Pergamon Das Panorama exhibition.

Top Collections in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin

The Pergamon Museum in Berlin houses three world-class collections of the Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin :

• Classical Antiquities / Antikensammlung – one of the world’s most important collections of Greek and Roman art.
• Museum of the Ancient Near East / Vorderasiatische Museum – 6,000 years of cultural history from mainly Mesopotamia, Syria, and Anatolia.
• Museum of Islamic Art / Museum für Islamische Kunst – one of the largest collections of Islamic art in the world.

The six most-popular must-see items in the Pergamon Museum are:

• The Pergamon Altar – A Greek temple façade – not currently open to the public (but some items may be seen in the special Pergamon Das Panorama exhibition .)
• The Ishtar Gate of Babylon – impossible to miss and the largest part is not even on display.
• The Market Gate of Miletus – a Roman façade and the largest object from antiquity rebuilt inside a museum.
• Mshatta Palace Façade – a decorated wall from the caliph’s palace in Jordan (around 740 AD).
• Aleppo Room – the 400-year-old painted wood panels from a rich merchant’s house in Aleppo.
• Alhambra Cupola – a carved wooden ceiling from Spain.

TIP: Plan on spending at least two to three hours in the Pergamon Museum but if rushed, at least see the six most popular items

The Classical Antiquities Collection in the Pergamon Museum

Only a small selection of the Berlin State Museums antiquities collection is on display in the Pergamon Museum but these generally are the largest architectural items. The rest of the antiquities collection is in the Altes and Neues Museum – see Berlin State Museums – What Is Seen Where? for more details.

The Greek Pergamon Altar

The Pergamon Altar that the museum is named after, is not actually an altar but rather the full front of a Greek temple from the 2nd century BC. Not only the friezes but also columns were brought to Berlin allowing a third of the original temple to be reconstructed in full size. The main theme of the frieze depicts the Olympian gods in battle with the Giants.

The Altar and the rest of the Greek collection are not currently on display due to the construction work in the museum. A special temporary exhibition — Pergamonmuseum. Das Panorama — runs until 2024 to show some of the Pergamon sculptures in addition to a huge 360° panorama painting by Yadegar Asisi.

The Pergamonmuseum will be closed from October 2023 but the Hellenic Halls, Pergamon Altar, Ishtar Gate, and Islamic Art Museum should be accessible again from spring 2027, while other parts of the museum will probably open in phases over the following decade.

The Market Gate of Miletus in the Pergamon Museum, Berlin

The façade of the Roman market gate from Miletus is the largest reconstruction of a monument from antiquity inside a museum. This 2nd-century AD gate from Miletus in Asia Minor is nearly 16 m high and 29 m wide. Around 60% of the display is original material.

Several further large Roman statues and architectural features are on display. Arguably the most impressive is the large floor mosaic from a private home with two scenes: Orpheus playing the lyre surrounded by enchanted animals contrasted by a more violent hunting scene in an adjacent room.

Museum of the Ancient Near East in the Pergamon

The largest part of the Pergamon Museum is currently used for the Museum of the Ancient Near East. This collection consists of 270,00 items but only a small fraction is on display, especially the larger items.

With the Pergamon Altar not open to the public, the huge and colorful Ishtar Gate with parade street is the undisputed star item in the museum.

The Ishtar Gate from Babylon in the Pergamon Museum

The Ishtar Gate is a town gate from Babylon from the 6th century BC. The display consists of the glazed tiles used for the outer gate and a processional way leading up to the town gate – the larger inner gate is too big to display.

The glazed tiles are mostly blue but also include depictions of several large animals in relief. Visitors face lions along the processional way but at the gate bulls and mystical dragons are used.

Side panels in similar colors on display are from the throne room of the palace of Nebuchadnezzar II.

The rest of the displays are mostly large, even colossal, sculptures, steles (ceremonial columns), and large wall relief carvings from Assyria. These include the earliest written known documents: cuneiform scripts on clay tablets from Uruk dating from the 4th millennium BC.

Museum of Islamic Art in the Pergamon

The Museum of Islamic Art fills the top floor of the Pergamon Museum. It is one of the largest collections in the world and covers art from the 7th to 19th centuries. The large items are the most impressive but it is worth also admiring the intricate and fine details in smaller items.

The Mshatta Façade is the largest item in the Islamic Art Museum and is part of a lavishly decorated dessert castle wall built in Jordan around AD 740 for the caliph. The façade on display is 5 m high and 33 m wide – the rest of the original ruins are still next to Amman airport in Jordan.

This facade was a present from the sultan to Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1904 and led directly to the foundation of the Museum of Islamic Art – the first major one outside the Islamic world.

The Alhambra Cupola is a domed, carved wooden ceiling that was brought to Germany from Granada in Spain in 1891. It was originally carved around 1320 and used in a viewing tower at the Palacio del Partal.

The Aleppo Room is an ornately painted room from the house of a rich trader in Aleppo in Syria made between 1600 and 1603. The excellently preserved wall panel paintings include Christian, Jewish, Persian, East Asian, and Arabic motives. The panels are 260 cm high and 35 m wide in total. Further exhibitions in the Islamic Art Museum include carpets, books, prayer niches, jewelry, ceramics, carved ivory, and decorated household objects.

Pergamon Museum Berlin Visitors Information

Tickets for the Pergamon Museum

Admission tickets for the Pergamon Museum are €12 and free for children up to 18 years old. An excellent free audio guide is included. Time-slot reservation tickets are essential and are currently released only around four weeks in advance. Proceed directly to the entrance (or audio guide pick-up) with a scalable mobile or printed code.

When buying tickets for the Pergamon Museum only, a timeslot for admission should be specified. When buying any of the discount offers below, make free online reservations at the Pergamon Museum website .

With time slot admission codes, skip the waiting line outside the museum by showing the ticket at the door. Pick up a free audio guide and then have the code on a phone (or paper printout) scanned directly at the entrance to the collection without stopping at the ticket counter.

A variety of combination discount savings tickets for the Pergamon Museum are available:

• €19 – Museum Island Ticket: admission to all SMB museums on Museum Island for a day including Das Panorama exhibition .
• €29 – Museum Pass Berlin : unlimited admission to over 30 top museums in Berlin on three consecutive days including the Pergamon and all Museum Island museums — include many temporary exhibitions too but not Das Panorama. Buy from any participating museum, tourist information, and some hotels.
• €53 – Berlin Welcome Card 72h + Museum Island : gives all the transportation and savings advantages of the regular Welcome Card plus free admission to the Museum Island museums – a surcharge is payable for the Pergamonmuseum. Das Panorama exhibition . (Note: the regular Berlin Welcome Card does not give admission or any discounts for the Pergamon or any other of the Berlin State Museums.) Buy from Get Your Guide online (but a paper printout usually has to be exchanged for a ticket at an information office.).
• €25 to €100 – Annual Membership Passes: admission for a year to all 19 Staatliche Museen zu Berlin museums.

TIP: None of these savings passes, except the €100 annual membership pass, are skip-the-line tickets – make free timeslot reservations online for the Pergamon and Neues Museums. However, at most of the state museums, it is possible to go directly to the entrance of the museum and bypass the ticket window completely.

Opening Hours of the Pergamon Museum

The Pergamon Museum is open as follows:

Until 30 June 2023 , the opening hours of the Pergamon Museum are Tuesday to Sunday from 10:00 to 18:00, closing at 20:00 on Thursday.

From 1 July 2023  until 22 October 2023 (when the museum closes for several years), the opening hours of the Pergamon Museum are Tuesday to Sunday from 9:00 to 19:00, closing at 20:00 on Thursday.

The Pergamon Museum is open on most vacation days but not on December 24 and usually shorter hours on December 31 and January 1.

TIP: The museum is generally busiest in the mornings and all day on weekends. Thursday late afternoon and early evening are usually quieter. All time-slots are available free online but on quiet days, time-slots may also be available at the ticket desk for immediate entry.

Transportation to the Pergamon Museum

The Pergamon Museum , Bodestraße 1-3, 10178 Berlin, is on Museum Island in Mitte in the heart of Berlin. The only entrance to the Pergamon Museum is through the modern Simon James Gallery.

Museumsinsel (U-Bahn 5 and buses 100  or 300) on Unter den Linden in front of the Berliner Schloss / Humboldt Forum is the simplest public transportation stop.

The old entrance off Am Kupfergraben and the temporary entrance between the Neues Museum and Alte Nationalgalerie are closed.

More on the Berlin State Museums (Staatliche Museen zu Berlin):

Note new opening times for many Berlin museums since mid-April 2024 — several are now closed on both Monday and Tuesday.

Timeslot reservations are sensible (and sometimes needed in busy periods) for the Alte Nationalgalerie , Gemäldegalerie , Neue Nationalgalerie , Neues Museum , and Pergamon – Das Panorama . (The Pergamon Museum itself is closed until 2027!). Timeslots are released only a few weeks in advance. Online tickets are available from GetYourGuide or SMB .

Many passes and multi-museum tickets offer savings ( Kulturforum / Museums Island ). Individual museum ticket prices range from €8 to €14 (€20 for special exhibitions). Online tickets are skip-the-line — go directly to the gallery entrance to scan the code.

For more general information on the Berlin State Museums:

• Top National Museums and Galleries in Berlin  (brief overview)
• Berlin State Museums: What Is Seen Where?  (a short description of the collections in the different museums)
• Opening Hours of Berlin State Museums (2024) — major changes since mid-April 2024!
• Ticket Prices for Berlin State Museums  (prices for museums, temporary exhibitions, combination tickets, online time-slot reservations). Buying online from  GetYourGuide  is easy. A ticket with a QR or bar code is scanned directly at the entrance — no need to pass by the ticket desk (but pick up the free audio guide before entering).
• Save with the Berlin Museum Pass – 30 museums (including all the SMB museums) in three days for €32 – a fantastic savings deal.
• Staatliche Museen zu Berlin  (official website in German & English).

News & Temporary Exhibitions in Berlin in 2024:

• 2024: Overview of Top Berlin Exhibitions in 2024 , Caspar David Friedrich in the Alte Nationalgalerie , Frans Hals in the Gemäldegalerie , Neue Nationalgalerie (20th-century art) Hamburger Bahnhof Contemporary Art , Kupferstichkabinett (Prints and Drawings), and Photography Museum .
• Museums closed in 2024: The Pergamon Museum is closed until 2027 (some sculptures are on display in Das Panorama ), the Museum Berggruen is closed until 2025 (much of its collection is traveling the world ), the permanent collection of the German History Museum (Zeughaus) is closed but temporary exhibitions continue in the Pei Building.

More Museum Reviews and Museum-Specific Information:

• Alte Nationalgalerie — 19th-century art.
• Altes Museum — Greek, Etruscan, and Roman art.
• Bode Museum — sculptures from the Middle Ages, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, and Classical periods, Byzantine Art, and coins.
• Ethnological and Asian Art Museums in the Humboldtforum .
• Friedrichswerdersche Kirche (free admission) with a collection of 19th-century German sculptures.
• Gemäldegalerie — German and Dutch Old Masters and Italian paintings .
• Kunstgewerbemuseum (Decorative Arts).
• Musical Instruments Museum near the Berliner Philharmonie .
• Neue Nationalgalerie — 20th-century art.
• Neues Museum — Pre and Early History, Egyptian Collection with bust of Nefertiti.
• Pergamon Museum with Ishtar Gate — the whole Pergamonmuseum is closed from 2023 until 2027. Some Greek sculptures are shown in the
• Pergamon Museum Panorama Exhibition with Asisi panoramic painting and Greek statues.
• Photography — Helmut Newton collection and historic photos.

Previous Temporary Exhibitions in Berlin Museums:

• 2023: Top Special Temporary Exhibitions in 2023 — overview , in the Kulturforum , in the Neue Nationalgalerie , on Museum Island , and the Museum of Photography .
• 2022: Top Special Temporary Exhibitions in 2022 — overview , in the Kulturforum ( David Hockney ), in the Neue Nationalgalerie , on Museumsinsel , Hamburger Bahnhof contemporary art, and the Museum of Photography .
• 2021: Top Special Temporary Exhibitions in 2021 — including the reopening of the Neue Nationalgalerie , as well as the Ethnological and Asian Art Museums in the Humboldt Forum .
• 2020: Highlights , in Kulturforum , on Museum Island , in the Hamburger Bahnhof , smaller museums , and the opening of the Humboldt Forum .

Home » Germany » Visit the Pergamon Museum with Ishtar Gate in Berlin

To provide the best experiences, we and our partners use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us and our partners to process personal data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site and show (non-) personalized ads. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.

Click below to consent to the above or make granular choices. Your choices will be applied to this site only. You can change your settings at any time, including withdrawing your consent, by using the toggles on the Cookie Policy, or by clicking on the manage consent button at the bottom of the screen.

Getty Images/iStockphoto

Pergamonmuseum

The Pergamonmuseum is one of  Berlin’s most visited historical gems and perhaps also its most controversial. This museum offers an archaeological time-warp back to the ancient worlds of Babylon, Greece, Rome and beyond – and some argue that its artifacts should be returned to where they were found.

One of the world’s largest museums, welcoming around 800,000 visitors annually, the Pergamon is a palatial three-wing complex uniting classical sculpture, monumental architecture and excavated treasures in dainty glass cases. 

It comprises three major collections, the Antikensammlung (Collection of Classical Antiquities), the Museum für Islamische Kunst (Museum of Islamic Art) and the Vorderasiatisches Museum (Museum of the Ancient Near East).

Key exhibits include an excavated reconstruction of the radiant-blue Ishtar Gate from Babylon, which more than 2600 years ago served as the ancient city’s Processional Way. Also impressive is the giant Market Gate of Miletus linking up Asia and Europe for Roman patrons and the Pergamon Altar, an ancient Greek victory monument now considered the zenith of Hellenic art.

Since 2013, the Pergamon has been undergoing an extensive renovation to the tune of €477 million (about $560 million). Currently, the Pergamon’s central building (where the Pergamon Altar as well as several other rooms are located) is off-limits and will reopen in 2025 at the earliest.

In the meantime, visitors can see a temporary 360º panorama exhibition of how Pergamon and its altar would have looked in 129 BC. The display, which also includes sculptures and other works from the museum, was created by renowned Berlin artist Yadegar Asisi.

The Pergamonmuseum was founded against the backdrop of Germany’s 19th-century archaeological digs. In 1871, Germany, spurred by the discovery of Troy by a German archaeologist and the excavation activities of other colonial powers, began digging where the ancient kingdoms of Pergamon (modern-day Turkey), Babylon (modern-day Iraq) and Egypt once stood. 

Under special permissions from the Ottoman Empire that dictated the sharing of items, Germany successfully exported many artifacts to Berlin.

The findings were displayed in the Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum on the Museumsinsel (today’s Bode-Museum ), but eventually space ran out. In 1910, the construction of a new building began per order of Germany’s Emperor Wilhelm II. The Pergamon, the youngest of the five museums on Museumsinsel, opened in 1930 to much fanfare. The Ishtar Gate and Pergamon Altar, modern architectural and archaeological marvels reconstructed from excavation pieces and modern materials, were the starring attractions.

At the end of the Second World War, the museum was severely damaged during an airstrike. While most main displays and large exhibitions were walled in for protection, smaller items were destroyed or stolen. The Red Army in particular collected a wealth of items as Berlin burned to the ground.

By 1958, most objects had been returned by the USSR to East Germany, but a few significant items of the Pergamon’s original collection remain in Russia’s Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow and the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg. Russia, due to its restitution laws, has no plans to return items to Germany or elsewhere.

Meanwhile, the legitimacy of Pergamon’s overall acquisition has long been debated. In 2011, at least one artifact, the 3000-year-old Sphinx of Hattusa, was returned to Turkey after being on display at the museum since 1934.

Plan your visit

The Pergamonmuseum is typically full of student groups, so the best time to visit is on weekday mornings.

The Museum of the Ancient Near East and the Museum of Islamic Art remain open while the Collection of Classical Antiquities is closed for renovations until 2025. 

Currently, the temporary entrance first leads you into the Museum of the Ancient Near East, where the Ishtar Gate and Market Gate of Miletus are located. Upstairs, grandiose works from the Islamic world include the caliph’s palace and the 17th-century Aleppo Room from the house of a Christian merchant in Syria.

Set aside at least two hours for the museum and be sure to use the free and excellent audio guide.

Getting there

The Pergamonmuseum is on Museumsinsel and is easily accessible by public transportation. The U5 line stops right outside Museumsinsel at Unter den Linden station. The museum is also a short walking distance from the S-Bahn stations Friedrichstraße and Hackescher Markt. Trams M1 and 12 will take you to nearby Kupfergraben, while buses 100 and 200 stop at Lustgarten on Unter den Linden.  

Bodestrasse 1-3

Get In Touch

030-266 424 242

https://​www​.smb​.museum​/

Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Museumsinsel

Walk through ancient Babylon, meet an Egyptian queen, clamber up a Greek altar or be mesmerized by Monet's ethereal landscapes. Welcome to Museumsinsel …

Neues Museum

For over 60 years, not a soul was able to visit Berlin’s Neues Museum – in fact, it sat in ruins. But today it’s one of the city’s most celebrated…

East Side Gallery

The East Side Gallery is the embodiment of Berlin’s grit and guts.

Fernsehturm

Germany's tallest structure, the TV Tower is a Berlin icon.

Topographie des Terrors

This compelling exhibit tells stories of terror and persecution in Nazi Germany.

Schloss & Park Sanssouci

17.47 MILES

This glorious park and palace ensemble is what happens when a king has good taste, plenty of cash and access to the finest architects and artists of the…

Schloss Sanssouci

17.17 MILES

Frederick the Great's famous summer palace, this rococo gem was designed by Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff in 1747 and sits daintily above vine-draped…

Gedenkstätte und Museum Sachsenhausen

17.77 MILES

About 35km north of Berlin, Sachsenhausen was built by prisoners and opened in 1936 as a prototype for other camps. By 1945, some 200,000 people had…

Nearby attractions

1 . Museumsinsel

2 . Alte Nationalgalerie

The Greek temple–style Old National Gallery is a three-storey showcase of 19th-century European art. To get a sense of the period's virtuosity, pay…

3 . Bode-Museum

On the northern tip of Museumsinsel, this palatial edifice houses a comprehensive collection of European sculpture from the early Middle Ages to the 18th…

4 . Neues Museum

5 . Altes Museum

A curtain of fluted columns gives way to the Pantheon-inspired rotunda of the grand neoclassical Old Museum, which harbours a prized antiquities…

6 . IM Pei Bau

High-calibre temporary exhibits, curated by the Deutsches Historisches Museum, occupy this spectacular contemporary annexe designed by Chinese-American…

7 . Friedhof Grosse Hamburger Strasse

What looks like a small park was in fact Berlin’s first Jewish cemetery, destroyed by the Nazis in 1943. Some 2700 people were buried here between 1672…

8 . Berliner Dom

Pompous yet majestic, the Italian Renaissance–style former royal court church (1905) does triple duty as house of worship, museum and concert hall. Inside…

Pergamonmuseum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Berlin, Germany

The Pergamonmuseum was designed by Alfred Messel; its construction was overseen by Ludwig Hoffmann and lasted twenty years, from 1910 to 1930. A smaller building initially stood on the same site for a just few years before being torn down. It housed the important excavation finds unearthed by the Berlin museums, such as the frieze panels from the Pergamon Altar, reclaimed from the earth in digs that lasted from 1878 to 1886. Inadequate foundations, however, soon resulted in the building becoming structurally unstable and it had to be demolished. The new, larger Pergamonmuseum was built as a three-wing complex. The museum now houses three of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin’s collections: the Antikensammlung, Vorderasiatisches Museum, and the Museum für Islamische Kunst. The impressive reconstructions of massive archaeological structures – the Pergamon Altar, Market Gate of Miletus, the Ishtar Gate and Processional Way from Babylon, and the Mshatta Facade – have made the Pergamonmuseum famous throughout the world, with the result that it is the most visited museum at the Staatliche Museen and in Germany as a whole. Since 2013, the Pergamonmuseum has been undergoing staggered renovation work, devised by the Ungers architectural practice, as part of the Master Plan Museumsinsel. During the current stage of renovations, the hall containing the Pergamon Altar is closed since 29 September 2014 and is due to remain closed to the public until 2019. The north wing and the gallery of Hellenistic art are also affected by the closure. The South Wing of the Pergamonmuseum, featuring the Market Gate of Miletus, the Ishtar Gate and Processional Way from Babylon, and the Museum of Islamic Art, remains unaffected and will be open to the public during this time.

Header image © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin / David von Becker

The Collection

• Shadi Ghadirian 14
• Naser al-Din Shah Qajar 2
• Ceramic 282
• Photograph 69
• United States 3
• United Kingdom 3
• Indonesia 3
• Netherlands 1
• Architecture 19
• Furniture 3
• Cosmetics 1
• Chocolate 1
• Geography 1

Online Exhibit

Highlights in the Pergamonmuseum

Read the story

What happened in Pergamon?

On the Creation and Excavation of the Pergamon Altar

The Eighth Wonder of the World

The recent story of the Pergamon Altar

Short Visit: Pergamon Altar

Refugees As Guides In Berlin Museums

Multaqa: Museum As Meeting Point

Virtual visits

Virtual Tour

Stay in touch

Follow Pergamonmuseum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin on Google Arts & Culture for updates to the collection, new stories and upcoming events.

Pergamonmuseum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin's website

Pergamon Museum – tickets, prices, what to expect

Pergamon Museum is the biggest and most spectacular Museum on Museum Island in Berlin.

Named after the ancient Greek city of Pergamon, it is also the most visited museum in Germany.

Pergamon Museum is known for its stunning reconstructions of massive ancient structures such as the Pergamon Altar, the Ishtar Gate, the Processional Way from Babylon, the Market Gate Miletus, and the Mshatta facade.

This article covers everything you must know before buying your Pergamon Museum ticket. 

Top Pergamon Museum Tickets

# Pergamon Museum tickets # Guided tour of Pergamon Museum # Berlin Museum Island Pass

Table of Contents

What to see at the pergamon museum.

Pergamon Museum has lots of fascinating exhibits on display.

Pergamon Museum is broadly divided into three parts – Ancient World, Greek and Roman antiquity, and Islamic Art & Culture. 

Ancient World

Ishtar Gate of Babylon

Processional street of babylon.

• Central Assyrian law table

Facade of the Prince’s Palace from Tell Halaf

Greek and Roman antiquity 

• Pergamon Altar 

Miletus Market Gate

Praying boy.

Islamic Art & Culture

• Alhambra Dome
• Mshatta facade
• Eagle Aquamaile

Aleppo Room

Until 2024, the Pergamon museum is completely closed due to construction work. Only Das Panorama, the Panorama exhibition by Yadegar Asisi, is open for visitors.

Pergamon Museum tickets

This Pergamon Museum priority access ticket helps you skip the long lines at the entrance. 

Besides the Pergamon Museum, this ticket also gets you skip the line entry to the Panorama exhibition by Yadegar Asisi.

Panorama exhibition is in a building next to the Pergamonmuseum and offers a full-circle view of the Graeco-Roman city of Pergamon in the year 129 AD. More about Das Panorama

Visitors 18 years and below get free entry, but you must still mention them while booking your tickets. 

Ticket price

Adult ticket (18+ years): 12 Euros Student ticket (with student ID): 6 Euros Disabled ticket: 6 Euros

Das Panorama, the Panorama exhibition by Yadegar Asisi, is open for visitors.

Guided tour of Pergamon Museum

During this 3-hour guided tour, a local expert takes you around the Pergamon Museum and New Museum. 

It is popular amongst history aficionados because they explore the wonders of ancient Egypt, Babylon, Greece, and Rome under the guidance of an expert. 

Once the guided tour is over, the local guide hands over a Museum Island day pass with which you can explore the other three Museums by yourself.

Adult ticket (18+ years): 59 Euros Child ticket (up to 17 years): 39 Euro

Berlin Museum Island Pass

Berlin Museum Island Pass offers access to all the five Museums on the Island. 

Museum Island Pass is perfect for two kinds of tourists – those who want to visit all the Museums on the Island and those who aren’t sure which Museum they wish to visit. 

The Pass gets you skip-the-line access to the Bode Museum, Altes Museum, and Alte Nationalgalerie – you can show it on your smartphone and walk into these Museums.

However, at the Neues Museum and Pergamon Museum, you must stand in a line to get a physical ticket before you can enter. You won’t have to pay for anything.

Once activated, this Museum Island Pass is valid for one whole day.

How to reach the Pergamon Museum

Pergamon Museum is located on the Museum Island. 

Address:  Bodestraße 1-3, 10178 Berlin, Germany.  Get Directions

You can reach the attraction both by public or private transport.

You can board U6 Line and get to the Friedrichstrasse U station , which is closest to the Museum Island. 

The Subway is 700 meters (half a mile) from Pergamon Museum, and you can walk the distance in 8 to 10 minutes. 

You can board S-Bahn lines S1, S2, S25, S5, S7 or S75 and reach either Berlin Friedrichstraße station or Hackescher Markt station .

Hackescher Markt station is 1 km (0.6 miles) from Pergamonmuseum, and you can walk the distance in 12 to 15 minutes. 

You can take the Trams M1 and M12 and get down at AM Kupfergraben tram stop .

It is 300 meters (one-fifth of a mile) from the Museum, and by walk, you can reach your destination in five minutes.

If you prefer a bus, you can board Bus Number 100 or Bus Number 200 and get down at Lustgarten .

Lustgarten is a park on Museum Island.

Pergamon Museum is 600 meters from Lustgarten, and you can walk the distance in 8 to 10 minutes. 

If you’re traveling by car, turn on your  Google Maps  and get started.

There is no on-site car parking available. However, you can park at either  Radisson Blu Hotel or International Trade Center .

Opening hours of Pergamon Museum

From Friday to Wednesday, the Pergamon Museum is open from 10 am to 6 pm.

On Thursdays, the Museum stays open till 8 pm. 

The last admission is 30 minutes before the Museum closes.

How long does the Pergamon Museum take

Visitors in a rush can explore Pergamon Museum’s highlights in an hour. 

To explore all the three wings of the Museum, you need at least two hours. 

History buffs are known to spend upwards of four hours at Germany’s most famous Museum. 

Best time to visit Pergamon Museum 

The best time to visit the Pergamon Museum is as soon as they open at 10 am. 

The crowd is at its minimum, which means you can take time exploring the exhibits and take better photographs. 

It starts getting crowded after 11 am, and between 12 and 2 pm, the Museum reaches its peak capacity.

If you can’t make it early in the morning, the next best time to visit Pergamonmuseum is after 2 pm. 

Where is the Pergamon Museum

Pergamon Museum is on Musuem Island in Berlin. 

The Pergamon Panorama is right outside the Island, a walkable distance.

Pergamon Museum entrance

Entry to Pergamonmuseum is exclusively through the newly built James Simon Gallery visitor center.

Everyone must use the big stairway (see map below) and meet at the Information Desk in the Upper Foyer of James Simon Gallery.

Pergamon Museum for free

Till September 2010, the Pergamon Museum allowed free admission on Thursdays. 

But not anymore. 

However, it is possible to get free entrance into Pergamon Museum if you qualify any of the below conditions: 

• Visitors up to 18 years of age
• School children on educational outings with their teachers
• University / college students accompanied by a lecturer
• Members of the International Council of Museums (ICOM) and the German Museums Association
• Journalists with press ID cards
• Persons in receipt of transfer benefits with valid documents
• Carers accompanying a severely disabled person where this requirement is noted in the disabled Pass

Pergamon Museum discounts

Visitors below 18 years of age get a 100% discount at the Pergamon Museum and thus enter for free. However, they must book a free ticket (you will find the option on the ticket booking page). 

Students with a valid ID and visitors with a disability get a 50% discount on their Pergamon museum entry ticket and thus pay only 6 Euros.

However, seniors don’t get any reduction in the ticket price.

Pergamon Museum audio guide

Pergamon Museum in Berlin offers an audio tour, which you can pick up at the entrance.

Using the audio guide, you can walk through the Ishtar Gate, the Pergamon Altar, the beautiful streets of Babylon, etc. listening to expert commentary in multiple languages.  Image: Tripadvisor

These audioguides are free with Pergamon Museum tickets .

Pergamon Museum virtual tour

If you would prefer a virtual tour of the Pergamon Museum before your actual visit, check out Google’s Art & Culture section on the Museum.  

Pergamon Museum tour

Let’s walk you through the highlights of Berlin’s Pergamon Museum:

Robert Koldewey and Walter Andrae, two German archaeologists, found Ishtar Gate in what is now central Iraq, in the year 1899. 

The glorious Ishtar Gate made up of colorful, vibrant glazed bricks and decorated with fantastic beasts was Babylon’s entrance built by Nebuchadrezzar II in the sixth century B.C.

Ishtar Gate was one of the several city gates on the wall around Babylon, counted among the ‘Seven Wonders of the World’.

The Gate walls depict wild bulls and snake-like dragons, representing Babylonian deities Adad and Mardukon, a bright blue background. 

Don’t miss out on the reconstructed facade of King Nebuchadrezzar II’s throne room, which sits on the left of the Ishtar Gate. 

Gate of Ishtar was the entrance that led to the processional Street of Babylon.

The Processional Street of the ancient city of Babylon was an 800 meter long (half a mile) brick road connecting the outer city of Babylon to the Temple of Marduk.

Out of the 800 meters, only 180 meters of the path was richly decorated with ceramic glazed brick walls featuring ornate lions.

The Pergamon Museum has reconstructed a small section of the processional street, with reduced width. Image: Museumsinsel-berlin.de

On both sides of the wall, you will see Lions on a blue background. 

Central Assyrian law tablet

The Assyrian law tablet on display at Pergamon Museum was created during the rule of King Ninurta-apil-Ekur in Iraq (1191-1179 BC). 

The 58 paragraphs on the tablet describe laws relating to clothing, criminal acts, women, matrimonial, and property.

This collection of Assyrian law is written in cuneiform , a writing system used by many Mesopotamian civilizations.

This is yet another massive exhibit at the Pergamon Museum, where three god sculptures rise on the backs of two lions and a bull to a total height of about six meters. Image: Museumsinsel-berlin.de

This facade was part of the Hittite Palace built around the end of the 9th century BC, in what is now northern Syria. 

Max Freiherr von Oppenheim excavated the facade of the Prince’s Palace and first displayed it in his own Tell Halaf Museum in Berlin.

However, after the Tell Halaf Museum burnt down (and most exhibits destroyed), the facade was restored and displayed at Pergamonmuseum.

Pergamon Museum’s Altar

The Pergamon Altar is perhaps the most famous item in the Pergamon Museum (and in the Altes Museum).

The Pergamon Altar is a massive structure built by King Eumenes II in the first half of the 2nd century BC on the acropolis Pergamon, an ancient Greek city. 

In 1878, the German engineer Carl Humann initiated the official excavations on Pergamon’s acropolis. 

At of 35.64 meters (117 feet) wide and 33.4 meters (109 feet) tall, it is a massive structure, and it took him eight years to complete the excavation. 

Pergamon Altar’s base depicts the battle between the Giants and the Olympian gods, using hundreds of larger-than-life figures.

Since many historians feel this Altar honors both Zeus and Athena, it is often referred to as Pergamon Museum’s Zeus Altar.

It is because of this exhibit that the Museum gets its name – Pergamon Museum. 

The Market Gate of Miletus is a large marble structure built around 100 AD, and is proof of the advancements in Roman cities.

The 17 meters (56 feet) high and 29 meters (95 feet) wide gate is believed to have fallen during an earthquake in the 10th or 11th century. 

The gate’s fragments were recovered from excavations in Berlin between 1903 and 1905 and rebuilt at Pergamon Museum in the late 1920s.

The ‘Praying Boy’ at the Pergamon Museum is one of the most famous ancient bronze statues. 

Experts believe it was sculpted around 300 BC in the artistic style of Greek sculptor Lysippos, who lived in the 4th century BC. It is challenging to identify Lysippos’s work because he had many students in his immediate circle who copied his style.  The fact that there was a market for copies of his kind of work resulted in many similar artworks.  Image: Merja Attia

After his victory over the Prussian Army in 1807, Napoleon took ‘Praying Boy’ to Paris. Twenty years later, it was back on display in Berlin.

Alhambra dome

The Alhambra Dome (locals call it the Alhambra Cupola) is a wooden ceiling carved from cedar and cottonwood and partly painted.

It was created in the early 14th century and was part of the oldest garden palaces of the famous Alhambra Castle in Granada .

The Alhambra Dome came to Germany as a gift from the Granada city in 1891 and has since been a property of the Museum. 

The Dome is decorated with typical star patterns and has the quote – ‘There is no victor but God.’

Mshatta Facade

Mshatta Facade is the decorated part of the facade of the 8th-century residential palace of Qasr Mshatta of the Umayyad dynasty.

The desert palace of Mschatta was in what is now the Jordanian capital of Amman.

The highly decorated facade, measuring 35 meters (115 feet) in length, was a gift from Sultan Abdulhamid II to Emperor Wilhelm II. 

Eagle Aquamanile

The Eagle Aquamanile is a vessel to pour water, created around AD 800 in Iraq.

The intricate details and the delicate patterns on the exhibit suggest it was created by one of the finest artisans of the era.  Image: Museumsinsel-berlin.de

Silver and copper inlay, which the coppersmiths of the Islamic world were known for, can also be spotted on this Eagle Aquamanile. 

Aleppo Room at Pregmon Museum is part of a house found in the historic center of the Syrian city of Aleppo. 

It is the oldest surviving wall paneling from the Ottoman Empire and gives us an idea of how rooms used to be designed in Arab countries, Turkey, and northern Iran.  Image: Lars Plougmann

The Aleppo Room is adorned with Arabic and Persian verses and delicate paintings of people, animals, mythical creatures, plants, ornaments, etc.

Pergamon Museum Panorama

The Pergamonmuseum Panorama is an exciting exhibition where visitors can see 3D representations of the ancient city of Pergamon.

Its official name is: PERGAMON. Masterpieces from the Ancient Metropolis with a 360° Panorama by Yadegar Asisi. 

Erected in November 2018 opposite the Bode-Museum, on the Museum Island, this exhibition is on till 2024. 

Visitors stand in the center and take in the 360-degree view of the ancient city as it could have looked in 129 AD during the reign of the Roman Emperor Hadrian.

The online Pergamon Museum tickets also include access to the Pergamon Museum Panorama.

Yadegar Asisi, the artist

Berlin-based artist Yadegar Asisi developed the concept for Pergamonmuseum Panorama.

He visualized how the city would be and used models to depict 40 everyday scenes possible in Pergamon.

All of this was printed on a 104 x 30 meter (341 x 98 ft.) photograph, which covers the exhibition building’s rotunda. 

Pergamon Museum Cafe

Even though the Pergamon Museum Berlin doesn’t have a cafe, there are enough places to eat and drink within the Museum Island. 

Café im at Bode-Museum

Café im at Bode-Museum offers seasonal sweets, savory snacks, cakes, etc. with many varieties of teas and coffees.

It is open from Tuesday to Sunday and closed on Mondays. 

Even if you’re not visiting the Bode-Museum, you can still visit the café via the outdoor stairs. 

Timings: The restaurant at Bode-Museum opens at 10 am daily and closes at 6 pm. On Thursday, it stays open till 6 pm. 

Cafe Pi at Pergamonmuseum, The Panorama

Cafe Pi is in the building that also houses the 360° Panorama exhibition by Yadegar Asisi.

From Tuesday to Sunday, Cafe Pi is open from 10 am to 6 pm. It remains closed on Monday.

Café & Restaurant Cu29

Cu29 restaurant is in James Simon Gallery and opens daily from am till 11 pm.

If TripAdvisor users are to be believed, this is a Cafe to avoid. 

Allegretto Cafe

Allegretto Café is at the Neues Museum, and from Tuesday to Sunday, it is open from 10 am to 6 pm. 

It is on the 2nd floor of the Neues Museum and is an excellent place to take a break during your visit to the Museum.

Check out all the things to do in Berlin

Researched & Written by:

Jamshed V Rajan

He is a two-faced traveler, who enjoys both the hustle-bustle of an urban holiday and the serenity of a break from the rest of the World. During some of his vacations, he is a resort hopper, and on others, he barely spends time in his hotel. He loves to try mouth-watering local cuisines, especially non-vegetarian dishes. Favourite Cities: Amsterdam, Las Vegas, Dublin, Prague, Vienna

Leave a Comment Cancel reply

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

FireStorm Internet runs this website to provide the most accurate and up-to-day information about tourist attractions.

Our Address

FireStorm Internet, 203, 30C, Bollineni Hillside, Perumbakkam Main Road, Nookampalayam, Chennai, India. Pin Code: 600126

About Us Advertise with Us The Team Contact Us Affiliate Disclaimer Content Policy Privacy Policy Terms of Service

Food Tours Ghost Tours Stadium Tours HOHO Bus Tours Best Cruises Best Zoos Travel Tips Visual Stories

© 2024 FireStorm Internet

• Virginia Beach
• History & facts
• Famous people
• Famous landmarks
• AI interviews
• Science & Nature
• Tech & Business

Discover something new everyday

Famous places

• Food & Drinks
• Tech & Business

Top 10 Facts about the Pergamon Museum

By Raimond Spekking - Wikimedia

Read Next →

28 things you probably didn’t know about Sacre-Coeur basilica in Paris

Best Theme Parks and Attractions in and Around Paris

The Best Way to Visit the Paris Catacombs

Aleppo Room By José Luiz Bernardes Ribeiro – Wikimedia

1. The museum was inspired by Islamic culture

By Gryffindor – Wikimedia

2. There’s an ancient market gate at the museum

Market Gate of Miletus By Yair Haklai – Wikimedia

3. The museum was damaged at the end of World War II

4. it was constructed to create more room for artefacts.

By Raimond Spekking – Wikimedia

5. Part of the collection in Pergamon Museum was collected by a Roman archaeologist

By Bgabel by Wikimedia

6. Millions of tourists visit every year

7. pergamon altar of zeus is the main attraction in this museum, 8. construction of the pergamon museum was hit by lack of finances, 9. there are antiquities from ancient empires, 10. aleppo room tells christian stories.

Aleppo room By José Luiz Bernardes Ribeiro – Wikimedia

Planning a trip to Paris ? Get ready !

These are  Amazon’s best-selling  travel products that you may need for coming to Paris.

• The best travel book : Rick Steves – Paris 2023 –  Learn more here
• Fodor’s Paris 2024 –  Learn more here

Travel Gear

• Venture Pal Lightweight Backpack –  Learn more here
• Samsonite Winfield 2 28″ Luggage –  Learn more here
• Swig Savvy’s Stainless Steel Insulated Water Bottle –  Learn more here

Check Amazon’s best-seller list for the most popular travel accessories. We sometimes read this list just to find out what new travel products people are buying.

Discover Walks contributors speak from all corners of the world - from Prague to Bangkok, Barcelona to Nairobi. We may all come from different walks of life but we have one common passion - learning through travel.

Whether you want to learn the history of a city, or you simply need a recommendation for your next meal, Discover Walks Team offers an ever-growing travel encyclopaedia.

For local insights and insider’s travel tips that you won’t find anywhere else, search any keywords in the top right-hand toolbar on this page. Happy travels!

Hello & Welcome

Popular Articles

Top 20 Streets to See in Paris

Paris in two days

Top 15 Things to do Around the Eiffel Tower

The Best Way to Visit Paris Museums

Top 15 Fashion Stores in Le Marais

Visit europe with discover walks.

• Paris walking tours
• Montmartre walking tour
• Lisbon walking tours
• Prague walking tours
• Barcelona walking tours
• Private tours in Europe
• Privacy policy

© 2024 Charing Cross Corporation

Tickets for Festival of Lights offers

• Menu Berlin Welcome Card
• Menu Event calendar
• Menu Newsletter
• Easy English Easy English
• Contrast Contrast

Museum Island Berlin

The UNESCO World Heritage Site in Berlin’s historic Mitte

A unique ensemble of buildings on Spreeinsel (Spree Island) in the heart of Berlin. It encompasses five large Berlin museums built under the Prussian rulers as well as a reception and exhibition building, the James Simon Gallery.

Please note:

The Pergamonmuseum has been closed since October 2023 in order to carry out extensive renovation work. In 2027, the north wing with the Pergamon Altar will be on display again as the first completed construction phase.

Visit the exhibition " Pergamonmuseum. The Panorama " with the 360-degree panorama by Yadegar Asisi and antique originals from Pergamon. The panorama and the art treasures allow visitors to experience the Pergamon Altar in its original form and in its urban context on the Acropolis.

Museum Island and its buildings

Berlin’s Museum Island is a grand work of art: five world-famous museum buildings from the time of the Prussian rulers, together with the modern James Simon Gallery, form an exciting ensemble that was awarded UNESCO World Heritage status in 1999. In 1999, the Museum Island master plan was also adopted. The core of this is an underground connection, the Archaeological Promenade, to be built between the museum buildings.

Where is Nefertiti?

The Museum Island is also home to the world-famous bust of Nefertiti, which is over 3,000 years old. You will find it in the North Dome Hall of the Neues Museum.

Super tours guided by the pros

 Beautiful tours every day. Entertaining city tours. All topics, every district, countless ideas. Public appointments and private tours for groups at any time. When will you be there? Book or enquire now!

Mehr erfahren

History of Museum Island

The Altes Museum (Old Museum) is located at Lustgarten, directly opposite the Berlin Cathedral and the new Humboldt Forum. With its opening in 1830, historically significant collections and artworks were made accessible to the general public in Berlin for the first time. The idea of a museum open to everyone goes back to the Enlightenment and its educational ideals. Karl Friedrich Schinkel, Prussia’s most important architect, provided the designs. Over the next 100 years, a total of five museums were built on the site. And at the end of the 1870s, Berlin’s Museum Island received its current name.

By 1855, a second impressive museum building was erected according to the plans of Friedrich August Stüler: the Royal Prussian Museum, today’s Neues Museum (New Museum) . In 1876, the Alte Nationalgalerie (Old National Gallery) , with architecture reminiscent of a Greek temple and incorporating Stüler’s designs, opened its doors. It took until the beginning of the 20th century to complete the ensemble. In 1904, the neo-baroque Kaiser Friedrich Museum at the tip of the Museum Island, today’s Bode Museum , opened. And in 1930, the Pergamon Museum was added as the last of the five large museum buildings. The Nazis planned a gigantic conversion, which fortunately could not be implemented. After the war, Museum Island was a landscape of ruins, the Neues Museum in particular was almost completely destroyed. Reconstruction began during GDR times, but the Neues Museum still remained a ruin.

Museum Island’s master plan

In 1999, 10 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Board of Trustees decided on a comprehensive restoration of the ensemble , entitled Museum Island’s master plan. This included the reconstruction of the Neues Museum and the restoration of the other museums. In addition, the individual museum buildings, each of which faces a different direction, were to be connected to form one large, unified whole. A modern central entrance and exhibition building, the James Simon Gallery, has been welcoming guests since 2019. The British star architect David Chipperfield accepted the commission for planning the James Simon Gallery. His firm David Chipperfield Architects had already overseen the reconstruction of the Neues Museum. James Simon (1851-1932), a Jewish citizen in Berlin and a passionate art collector, now receives special recognition for the first time: he was the most important patron of Museum Island, who provided Berlin’s museums with extensive collections. His most famous transfer of ownership to Museum Island is under the northern dome in the Neues Museum: the bust of Nefertiti. The Archaeological Promenade will connect four of the five museums and exhibit important objects from the art collections.

One island and five museums

The pergamon museum.

The three-winged Pergamonmuseum by Alfred Messel is unfortunately closed since October 2023 due to extensive renovation work. It presents the Collection of Classical Antiquities , the Museum of Pre-Asia and the Museum of Islamic Art. The Collection of Classical Antiquities is one of the most important collections of Greek and Roman art in the world. The most famous work is the Roman Pergamon Altar , whose sculptural frieze depicts the battle between gods and giants.  The Hall with the Pergamon Altar will reopen in 2027. 

The Bode Museum

Restoration of the Bode Museum at the tip of Museum Island was completed back in 2005. In its magnificent halls it houses a unique collection of sculptures , showcasing exhibits from the Middle Ages to the 19th century, including works from Donatello , Bernini and Canova . Other treasures are housed in the Museum of Byzantine Art and the N umismatic Collection . Together with works of European sculpture, works from Berlin’s Gemäldegalerie (Picture Gallery) are also on display. Since July 2019, visitors can once again visit the James Simon Cabinet in its original room, which was closed as a result of anti-Semitism under the Nazi dictatorship. In summer, the riverbank opposite is a popular meeting place for Berliners and their visitors because of the beautiful view of the northern tip of Museum Island.

The Neues Museum

The reconstruction and renovation of the Neues Museum by the renowned architect David Chipperfield took a total of ten years. A sensitive approach to the old building and the traces of war, combined with ultra-modern conversions, resulted in an exciting, unusual architectural style that has not lost its authentic character. Since the spectacular reopening in 2009, the building has housed selected exhibits from the Egyptian Museum and Papyrus Collection , the Museum of Prehistory and Early History and the Collection of Classical Antiquities . The world-famous bust of Nefertiti is presented in a special octagonal room under the northern dome.

The Alte Nationalgalerie

Like an ancient temple, the Alte Nationalgalerie (Old National Gallery) rises above Museum Island on its high stepped pedestal. It is clear that Greek temples served as a model for the architect, Friedrich August Stüler. The Alte Nationalgalerie houses paintings and sculptures from Classicism , Romanticism , Biedermeier , Impressionism and the early Modern Age . It is considered to be one of the most comprehensive collections of art from the period between the French Revolution and the First World War. World-famous works such as The Monk by the Sea by Caspar David Friedrich and The Thinker by Auguste Rodin can be found here, as well as works by Schinkel , Menzel , Manet , Monet and Renoir among many others. Right at the entrance, visitors are welcomed by the most beautiful couple in Prussia: the famous Princesses Group by Johann Gottfried Schadow.

The Altes Museum

The classical building, the Altes Museum , designed by Karl Friedrich Schinkel in 1830 was the first museum building on the island. And for the first time, the royal art collections were shown to the public in a specially designed antique-style building. Today, countless masterpieces of classical antiquity are exhibited alongside the magnificent architecture with its expansive circular dome: Sculpture , jewellery , vases and coins from Greek and Etruscan art , as well as from the Roman Empire . Gold and silver jewellery is displayed under a blue ceiling in a special treasure chamber.

How to get there

Museum Island is easily accessible by all forms of public transport in Berlin. You can take the underground using the U5, U6, or S-Bahn lines S1, S2, S25, S5, S7 or S75. The S-Bahn stop of Hackescher Markt is just 15 minutes walk away from the Island. The M1 and M12 trams stop at nearby Kupfergraben, less than 5 minutes walk away. The Lustgarten bus stop is 600m away from Pergamonmuseum and can be reached on buses 100 and 200. 

With a museum pass you can visit 30 other museums in Berlin for free. Note: Entry for children and young people up to the age of 18 is generally free.

Get the museum Pass Berlin

Am Lustgarten 10117   Berlin

You might find this also interesting

Cathedral Church of Berlin and burial place of the Hohenzollern

Berlin Cathedral

The monumental Cathedral Church in Berlin is a major attraction – a richly decorated church interior, fascinating history and impressive

Show details

Parliament and mirror of German history

Reichstag in Berlin

With its imposing glass dome and immediately recognisable façade, the Reichstag is one of Berlin's most famous historic landmarks.

The historic centre of Berlin in rapid transformation

New museums in Berlin

Berlin’s historical centre is undergoing a dynamic change: new museums and major cultural projects are opening their doors.

Pergamonmuseum

Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

The Pergamonmuseum is completely closed due to construction work . Pergamonmuseum. Das Panorama remains open. Tickets

Profile of the Pergamonmuseum

The Pergamonmuseum was designed by Alfred Messel; its construction was overseen by Ludwig Hoffmann and lasted twenty years, from 1910 to 1930. A smaller building initially stood on the same site for a just few years before being torn down.

It housed the important excavation finds unearthed by the Berlin museums, such as the frieze panels from the Pergamon Altar, reclaimed from the earth in digs that lasted from 1878 to 1886. Inadequate foundations, however, soon resulted in the building becoming structurally unstable and it had to be demolished.

The new, larger Pergamonmuseum was built as a three-wing complex. The museum now houses three of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin’s collections: the Antikensammlung , the Vorderasiatisches Museum , and the Museum für Islamische Kunst . The impressive reconstructions of massive archaeological structures – the Pergamon Altar, Market Gate of Miletus, the Ishtar Gate and Processional Way from Babylon, and the Mshatta Facade – have made the Pergamonmuseum famous throughout the world, with the result that it is the most visited museum at the Staatliche Museen and in Germany as a whole.

Renovation of the Pergamonmuseum

As part of the Museumsinsel Master Plan , the Pergamonmuseum has been undergoing staggered renovations since 2013. The undertaking is being carried out in two construction phases.

First construction phase starting in 2013

During the renovation work , the hall featuring the Pergamon Altar will be closed, as is the North Wing of the building and the central section, where the Hellenistic Hall is located. The South Wing of the Pergamonmuseum – which features the Ishtar Gate, the Processional Way, the Museum für Islamische Kunst (Museum for Islamic Art), and the Market Gate of Miletus were open during the first phase

Second construction phase starting in 2023

After the beginning of the second construction phase on 23 October 2023, the Pergamonmuseum will remain completely closed to visitors while undergoing comprehensive refurbishment.

In the future, the Museum für Islamische Kunst and its permanent exhibition will be on display in the North Wing, while the central section will continue to house the larger objects of the Antikensammlung. The reopening of the room featuring the Pergamon Altar and of the North Wing with the redesigned Museum für Islamische Kunst is slated for 2027. We appreciate your understanding for the inconvenience resulting from the closures.

Further information

• Refurbishment of the Pergamonmuseum

Visit Pergamonmuseum. Das Panorama

Significant artefacts from Pergamon along with the monumental panorama by Yadegar Asisi are on display in the exhibition building Pergamonmuseum. Das Panorama , located in the direct vicinity of the Museumsinsel. The Pergamonmuseum is completely closed to the public due to construction work .

• Book your ticket in the online ticket shop

About Cookies

This website uses cookies. Those have two functions: On the one hand they are providing basic functionality for this website. On the other hand they allow us to improve our content for you by saving and analyzing anonymized user data. You can redraw your consent to using these cookies at any time. Find more information regarding cookies on our Data Protection Declaration and regarding us on the Imprint .