Museum Island in Berlin is a picturesque place in the northern part of the Spreinzel island. It attracts tourists with a dazzling constellation of unique museums housing a huge collection of masterpieces of world art. Exhibits on the museum island demonstrate the development of culture in various countries over thousands of years. You won't find so many museums in such a small place anywhere else. History tells that the construction of the museum complex, inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1999, took a hundred years.
Museum Island clearly demonstrates the history of human culture over the centuries. It must be said that “Museum Island” is a somewhat relative name. Once upon a time, a settlement appeared on the island of Spreinzel, in its current southern part, which gradually grew to Berlin. Its northern part remained swampy for a long time. When it was drained, it was decided to use it as a museum. Initially there was talk of only one museum, but over time a whole complex appeared there.
A unique gateway to Museum Island is the 98-meter-high Berlin Cathedral, which is the largest evangelical church in Germany.
More about Berlin Cathedral =>>
Now let's move on to the complex, consisting of five museums.
Old Museum (Altes Museum):
This neoclassical building was opened in 1830. On its façade it is written in Latin: “The museum was founded in 1828 by Friedrich WilhelmIIIfor the study of all kinds of antiquities and the liberal arts.” The main exhibition is called “Ancient Worlds: Greeks, Etruscans and Romans.”
On the first floor of the museum you will see works of ancient Greek art created in the X-I centuries BC.
Let us highlight the “Asking Boy”, the image of Pericles, the statue of Dionysus and the goddess Persephone.
On the second floor of the ancient museum, works of art of Ancient Rome are presented. We will highlight the so-called "Nile Mosaics", objects found in brothels of Ancient Rome, busts of Cleopatra and Julius Caesar, gold and silver jewelry, precious stones and a coin room.
Etruscan art deserves special attention. The museum contains the so-called Capua Tablet, a baked clay tablet inscribed with the longest text found in the Etruscan language, as well as many funerary urns and sarcophagi.
New Museum (Neues Museum):
The new museum contains the most valuable collections of Ancient Egypt. One of the main exhibits is a bust of Queen Nefertiti. There are ancient artifacts here from the Stone Age to the Iron Age. Among the exhibits is the Berlin Golden Slug, an artifact of the Bronze Age.
Old National Gallery:
The gallery was officially opened in 1876. It contains collections of beautiful handicrafts from the 19th-20th centuries, sculptures by German artists, French impressionists, Italian, French and German masters (4 thousand exhibits in total). Here is "The Thinker" by Auguste Rodin. In front of the building you can see a statue of Friedrich Wilhelm IV riding a horse.
To have an idea of the gallery, I offer you a few photos:
The northern end of the “Museum Island” is crossed by the Monbijou Bridge, which connects the island with both banks of the Spree. Both bridges are closed to public traffic and form the entrance to the Bode Museum, a triangular neo-Baroque building whose huge dome dominates the northern part of the Spreinsel.
Bode Museum (Bode-Museum):
The museum was opened in 1904, and Bode is the person who made the greatest contribution to the opening of this museum. The museum can be divided into four sectors: a collection of sculptures, a department of Byzantine art, a coin cabinet and an art gallery.
Pergamon Museum (Pergamonmuseum):
The museum consists of two parts. The first was built in 1901, the second in 1930. The Pergamon Museum is the most important museum on Museum Island and the most popular museum in Berlin. More than a million people visit it every year. Here are such ancient architectural masterpieces as the Pergamon Altar, on which the gods of Olympus fight the giants:
Mileti Market Gate:
Ishtar Gate from Babylon:
Next to the Pergamon Museum, a huge panorama opens up, creating the effect of being in ancient Pergamon in 129 BC. To better experience the atmosphere of a busy city, special effects were created: sunrise and sunset, chirping dragonflies, the roar of the Sioux, the roar of the crowd, etc.
Ticket price:
- old museum - 10 euros, for students - 5 euros;
- New Museum - 14 euros, for students - 7 euros;
- Old National Gallery - 12 euros, for students - 7 euros;
- Bode Museum - 10 euros, for students - 5 euros;
- for children under 18 years old - free;
- one-day ticket to visit all five museums - 19 euros, for students - 9.50 euros.
Official website of Museum Island: Museumsinsel-berlin.de/en/home/.
How to get to Museum Island:
- on metro line U6 - stop Fridrichstasse;
- by bus No. 100, 200 - stop Lustgarten; No. 147 - stop Fridrichstasse;
- by tram M1, M12 - stop Am Kupfergraben; M4, M5, M6 - stop Hackersche Markt;
- on S-Bahn: S1, S2, S25, S26 - stop Fridrichstasse; S3, S5, S7, S9 - Hackersche Markt stop.
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