Temporary exhibition building ‘Pergamonmuseum: The Panorama’ opens in 2018
News from 11/09/2016
In order to provide visitors to the Museumsinsel with an attractive alternative venue while the Pergamonmuseum is refurbished, the Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz plans to erect a temporary exhibition building.
This building will be located where the train tracks cross Am Kupfergraben, directly across from the Museumsinsel, thus allowing visitors to reach the exhibition easily without traversing long distances. WOLFF GRUPPE/IPR will both fund and implement the project. The temporary building will remain in use at least until the modernisation of the entire Pergamonmuseum has been completed. The temporary museum building, which will initially focus on the topic of Pergamon, is scheduled to open shortly before Easter 2018.
The implementation of this project required the cooperation of a number of key partners. The site belongs to the Bundesanstalt für Immobilienaufgaben (BIMA), which made it available free of charge. WOLFF GRUPPE/IPR will construct the building at its own expense on behalf of the SPK, and will be reimbursed by income from ticket sales. The ‘Partnerschaften Deutschland/ÖPP Deutschland’ has verified the profitability analysis.
The Berlin architectural firm ‘spreeformat architekten’ provided the design for the temporary building. The rotunda for the planned panorama dominates the two-story structure, which will also house exhibition galleries, a café, and a shop. Design and implementation were planned in close consultation with the Landesdenkmalamt Berlin, and the building permit has been granted. The Staatliche Museen’s Antikensammlung will develop the concept for the ‘Pergamon’ exhibition, which will be designed by ‘Studio asisi’.
Plans for the exhibition content draw on the Antikensammlung’s previous cooperation with ‘Studio asisi’ for the highly successful Pergamon exhibition in 2011–2012. Accordingly, as the highlight of the new exhibition building, the planners intend to present Yadegar Asisi’s vision of the ancient metropolis in the form of a 360-degree giant panorama. The exhibition will centre around important sculptural elements from the Pergamon Altar, including the Telephus frieze (known as the ‘small frieze’, by contrast to the large Gigantomachy frieze). A newly created 3D simulation of the Pergamon Altar will also offer visitors a virtual view of this world-famous masterpiece of ancient art, which will remain inaccessible to the public until 2023 due to the modernisation of the Pergamonmuseum. Further details regarding the exhibition concept will be made public over the course of the coming year.