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On 10 March 2000, the then Secretary-General of UNESCO, Koichiro Matsuura, presented the certificate signed on 2 December 1999 to the representatives of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation and the State of Berlin. This was the first time that a museum complex, the buildings with the integrated parts of the collection, had been placed under UNESCO protection: The Museum Island was added to the UNESCO list as an outstanding example of the concept of the art museum, which was created in the spirit of the Enlightenment.

The explanatory statement describes the Museum Island as "a unique ensemble of museum buildings that illustrates the development of modern museum design over a period of more than a century". The first to be built was the "Royal Museum", today's Altes Museum, one of the most outstanding examples of Neoclassical architecture in Germany, which was constructed by 1830 according to plans by Karl Friedrich Schinkel. This was followed by the Neues Museum (1859), the Nationalgalerie (1871), which today bears the prefix "Alte", the Bode Museum, formerly the Kaiser Friedrich Museum (1904), and finally the Pergamon Museum (1930), all built by the most important architects in the style of their time.

"The title is both an honour and an obligation for us. In all the steps we take to develop the Museum Island into a sustainable complex, we work closely and productively with the representatives of the conservation authorities. This is one of the reasons for the great success of the Museum Island with the public," says Hermann Parzinger, President of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation.

The Foundation's option of not only renovating the Museum Island on the basis of a master plan, but also developing it and making it fit for the future, was also included in the UNESCO application process. In June 1999, the SPK Board of Trustees adopted the so-called Museum Island Masterplan. Two aspects are of particular importance in the restoration of the Museum Island: on the one hand, preserving the character of the historic exhibition centres and, on the other, developing them into a museum complex fit for the future. To date, three of the five historic buildings have been completely renovated or restored and reopened: the Alte Nationalgalerie in 2001, the Bode Museum in 2006 and the Neues Museum in 2009. The Colonnade Courtyard will also be opened to the public on Sunday.

Hermann Parzinger, Ingeborg Berggreen-Merkel, Head of Department at the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, André Schmitz, State Secretary for Cultural Affairs of the State of Berlin, Walter Hirche, President of the German Commission for UNESCO, and Michael Petzet, President of ICOMOS Germany, will speak at the ceremony.

To mark the anniversary, the Berlin State Monuments Office and the National Museums in Berlin are hosting the Berlin Monuments Salon "Learning from the New Museum? Restoration Standards in World Heritage Conservation" in the rotunda of the Altes Museum.

In addition, a specialist colloquium of the Association of Conservators on the restoration of the Neues Museum will take place on 4 and 5 June 2010.

Further information

Museum Island Masterplan

In accordance with the plans formulated in the Masterplan, the consequences of the Second World War have been removed since 1999, all buildings have been refurbished and equipped with modern technology and the Museum Island has been developed in line with the requirements of a modern museum landscape.

To this end, the plan envisages restoring the historic buildings as solitary structures, each with its own entrance. In addition, they are to be connected by a new entrance building on Kupfergraben and (with the exception of the Alte Nationalgalerie) by the so-called Archaeological Promenade at basement level. The Pergamonmuseum will be given a fourth wing through which the archaeological architectural exhibits can be viewed in a main tour. The open spaces are to be restored and upgraded. And so that the museum buildings can remain reserved for museum purposes as far as possible, a new building for administration, storage and workshop space, the Archaeological Competence Centre, is being built on the former site of the Friedrich Engels Barracks.

The first milestones have already been reached and, following the reopening of the first three museums, Museum Island Berlin is now one of Germany's biggest crowd-pullers with around 3 million visitors a year.

In September 2010, the topping-out ceremony for the new archaeological centre of excellence will take place in the museum courtyards. By 2013, the James Simon Gallery will be rebuilt as the central reception building on Museum Island. The Pergamon Museum and the Altes Museum will then be renovated. At the end of the construction work as part of the master plan, the Archaeological Promenade will create a connection between all the buildings except for the Alte Nationalgalerie, as was historically the case with the bridge buildings. The work is expected to be completed by 2025.

UNESCO World Heritage Site

On 16 November 1972, UNESCO adopted the "Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage". To date, 186 countries have ratified the so-called World Heritage Convention. 890 cultural and natural heritage sites from 148 countries on all continents have so far met the requirements for inclusion on the World Heritage List, 689 of which are cultural monuments such as Museum Island.

Museum Island met UNESCO's inscription criteria (ii) and (iv), according to which nominated properties (ii) demonstrate, for a period or in a cultural area of the world, a significant intersection of human values in relation to the development of architecture or technology, large-scale sculpture, town planning or landscape design, or (iv) represent an outstanding example of a type of building, architectural or technological ensemble or landscape which should symbolise one or more significant periods in the history of mankind.

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