Detail page - Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz

The museums are currently working at full speed to clear the south wing of the Pergamonmuseum so that construction work on the basic restoration can begin at the end of 2024. In addition to the museums' scientists, conservators and collection managers, numerous restoration planners commissioned by the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning, freelance conservators, transport companies and art shipping companies as well as companies for scaffolding and protective measures are also involved.

Three collections are affected by the measures: The Collection of Classical Antiquities presented its artefacts in the Miletsaal. The exhibition rooms of the Museum of the Ancient Near East are adjacent to it on the main floor. The permanent exhibition of the Museum of Islamic Art, which will be on display on both floors of the north wing of the Pergamonmuseum from 2027, was previously located above it. The Pergamon Hall and the Hellenistic Hall of the museum will also reopen in 2027. This means that more than half of the Pergamonmuseum will be accessible to visitors again in three years' time. The Museum of the Ancient Near East will be represented with a display window when the north wing reopens and is planning an interim exhibition. However, its collection will not be fully on display again until the south wing reopens in 2037.

In the months since the south wing closed in autumn 2023, all display cases and free-standing objects have already been removed. Most of the permanently installed exhibits have now also been dismantled, including the Aleppo Room and the Mshatta façade as well as numerous stone objects weighing several tonnes from the Museum of the Ancient Near East, such as the lion statues and the Assyrian palace reliefs. In addition to the 2,000 or so objects on display in the Museum of the Ancient Near East and the Collection of Classical Antiquities, the majority of the 90,000 objects in the Museum of Islamic Art are also being removed from the museum's exhibition rooms and depots and moved to new or temporary locations. The architecture restored on site will move directly into the north wing in the course of the year.

The Orpheus mosaic from the 2nd century AD was recently removed from the Miletsaal with the artefacts from the Collection of Classical Antiquities. Currently, the statue of Trajan (Sk 354) and two statues from the Market Gate of Miletus (Sk 1931 and Sk 1932) are being lifted from their pedestals with the help of cranes and moved to the depot. Only the extremely large exhibits, some of which are deeply embedded in the museum walls, such as the Market Gate of Miletus, will remain in the building and will be covered for protection and meticulously monitored during the construction work.

In the Museum of the Ancient Near East, the two permanently installed and largest monuments, the Processional Way and the Ishtar Gate of Babylon, will also remain in the building during the construction period. The rest of the artefacts will be taken to depots and restored or, in some cases, loaned out or presented in temporary exhibitions in Berlin. The stone artefacts from the collection, which have been removed from the side rooms, are currently being arranged by weight in Processionsstraße and will be craned out of the building via a window in the coming weeks. Most of them are too heavy to be transported by lift. The lower half of the head of the weather god "Hadad" alone weighs just over a tonne; as a whole, the 3.4 metre high cult image from the 8th century BC (VA 02882) would weigh just over 4100 kg. Other objects will be dismantled stone by stone, such as the 15th century BC façade of the Innin Temple of Karaindash (VA 10983) from Uruk (Warka).

After moving from the south wing to the north wing in 2027, the Museum of Islamic Art will occupy more than twice as much space as before (3000m2). Hundreds of objects will be cleaned and restored. The famous Aleppo Room will also have its harmful, porous varnish removed. Its wood panelling was dismantled for the move by removing the panels, doors and cornices from the wall frames. These frames made of painted cedar wood will be transported through the building in their entirety, measuring 3.50 m x 2.90 m, once all the restoration work has been completed.

Further information:

• www.museumsinsel-berlin.de
• blog.smb.museum/schwergewichte-und-lichtgestaltung-beraeumung-des-pergamonmuseums/
• www.spkmagazin.de/2024/forschungsfragen-oeffnet-tueren-und-herzen-das-aleppo-zimmer.html
• blog.smb.museum/alles-neu-schliessung-und-sanierung-des-pergamonmuseums/

Basic refurbishment and extension of the Pergamon Museum

The basic refurbishment and extension of the Pergamon Museum is part of the "Museum Island Masterplan". The building, which has never been thoroughly renovated since its opening in 1930 and despite war damage, was in acute need of refurbishment.

The first construction phase A, which has been underway since 2013, comprises the north wing of the building as well as the centre section with the Hellenistic Hall and the Pergamon Hall. It is scheduled to reopen in 2027. The second construction phase comprises the south wing, the construction of a fourth wing and the connection to the other buildings on Museum Island. Once the preparatory measures have been completed, the second construction phase will begin at the end of 2024.
The three-and-a-half-year total closure period of the building until 2027 resulting from the overlap of the two construction phases is linked to the aim of keeping the entire construction project within a smaller time and cost framework than if it were extended further.

Information from the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning:

• Construction phase A: www.bbr.bund.de/BBR/DE/Bauprojekte/Berlin/Kultur/Museumsinsel/Pergamonmuseum/bauabschnitt-a.html
• Construction phase B: www.bbr.bund.de/BBR/DE/Bauprojekte/Berlin/Kultur/Museumsinsel/Pergamonmuseum/bauabschnitt-b.html
• About the costs: www.bbr.bund.de/BBR/DE/presse/pressemitteilungen/2024/240216_sachinformation-kosten-pergamonmuseum.html