Detail page - Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz

Construction work on the first phase of the Pergamon Museum will be completed at the end of the year. They included the basic restoration of the north wing and the central building with the Pergamon Altar in accordance with the preservation order and the construction of a new entrance pavilion in the Court of Honour. This marks a milestone in the basic restoration and extension of the Pergamon Museum, which is being carried out by the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning. The museums have already begun to fit out their exhibition areas on the main level and the upper floor. On the ground floor, the cash desk areas, education and mediation areas, the café and the equipment for events are being prepared.

The museum is due to open to the public in spring 2027. The architecture rooms of the Collection of Classical Antiquities and the completely new permanent exhibition of the Museum of Islamic Art will then be on display again in the Pergamonmuseum. The Museum of the Ancient Near East will also be represented with important large objects in one room.

Minister of State for Culture and the Media Wolfram Weimer: "The Pergamon Museum is a world star among German museums. When the museum had to close due to construction work, a huge gap was created in the European cultural landscape. Today's good news is that the wait will soon be over. The Pergamon Altar and many other highlights of the museum will be open to the public again as early as spring 2027. And it will be worth the wait. Because the Pergamon Museum will shine in new splendour and be able to show off its cultural treasures even better in the future. That is why the federal government was happy to finance the highly complex refurbishment as the sole sponsor of the construction costs."

Petra Wesseler, President of the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning: "The structural completion of the first construction phase of the Pergamon Museum with the world-famous Altar Hall marks a significant milestone in this highly complex major project. The basic refurbishment of the museum makes a significant contribution to the preservation and further development of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Museum Island. It provides the functionality for a modern and highly frequented museum and thus ensures the preservation of the building for future generations. A great deal of effort has gone into carefully integrating contemporary standards into the listed building to maximise the perception of the art and cultural objects on display."

Marion Ackermann, President of the SPK: "The BBR and the three museums have really done a great job - the rooms in the Pergamonmuseum are finished, the architectural exhibits such as the Aleppo Room and the Alhambra Dome are already fully installed. I am now very much looking forward to the opening in spring 2027, when the Altar Hall will be back and the complete redesign of the Museum of Islamic Art will be presented."

Jan Kleihues, architect: "Architecture is not just the art of building, it should also encourage dialogue, in short: it should create community. Following in the footsteps of Messel and Hoffmann, Oswald Matthias Ungers understood how to complete the Pergamon Museum with timeless architecture with his competition entry, in line with the original idea of the Museum Forum. We are continuing and realising this concept in the spirit of Ungers - a great responsibility and immense challenge that we are happy to take on. It is a unique task to make a valuable contribution to the Museum Island World Heritage Site in such a prominent location. We can be very satisfied with the result."

Martin Maischberger, Deputy Director of the Collection of Classical Antiquities: "The rooms of the Collection of Classical Antiquities are the same at first glance - but you can feel it immediately and see it at second glance: They are at the same time completely new. Following extensive surface restoration, the reconstructed west front of the Pergamon Altar shines with unprecedented depth of field and brightness, while new illuminated ceilings and restoration of the wall colours in keeping with the listed building do the rest. The famous Hephaestion mosaic from the Royal Palaces of Pergamon with the unique artist's signature can be admired up close in the Telephos Hall from 2027."

Stefan Weber, Director of the Museum of Islamic Art: "With the new exhibition, the Museum of Islamic Art can finally present itself in the context of ancient civilisations - in 1927 it was decided that Islamic cultures had to be understood within the frame of reference of antiquity - i.e. the ancient oriental and Greco-Roman cultures of the eastern Mediterranean in the Pergamon Museum. This can now be impressively experienced in the main tour with the monumental Mshatta façade. We have also been able to reinvent ourselves in the new 24 rooms. With three times as many objects, some of which have never been shown before, and spectacular international loans, we have some surprises in store for 2027."

Barbara Helwing, Director of the Vorderasiatisches Museum: "With the room in the head building, the Vorderasiatisches Museum is opening a showcase for important highlights from its collection. The presentation with modern lighting design puts sculptures and objects in a completely new light."

The construction work at the Pergamonmuseum is the first major refurbishment of the building since the Second World War. At the same time, the building is being made functional for contemporary museum operations with a high number of visitors. The basic refurbishment and additions to the building are based on plans by O. M. Ungers.

The structural measures serve to preserve the Pergamon Museum for future generations. The foundations of the entire building had to be reinforced and renewed, which required extensive specialised civil engineering work. The roof was also extensively renovated: The supporting structures were repaired and new supporting structures were added. All the skylights were renewed in line with the historical model. The façades and windows were also refurbished in line with listed building standards. In addition, the building's technical equipment and the entire lighting technology, ventilation and air conditioning, heating and cooling technology, electrical and security technology and building automation were brought up to date.

At the same time, the museum was prepared for current and future visitor requirements . To improve the spatial situation and barrier-free access, additional stairwells and lift shafts were installed in the north wing. A new central entrance pavilion, the Tempietto (small temple), was built in the courtyard of honour. In future, the building will also be connected to the Archaeological Promenade, which links the buildings on Museum Island. As part of the second construction phase (construction phase B), a fourth wing will be built to allow visitors a complete tour of the main exhibition level. All measures were carried out in close consultation with the State Monuments Office.

During the construction period, the architectural artefacts of the Collection of Classical Antiquities that were permanently attached to the building, such as the Pergamon Altar, remained in the building. They were carefully restored on site in parallel with the basic restoration work. The use of highly sensitive measuring technology guaranteed that these large architectural artefacts remained intact throughout the construction phase. Other sculptures, friezes and mosaics were removed, taken to workshops and restored, and some were also exhibited elsewhere. They are currently being reinstalled in their original locations in the Pergamon Museum.

The relocation of the Museum of Islamic Art from the upper floor of the south wing to the north wing was a huge logistical feat. There, the museum will present its new exhibition on an area more than twice as large over two floors. Several thousand exhibits from the collection were restored and moved, including the Aleppo Room and the Alhambra Dome. The early Islamic mshatta façade was dismantled into its 527 individual stone blocks and rebuilt in the north wing.

From 2027, the Museum of the Ancient Near East will be represented with a display window in an exhibition hall in the north wing. The monumental victory stele of the Assyrian king Asarhaddon, weighing over six tonnes, will be the focal point of its presentation.

When the Pergamon Museum is refurbished, particular attention will be paid to communication. In future, the Collection of Classical Antiquities will also use the smaller neighbouring rooms of the Altar Hall and the Hellenistic Hall as exhibition rooms and for contemporary presentations. In a co-operation between the SPK and Siemens, a high-resolution scan of the altar is currently being created, which will be used for new mediation formats. Over the past few years, the Museum of Islamic Art has carried out various projects with regard to the new concept, with the support of the Al Waleed Foundation in particular. This has made it possible to develop an exhibition design that conveys complex cultural and historical themes to a wide audience in a highly inclusive way. Contemporary art can also be found in the building, for example in the stairwell next to the Alhambra dome: the internationally renowned artist Imran Qureshi (Lahore, Pakistan), who interprets elements from the Indian-Islamic painting tradition, was commissioned to create a mural. He has developed a wall-filling abstract garden painting from many small flowers and floral elements, which contextualises the Alhambra as an idealised and romanticised place of longing.

Further information

• Construction phase A
  Construction phase B

Press material for download

• Press material of the BBR

Information on the collections in the Pergamonmuseum, current exhibitions on the Museum Island Berlin and the 200th anniversary of the Museum Island Berlin

• Museum Island Berlin
• mi200

Further documents

• Press Release: Milestone reached in renvation of the Pergamon Museum
• Museum of the Ancient Near East in the north wing
• Construction aids: Steel structures
• Weather protection roofs: Special and necessary construction of the measure
• Collection of Classical Antiquities: Altar Hall "Pergamon Hall"
• Collection of Classical Antiquities: Hall of Hellenistic Architecture
• Museum of Islamic Art: The Aleppo Room
• Museum of Islamic Art: The Alhambra Dome
• Museum of Islamic Art: The new permanent exhibition
• Exhibition design and initial installation: The final step to the finished museum
• Foundation and post-foundation: Special civil engineering
• Restoration of the ancient architectural halls: Altar Hall with Pergamon Altar
• Restoration of the ancient architecture: building hut and interim storage
• Restoration of the ancient architectural halls: Hellenistic Hall
• Relocation of architecture: relocation of the large objects of the Museum of Islamic Art
• The new construction of the Tempietto
• The Pergamon Museum as a daylight museum