Museum Island
Director: Pergamonmuseum remains visible
Scaffolding on the facade of the Pergamon Museum. photo
© Paul Zinken/dpa
Berlin’s Pergamon Museum becomes a construction site for the gods. The house on the World Heritage Museum Island, which is in need of renovation, will remain closed for many years. Those responsible are already looking to the future.
Even on the last day before the closure due to renovation for many years Pergamon Museum in Berlin attracted numerous people. Early on Sunday morning there was already a large rush of interested people on the Museum Island, which is a World Heritage site. According to the museum, around 5,000 visitors were able to take a last look at the Ishtar Gate or the processional route of Babylon using the time slots, which had been fully booked for a long time, until 9 p.m. that evening.
The Pergamon Museum, which includes the Antique Collection, the Near Eastern Museum and the Museum of Islamic Art, is one of the most popular German museums with more than a million visitors every year. It will remain completely closed for at least four years.
Construction section A with the Pergamon Altar, which has been closed since 2013, is scheduled to be accessible again in 2027. The second section B will also remain closed from this Monday. The entire Pergamon Museum will not be open again until 14 years from now, in 2037. The total cost of the extensive work could be 1.5 billion euros.
“The renovation offers us a very special opportunity to better preserve the objects in the future and present them in a more accessible way,” said Barbara Helwing, director of the Vorderasian Museum, to the dpa in Berlin. “We are now putting old restorations to the test, developing modern exhibition concepts and writing new stories that we would like to share with our visitors very soon as part of special and interim exhibitions.” Even if the building is renovated, the Pergamon Museum will remain visible in Berlin.
Stefan Weber, director of the Museum of Islamic Art, spoke of the entire team’s anticipation of new exhibition rooms, a stable climate, barrier-free access and a tight roof. “We have been working very concentratedly on the new exhibition areas for years,” said Weber, “the closure is now actually the starting signal for the final round of the move within the Pergamonmuseum.” Weber announced that an exhibition would begin after the renovation, “which will also set new international standards.”