Museum Island

Famous for: where can you find something like this, five museums on one island? The island itself resembles an open-air museum with all those imposing classical buildings: Altes Museum, Neues Museum, Pergamon Museum, Bode Museum, and the Alte National Galerie. Plus, there's also some scattered art from various artists, and of course, we must not forget the beautiful avenues and the bridges that cross the Spree, as well as the Lustgarten. It is just a pity that now, in mid-2002, not everything can be admired in its full glory. The view and the walk are partially obstructed by restoration work all over the island.
Bode Museum

Of the five museums, the Pergamon is the most worthwhile, especially knowing that the Pergamon actually houses five smaller museums. You reach the museum via a bridge with steps over the Spree. The museum has a strong focus on Eastern collections, partly due to Germany's former colonies and partly because in the past, the export of artistic treasures was not as strictly regulated. The museum is named after its most beautiful possession: the complete altar of the gods Zeus and Athena from 180 BC. The altar was adorned by Greek builders with a 136-meter-wide frieze, which is a decorated strip. The frieze depicts the battle that the Greek gods fought against the Titans. Under the leadership of Zeus, the giants were defeated. The Greeks viewed this struggle as a metaphor: the raw forces of nature versus law and order. After all, when you say 'Greek', you immediately think of 'civilization', hence. In fact, the Pergamon altar came first, and the museum was built around it. Another highlight from the museum's collection is the Ishtar Gate, the entrance gate from the golden age of Babylon in the 5th century BC. Visiting the museum is certainly worth the effort if you can set aside about four hours for it. On the other hand: Berlin, and especially Mitte, is a museum itself, history lies on the streets.

Toineke