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36-596: The Pergamon Museum (German: Pergamonmuseum ; pronounced [ˈpɛʁ.ɡa.mɔn.muˌzeː.ʊm] ) is a listed building on the Museum Island in the historic centre of Berlin , Germany. It was built from 1910 to 1930 by order of Emperor Wilhelm II and according to plans by Alfred Messel and Ludwig Hoffmann in Stripped Classicism style . As part of the Museum Island complex,

72-817: A 3D reconstruction of the famous Pergamon altar by the Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Graphics Research and parts of the altar including the Telephos Frieze . As part of the Museum Island Master Plan, the Pergamon Museum underwent renovation in October 2023. It will remain closed for 14 to 20 years, with a partial reopening in 2027. Kulturdenkmal In Austria, the Bundesdenkmalamt (BDA),

108-748: A Roman archaeologist in 1698. It first became accessible (in part) to the public in 1830, when the Altes Museum was opened. The collection expanded greatly with excavations in Olympia , Samos , Pergamon , Miletus , Priene , Magnesia , Cyprus , and Didyma . This collection is divided between the Pergamon Museum and the Altes Museum. The collection contains sculpture from the archaic to Hellenistic ages as well as artwork from Greek and Roman antiquity: architecture, sculptures, inscriptions, mosaics, bronzes, jewelry and pottery. The main exhibits are

144-544: A design for the large three-wing building in 1906. After his death in 1909 his friend Ludwig Hoffman took charge of the project and construction began in 1910, continuing during the First World War (1918) and the great inflation of the 1920s . The completed building was opened in 1930. The Pergamon Museum was severely damaged during the air attacks on Berlin at the end of the Second World War . Many of

180-493: A long process of review (so, for instance, Leninallee reverted to Landsberger Allee in 1991, and Dimitroffstraße reverted to Danziger Straße in 1995). Another symbolic icon of the former East Berlin (and of East Germany as a whole) is the Ampelmännchen (tr. "little traffic light men"), a stylized version of a fedora-wearing man crossing the street, which is found on traffic lights at many pedestrian crosswalks throughout

216-600: A special area of Berlin, which was occupied by the three Allied Forces together. In May 1945, the Soviet Union installed a city government for the whole city that was called "Magistrate of Greater Berlin", which existed until 1947. After the war, the Allied Forces initially administered the city together within the Allied Kommandatura , which served as the governing body of the city. However, in 1948

252-697: Is the Ishtar Gate and the Processional Way of Babylon along with the throne room facade of Nebuchadnezzar II . The Vorderasiatisches Museum also displays the Meissner fragment from the Epic of Gilgamesh . The comprehensive plan for Museum Island includes an expansion of the Pergamon Museum, with connections to the Neues Museum , Bodemuseum , Alte Nationalgalerie and a new visitor centre,

288-589: The Volkskammer were not directly elected and did not have full voting rights until 1981. In June 1948, all railways and roads leading to West Berlin were blocked , and East Berliners were not allowed to emigrate. Nevertheless, more than 1,000 East Germans were escaping to West Berlin each day by 1960, caused by the strains on the East German economy from war reparations owed to the Soviet Union, massive destruction of industry, and lack of assistance from

324-566: The James Simon Gallery . An architectural competition in 2000 was won by Oswald Mathias Ungers from Cologne . The Pergamon Museum will be redeveloped according to his plan, which controversially proposes large alterations to buildings unchanged since 1930. The current entrance building in the Court of Honor will be replaced with a fourth wing, and an underground walk ( Archäologische Promenade , archeologic walk) will connect four of

360-627: The Marshall Plan . In August 1961, the East German Government tried to stop the population exodus by separating West Berlin by the Berlin Wall . It was very dangerous for fleeing residents to cross because armed soldiers were trained to shoot illegal emigrants . East Germany was a socialist republic . Eventually, Christian churches were allowed to operate without restraint after years of harassment by authorities. In

396-671: The Pushkin Museum in Moscow and the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg . The return of these items has been arranged in a treaty between Germany and Russia but, as of June 2003, is blocked by Russian restitution laws . Among the pieces the museum displays are: The collection goes back to the prince-electors of Brandenburg , who collected objects from antiquity; the collection began with an acquisition by

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432-510: The 1970s, although they never recognized it as the capital of East Germany. Treaties instead used terms such as "seat of government". On 3 October 1990, East and West Germany and East and West Berlin were reunited , thus formally ending the existence of East Berlin. Citywide elections in December 1990 resulted in the first "all-Berlin" mayor being elected to take office in January 1991, with

468-677: The 1970s, the wages of East Berliners rose and working hours fell. The Soviet Union and the Communist Bloc recognized East Berlin as the GDR's capital. However, Western Allies (the United States , United Kingdom , and France ) never formally acknowledged the authority of the East German government to govern East Berlin. Official Allied protocol recognized only the authority of the Soviet Union in East Berlin in accordance with

504-481: The East Germans. Despite the large sums of economic aid poured into East Berlin, there still remain obvious differences between the former East and West Berlins. East Berlin has a distinct visual style; this is partly due to the greater survival of prewar façades and streetscapes, with some still showing signs of wartime damage. The unique look of Socialist Classicism that was used in East Berlin (along with

540-551: The European Heritage Days, which are called "Tage des offenen Denkmals". As cultural matters lie largely within the responsibility not of the national government, but of the 16 states ( Bundesländer ), the 16 respective heritage protection authorities (Landesdenkmalämter) survey and list official monuments. The Kulturgüterschutz is the institution in charge of the National Heritage Sites of

576-521: The German-speaking areas of Switzerland. They maintain the inventory of protected objects and also organize the European Heritage Days, which are called Europäischer Tag des Denkmals . East Berlin East Berlin ( German : Ost-Berlin ; pronounced [ˈɔstbɛʁˌliːn] ) was the partially recognised capital of East Germany (GDR) from 1949 to 1990. From 1945, it

612-811: The Pergamon Altar from the 2nd century BC, with a 113-metre (371 ft) long sculptural frieze depicting the struggle of the gods and the giants, and the Gate of Miletus from Roman antiquity. As Germany was divided following the Second World War, so was the collection. The Pergamon Museum was reopened in 1959 in East Berlin , while what remained in West Berlin was displayed in Schloss Charlottenburg. The Islamic Department

648-675: The Pergamon Museum was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1999 because of its architecture and testimony to the evolution of museums as architectural and social phenomena. Prior to its closing in 2023, the Pergamon Museum was home to the Antikensammlung , including the famous Pergamon Altar , the Vorderasiatisches Museum and the Museum für Islamische Kunst . In October 2023,

684-663: The Soviet representative left the Kommandatura and the common administration broke apart during the following months. In the Soviet sector, a separate city government was established, which continued to call itself the "Magistrate of Greater Berlin". When the German Democratic Republic was established in 1949, it immediately claimed East Berlin as its capital—a claim that was recognized by all communist countries . Nevertheless, East Berlin's representatives to

720-496: The areas of ancient Babylon , Uruk , Assur , Miletus , Priene and ancient Egypt , and objects from these sites could not be properly displayed within the existing German museum system. Wilhelm von Bode , director of the Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum, initiated plans to build a new museum nearby to accommodate ancient architecture, German post-antiquity art, and Middle Eastern and Islamic art. Alfred Messel began

756-511: The auspices of the Treuhandanstalt , many East German factories were shut down—which also led to mass unemployment—due to gaps in productivity with and investment compared to West German companies, as well as an inability to comply with West German pollution and safety standards in a way that was deemed cost-effective. Because of this, a massive amount of West German economic aid was poured into East Germany to revitalize it. This stimulus

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792-575: The display objects had been stored in safe places, and some of the large exhibits were walled in for protection. In 1945, the Red Army collected all of the loose museum items, either as war booty or to rescue them from looting and fires then raging in Berlin. Not until 1958 were most of the objects returned to East Germany . Significant parts of the collection remain in Russia. Some are currently stored in

828-515: The five museums. From September 2014 up to October 2023, the museum was partially closed for renovation. The hall containing Pergamon Altar will remain closed to the general public. Initially the reopening was scheduled for 2019. In November 2016, it was revealed that the estimated project costs would almost double to 477 million euros. Two pump houses built in the ground during the initial construction between 1910 and 1930 had been discovered causing rising costs and delays. At least 60 million euros of

864-507: The former East. Following a civic debate about whether the Ampelmännchen should be abolished or disseminated more widely (due to concerns of consistency), several crosswalks in some parts of the former West Berlin began to employ the Ampelmännchen . Twenty-five years after the two cities were reunified, the people of East and West Berlin still had noticeable differences between them, and these differences became more apparent among

900-462: The increased costs are directly due to the fact that construction costs had risen since the original estimate 10 years ago. The Pergamon altar hall was not expected to reopen until at least 2025. In 2018 a temporary exhibition space just outside Museum Island and a short distance from Pergamon Museum was opened, housing a panorama of the ancient city by the Berlin-based artist Yadegar Asisi ,

936-630: The institution in charge of the National Heritage Sites, administers the list of Kulturdenkmal objects, which it formally refers to as Denkmalgeschützte Objekte . The Institut du Patrimoine is the institution in charge of the National Heritage Sites of Wallonia, which includes the National Heritage Sites of the German-speaking Community of Belgium . Various local websites with public information are maintained, and various initiatives are undertaken to assist owners of protected properties and to increase public awareness, most notably

972-563: The museum was completely closed for visitors, and is expected to remain mostly closed for 14 to 20 years – until 2037 to 2043 – for the execution of comprehensive renovation works. Its North Wing is expected to reopen in 2027. By the time the Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum on Museum Island (today the Bodemuseum ) had opened in 1904, it was clear that the edifice was not large enough to host all of the art and archaeological treasures being excavated under German supervision. Excavations were underway in

1008-555: The occupation status of Berlin as a whole. The United States Command Berlin, for example, published detailed instructions for U.S. military and civilian personnel wishing to visit East Berlin. In fact, the three Western commandants regularly protested against the presence of the East German National People's Army in East Berlin, particularly on the occasion of military parades. Nevertheless, the three Western Allies eventually established embassies in East Berlin in

1044-545: The official central statistical office of East Germany. Since reunification, the German government has spent vast amounts of money on reintegrating the two halves of the city and bringing services and infrastructure in the former East Berlin up to the standard established in West Berlin. After reunification, the East German economy suffered significantly. Under the adopted policy of privatization of state-owned firms under

1080-464: The older generations. The two groups also had sometimes-derogatory slang terms to refer to each other. A former East Berliner (or East German) was known as an " Ossi " (from the German word for east, Ost ), and a former West Berliner (or West German) was known as a " Wessi " (from the German word for west, West ). Both sides also engaged in stereotyping the other. A stereotypical Ossi had little ambition or poor work ethic and

1116-499: The rest of the former GDR) also contrasts markedly with the urban development styles employed in the former West Berlin. Additionally, the former East Berlin (along with the rest of the former GDR) retains a small number of its GDR-era street and place names commemorating German socialist heroes, such as Karl-Marx-Allee , Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz , and Karl-Liebknecht-Straße . Many such names, however, were deemed inappropriate (for various reasons) and, through decommunization , changed after

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1152-553: The separate offices of mayors in East and West Berlin expiring at the time, and Eberhard Diepgen (a former mayor of West Berlin) became the first elected mayor of a reunited Berlin. East Berlin reached its highest population in 1988 with 1.28 million. The lowest value was in 1961, the year the Berlin Wall was built, with under 1.06 million registered. The figures in the following table, unless otherwise indicated, are from

1188-633: Was officially known as Berlin, capital of the GDR ( German : Berlin, Hauptstadt der DDR ) by the GDR government. On 3 October 1990, the day Germany was officially reunified , East and West Berlin formally reunited as the city of Berlin. With the London Protocol of 1944 signed on 12 September 1944, the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union decided to divide Germany into three occupation zones and to establish

1224-535: Was part of the Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum which opened in 1904. In the newly built Pergamon Museum, the museum moved into the upper floor of the south wing and was opened there in 1932. The Middle East Museum exhibition displays objects found by German archeologists and others from the areas of Assyrian , Sumerian , and Babylonian culture. Additionally there are historical buildings, reliefs and lesser cultural objects and jewelry. The main display

1260-478: Was part-funded through a 7.5% tax on income for individuals and companies (in addition to normal income tax or company tax) known as the Solidaritätszuschlaggesetz (SolZG) or "solidarity surcharge", which though only in effect for 1991–1992 (later reintroduced in 1995 at 7.5 and then dropped down to 5.5% in 1998 and continues to be levied to this day) led to a great deal of resentment toward

1296-457: Was the Soviet occupation sector of Berlin . The American, British, and French sectors were known as West Berlin . From 13 August 1961 until 9 November 1989, East Berlin was separated from West Berlin by the Berlin Wall . The Western Allied powers did not recognize East Berlin as the GDR's capital, nor the GDR's authority to govern East Berlin. For most of its administrative existence, East Berlin

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