Before we left home we were really excited to be visiting the ancient city of Pergamon in Turkey as well as later in our trip, the museum in Berlin where the archaeological finds are now located. Just before we left home, we read on the Internet that the Pergamon Museum in Berlin was closed for renovations! Fortunately for us only part of it is closed - not the parts we really wanted to see.
The Pergamon Altar (180 - 160 BC) is housed in a massive room on its own. It is so large that no photo can do it justice. The word altar is really a misnomer - what we saw was about 1/3 of a large building! Only last month we stood at the place where it came from.
In another room was the Gate of Miletus, a magnificent example of Roman architecture from the early 2nd century AD. We walked through this gate into another room where the Ishtar Gate from Babylon backs on to it. This was all in blue ceramic bricks with large animal pictures all over it. Built by King Nebuchadnezzar - 6th century BC we walked along the Processional Way just as he did.
In another large room was part of the wall of the Caliph's Palace at Mshatta (now in Jordan) which was a gift from the sultan to the Kaiser when the museum opened originally in 1901.
Each of the major halls had displays of sculptures and artefacts from the sites. It was mind boggling. This is certainly one of the great museums of the world. At the same time, it poses the same question as the Elgin Marbles. Should they have been left in place at a museum there?
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| Gail at the Pergamon Altar |
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| Detail from one of the friezes - Athena |
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| More of the surrounding frieze |
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| The Roman Gate of Miletus |
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| The Ishtar Gate of Babylon |
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| Gail checking out the detail of the animals on the Ishtar Gate |
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| The Caliph's Palace of Mshatta |
2 comments:
Amazing pictures, and yes, you raise a very interesting question. The same issue occurs here of course with the question of returning Aboriginal artifacts (and remains) to their traditional owners. It's one where I don't think there is a clear answer.
Are the traditional owners where-ever they are from able to conserve the history/artifacts/buildings/sculptures and will they make it available for display for future generations to see and learn from?
xoxo
Di
I have a friend who works for the Australian Museum who is involved with the return of aboriginal artifacts and remains from overseas to the traditional owners. Di raises a good point re conservation etc but not sure if there is a right answer on this one.
xo
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