Renovating the Pergamon Museum, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and jewel in Berlin’s crown, is no easy task. Add to this an eroded and unstable ground that endangers the structure of the entire building, damaged during the Second World War and never renovated during the era of the German Democratic Republic (GDR), the task becomes quite a challenge. In 2013, work began and the center closed its doors to the public in 2023 to undertake a challenge whose execution will last until 2036, although part will reopen in 2027. Full reopening is planned for 2037. This is the most expensive cultural rehabilitation in Germany and also the longest to date.
“There is nothing comparable. Only because of the size of the building, because here we have architectural reconstructions on a 1:1 scale of different Mediterranean cultures: this does not exist anywhere else. The task is truly unique”, explains Jan Kleihues, architect and responsible for the realization of a project with a budget of 1.2 billion. According to him, there is no other renovation project in any museum in the world that comes close to the one they are undertaking.
The first of two reconstruction phases, which includes the center and the north wing, cost 489 million euros and took 12 years. This is what a small group of journalists now have access to, including EL PAÍS, who once again contemplated in an exceptional way some of the wonders that have made the museum famous. The work is still in progress, but the structure is already finished and it is possible to get an idea of what it will be like when this part reopens in spring 2027. Until 2037 you will not be able to enjoy other gems like, for example, the Ishtar Gate of the Babylonian Wall.
In this first phase is the central wing with the Pergamon Altar. This hall and the north wing already have new roofs and reinforced foundations, to which is added a new steel and glass entrance pavilion that they called Tempietto (small temple) and which renounces the neoclassical forms, typical of the rest of Berlin’s Museum Island. However, as Kleihues explains, this is not a departure in style, but rather the same material used in the original construction, but adapted to contemporary architecture. Through the Tempietto, the visitor will access the majestic altar room, closed since 2014.
“It will be a sensational place and we do not expect hundreds of thousands of visitors in the coming years, but millions, because it is something of global importance,” says Wolfram Weimer, Berlin’s regional culture minister. “Everyone is looking with fascination at this place and this time, because a treasure of human history is being reopened. It’s an extraordinary museum, but it’s also an extraordinary work of construction.”
The fight of the Greek gods against the giants reappears with clear contours and dazzling light thanks to its ceiling renovated in daylight and its light gray-blue walls which recall the sky. Some of these towering gods wait patiently on the ground. The altar frieze, dating from the 2nd century BC. C., is completely original. The pieces excavated by the German archaeologist Karl Humann in the 19th century in the then Ottoman Empire had already been restored in the past. Now it’s the turn of the altar, about 80% of which has been rebuilt.
During the guided tour, site manager Andreas Erdmann gives an insight into the behind-the-scenes work and the challenges it posed. Vibration sensors were installed everywhere and as soon as an alarm sounded, workers would stop to protect the antiquities. Cracks appeared of which there is no longer any trace. Steel beams were installed to support the building. “It was a logistical challenge,” says Erdmann. “We used enough steel to build four jumbo jets.”
The difficult underground conditions required the construction of a new foundation with more than 700 micropiles at depths of between 10 and 30 meters. The old concrete bridge with which engineers solved the problem of the erosion ditch that existed on the land more than a hundred years ago has also been strengthened. “We couldn’t wait any longer. There were serious problems with leaks, especially on the second floor, and cracks in the walls,” comments Martin Maischberger, deputy director of the Antiquities Collection, which includes the famous altar.
The building constructed between 1910 and 1930 has been modernized and made more accessible. Now is the time to place the works, some piece by piece, like the more than 500 blocks of the richly decorated facade of the Mschatta Desert Palace, which arrived in Berlin in 1903 as a gift from Ottoman Sultan Abdülhamid II to Emperor Wilhelm II. It is a central part of the Museum of Islamic Art, integrated into the Pergamon Museum, which has now doubled its size in its new location in the north wing.
Also the mosaic of Hephaistion, from the 2nd century BC. C., who decorated a palace in Pergamum until his arrival in Berlin about 150 years ago, was moved from the Hellenistic Hall to the small room above the Pergamon Altar. The work, which has around a million small stones, was moved in blocks and three restorers have worked for months to place some 60,000 of these stones. “Especially those that were on the outside or at the junction between the blocks,” says Maischberger. Its transfer is due to the desire to facilitate walks in the Hellenistic room presided over by the statue of Athena. “Now it’s like an agora where you can move around freely,” explains Erdmann.
When visiting the north wing, you can see the progress of the restoration of, for example, the famous Aleppo Hall and the dome of the Alhambra in Granada, which shine in their new locations. The wooden panels that cover the Aleppo room have been restored and arranged in a space that appears larger and brighter than the old one. Meanwhile, the wooden dome that once covered the Alhambra’s Ladies’ Tower is located in a room with a window that overlooks a mural with floral elements by artist Imran Qureshi, reminiscent of an abstract garden.
The dome arrived in Berlin in the 1920s from a banker who acquired it at the end of the 19th century. “As at that time the Alhambra was still private property, he was able to buy it and install it in his private house in the center of Berlin,” explains Deniz Erduman-Çalis, curator of the Museum of Islamic Art. “In 1979 his descendants put it up for sale. They first offered it to the Alhambra, but at that time the Spanish government didn’t want it, because in the sixties they had built a replica and the tower is not accessible to the public, so there was no interest,” he explains of how it ended up in the museum.
The origin of certain objects can reopen a debate on the question. Although Spain has never shown interest in the leaders, complaints have been made in Türkiye. “Certain regional activists have asked for its restitution,” acknowledges Maischberger, while recalling that the altar is a replica, it is therefore not correct to speak of “recovery of the Pergamon altar”, since it is the frieze. “I think when we reopen there may be discussions about it, but we are prepared. We have to differentiate between the historical context and the 19th century situation.”
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