The Pergamon Museum

The Pergamon Museum is one of Berlin’s jewels. It was built on Museuminsel (Museum Island) in the early 1900’s to house artifacts being discovered in German excavations. The unique thing about the Pergamon is its size. Inside it houses not just individual artifacts, but entire structures, including the Pergamon Temple (a Greek temple from modern Turkey), the Market Gate to Miletus from Turkey and the Ishtar Gate from Babylon (modern Iraq).

We had no idea what awaited us as we entered with Danielle’s cousin Bob and friend Jerry. They had flown in from Amsterdam the day before and joined us for a wonderful lunch at our apartment prior to our museum outing. It was great to have them visit, and even more fun to walk through Berlin with them.

So, imagine that you enter a “room” with a ceiling about 100 feet high. The space stretches out before you the length of a football field, and to your right, the stairs of the temple rise up. It is as though someone put the Lincoln Memorial inside a museum, except that the structure you can see, touch, even walk on… is over 2000 years old. All around the outside walls are ancient sculptures of the Greek gods discovered at temple. They are depicted in their victorious battle against the giants.

Although the Pergamon altar was impressive and familiar (thanks to Walt Disney’s Hercules movie ☺, the Ishtar Gate form Babylon was even more awe inspiring. As you walk through the imposing walls of the processional way and approach the colorful main gate, you can almost imagine the impact the beautifully glazed tiles and huge walls would have had on visitors to the Assyrian city of Babylon 500 years before the birth of Christ.

Following our interesting visit to the Pergamon, we strolled with Bob and Jerry along the Spree and past the Reichstag, through the Holocaust Memorial and over to Potsdamer Platz. Potsdamer Platz is a story of rebirth for Berlin. When the city was divided during the cold war, the wall separating east and west ran straight through what had been a major commercial center prior to WWII. The wall turned it into a desolate wasteland. Following reunification, Potsdamer Platz was rebuilt in modern grandeur. It now houses the Sony Center and several “sky scrapers”. The Sony Center is an interesting complex with an unusual roof over the central outdoor space. It houses several restaurants and a wonderful movie theatre. Unfortunately for Bob and Jerry, I suggested we try an Australian restaurant there. I expected bloomin’ onions and steak. Much to my surprise, the menu included crocodile and kangaroo. None of our crew had the heart to eat a roo, but Bob was courageous enough to try crocodile. I tried a bite, and could not help but to consider that the croc might have dined on Mick Dundee. Somehow, that did not help my appetite much.