Altes Museum

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Altes Museum

The Altes Museum (German

German language

German is a West Germanic languages, thus related to and classified alongside English language and Dutch language. It is one of the world's world language and the most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union....
for Old Museum), is one of several internationally renowned museums on Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the Capital of Germany city and one of sixteen States of Germany of Germany. With a population of 3.4 million within its city limits, Berlin is the country's largest city....
's Museum Island

Museum Island

Museum Island in Berlin, Germany is the name of the northern half of the Spreeinsel, an island in the Spree river in the centre of the city ....
in Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the Capital of Germany city and one of sixteen States of Germany of Germany. With a population of 3.4 million within its city limits, Berlin is the country's largest city....
, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
. Since restoration work in 1966, it houses the antique collection (Antikensammlung

Antikensammlung Berlin

The Antikensammlung Berlin is one of the most important collections of classical art in the world, now held in the Altes Museum and Pergamon Museum in Berlin....
) of the Berlin State Museums

Berlin State Museums

The Berlin State Museums, in German Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin, are a group of museums in Berlin, Germany overseen by the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation and funded by the German federal government in collaboration with Germany's federal states....
. The museum was built between 1825 and 1828 by the architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel

Karl Friedrich Schinkel

Karl Friedrich Schinkel was a Germany architect and painter. Schinkel was the most prominent architect of neoclassicism in Prussia.Schinkel was born in Neuruppin in the Margraviate of Brandenburg....
in the neoclassical

Neoclassicism

Neoclassicism is the name given to quite distinct Cultural movement in the Decorative art and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that draw upon Western classical art and culture ....
style to house the Prussian

Kingdom of Prussia

The Kingdom of Prussia was a Germany monarchy from 1701 to 1918 and, from 1871, was the leading state of the German Empire, comprising almost two-thirds of the area of the empire....
Royal family's art collection.

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Encyclopedia

The Altes Museum (German

German language

Berlin

Museum Island

Museum Island in Berlin, Germany is the name of the northern half of the Spreeinsel, an island in the Spree river in the centre of the city ....
in Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the Capital of Germany city and one of sixteen States of Germany of Germany. With a population of 3.4 million within its city limits, Berlin is the country's largest city....
, Germany

Germany

Antikensammlung Berlin

The Antikensammlung Berlin is one of the most important collections of classical art in the world, now held in the Altes Museum and Pergamon Museum in Berlin....
) of the Berlin State Museums

Berlin State Museums

Karl Friedrich Schinkel

Neoclassicism

Kingdom of Prussia

The Building

The building uses the Greek Stoa

Stoa

Stoa in Architecture of Ancient Greece; covered walkways or porticos, commonly for public usage. Early stoae were open at the entrance with columns lining the side of the building, creating an enveloping, protective atmosphere and were usually of Doric order....
in Athens

Athens

Athens , the Capital and largest city of Greece, dominates the Attica periphery; as one of the List of cities by time of continuous habitation, its recorded history spans around 3,400 years....
as a model. The museum uses the Ionic Order

Ionic order

The Ionic order column forms one of the Classical order of classical architecture, the other two canonic orders being the Doric order and the Corinthian order....
to articulate the front, which is the only part of the exterior with any visual sign of the Orders; the other three remaining facades are of brick and stone banding. The body of the building is raised on a plinth, giving the building a greater stature as well as preventing the risk of damage to the artwork from damp or flooding, for which the island was renowned. The Spree

Spree

The Spree is a river in Saxony, Brandenburg and Berlin, Germany and in ?st? nad Labem Region, Czech Republic. It is a left tributary of the Havel river and is approximately in length....
river from which the island protrudes was actually reconfigured by the architect, in order to allow enough ground space for the museum to be built. Necessary roadway changes, bridge expansions, and canals were introduced around the same time as the Altes Museum construction. The original dome was an exact hemisphere, modelled on the Roman Pantheon. It was made invisible to the exterior observer because of the museum's proximity to the Berlin Cathedral; the museum was not meant to compete with the cathedral's dome.

History

In 1830 it opened to the public but was quite badly damaged during the Second World War. After restorations in 1966, during which the dome was rebuilt to form a half ellipse

Ellipse

In mathematics, an ellipse is the apparent shape of a circle viewed obliquely from outside it, as distinct from a hyperbola which is the shape seen from inside....
, it re-opened as a museum displaying ancient Greek

Ancient Greece

The term Ancient Greece refers to the period of History of Greece lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca. 1100 BC and the Dorian invasion, to 146 BC and the Roman Republic conquest of Greece after the Battle of Corinth ....
and Roman

Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the Roman Republic phase of the Ancient Rome, characterised by an autocracy form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
artifacts. It sits in the Lustgarten

Lustgarten

The Lustgarten is a park on Museum Island in central Berlin, near the site of the former Berliner Stadtschloss of which it was originally a part....
near the Berliner Stadtschloss

Berliner Stadtschloss

The Stadtschloss , was a royal palace in the centre of Berlin, capital of Germany. It was the principal residence of the Kings of Prussia from 1701 and of the German Emperors from 1871....
(Berlin City Palace), adjacent to the Berliner Dom

Berliner Dom

Berlin Cathedral is an Evangelical Church in Germany cathedral in Berlin, Germany. It is located on Museum Island in the Mitte district, and was built between 1895 and 1905....
, which was also partly designed by Schinkel. Combined with the new facades of the Berliner Dom and the Berliner Stadtschloss Berlin City Palace, the Altes Museum became one of the heads of authority: God, King and Art, Schinkel's "Athena am Spree".

The Altes Museum currently features a large neon sign proclaiming "ALL ART HAS BEEN CONTEMPORARY", a neon installation by minimalist

Minimalism

Minimalism describes movements in various forms of art and design, especially visual art and Minimalist music, where the work is stripped down to its most fundamental features....
artist Maurizio Nannucci.

Footnotes

External links

at GreatBuildings.com.
at Archiseek.com.
at museum-location.de.

Altes Museum

The Building

History

See also

Footnotes

External links