The international UNESCO body recognized the importance of Berlin’s Museumsinsel or Museum Island by inscribing the site onto the list of World Heritage (WH) Sites in 1999.
The Berlin Museumsinsel is an island consisting of five museums built between 1824 and 1930: Alte Nationalgalerie, Altes Museum, Bode-Museum, Neues Museum, and Pergamonmuseum. These museums represent individual artistic and historical significance, the continuing development of what museums should mean to society, and the achievement of a grand central civic project.
To coincide with Germany’s annual World Heritage Day on the 1st Sunday in June, the entire Museum Island celebrates its 200th anniversary with a weekend festival. I’ve chosen to visit the Altes Museum (Old Museum) and the Alte Nationalgalerie (Old National Gallery).
Altes Museum
Altes Museum: construction 1823-1830, to designs by Karl Friedrich Schinkel. Berlin’s oldest museum now specializes in Greek and Roman antiquities.
Natural light through the cupola in the rotunda illuminates Roman statue-copies of deities from Greek mythology.
Hera (Juno), queen goddess.
Hygeia (Salus), goddess of health.
Nike (Victoria), goddess of victory.
Tyche (Fortuna), goddess of chance.
Aphrodite (Venus), goddess of love.
Demeter (Ceres), goddess of agriculture.
Artemis (Diana). goddess of wild animals and the hunt; however, she’s missing a bow and arrows.
Alte Nationalgalerie
Alte Nationalgalerie, constructed 1866-1876 from designs by F. Stüler & J. Strack; now houses paintings and sculptures mostly from the 19th-century, including important works by C.D. Friedrich and K.F. Schinkel.
“Gothic Cathedral on the water”, by Karl Friedrich Schinkel, 1813.
“Castle by the water,” by Karl Friedrich Schinkel, 1820.
“Rock arch”, by Karl Friedrich Schinkel (1818).
“Deep in the forest by moonlight”, Caspar David Friedrich, c. 1830.
“Greifswald Harbour”, Caspar David Friedrich, 1818-1820.
“Moonrise over the sea”, by Caspar David Friedrich, 1822.
“Woman at a Window”, by Caspar David Friedrich, 1822.
I made all images above with an iPhone15 on 1 June 2025. I did not receive any request or compensation for the content here. This post composed within Jetpack for iOS appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com.
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