Due to extensive renovations: Pergamon Museum will remain closed for another four years – the entire museum will not open until 2037

Those interested in culture will have to wait until spring 2027 before the first construction phase of the completely renovated Pergamon Museum can be visited. The second phase of construction will only begin in the autumn. After that, it will probably take until 2037 before the completely renovated and expanded complex on Museum Island will be fully accessible.

A site inspection gave an insight into the future design

Barbara Große-Rhode announced these dates during a site inspection on Monday. The Head of the Museum Island department at the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning (BBR), which acts as the client for the federal government, led through a museum that is partly about to close and partly already shows the future design.

The Pergamon Altar that gives it its name is currently being restored, while the architectural monuments such as the Processional Way and the Ischtartor still have to be encased in air-conditioned enclosures, with the glazed ceramics from Babylon making particularly high demands on temperature and humidity. The permanent exhibition, conceived by the then museum director and Babylon co-excavator Walter Andrae in the late 1920s, is now a listed building and will therefore remain unchanged.

During the closing time there should be a virtual museum tour

The director of the Near Eastern Museum, Barbara Helwing, promised new educational concepts for the closing time. First of all, the already fully digitized objects in their collection will be included in a virtual museum tour, which will be available online in winter. In addition, an “interim exhibition” is being considered, for which the provisional building, which is currently still being used for the presentation of Pergamon, would be ready. Helwing even wants to have his own Babylon panorama made.

Belly boss Große-Rhode repeatedly referred to the problems with the decrepit light ceilings over the huge museum halls, which have to be completely renewed. But this with consideration for the objects remaining in their place. And just like above, there are also major problems lurking at the bottom: The foundation of the south wing on a veritable bridge over the lens-like ice-age scour must be strengthened. The foundation work must be carried out “shake-free” in order not to damage the sensitive collection items.

The renovation aims to make the building fit for the future

The north wing, which is due to open in 2027, will house the Museum of Islamic Art, with the exhibition space then being doubled. His largest and globally unique object, the facade of the desert castle of Mschatta, has already been dismantled at the old location. The parts of the facade that will then be restored will be visible in the front, which has been extended to 45 meters. During yesterday’s tour, museum director Stefan Weber explained that the future presentation will “appeal to all the senses”, for example through sounds and scents.

According to Große-Rhode, the entire execution plan was revised in accordance with the requirements of sustainability and energy efficiency: “In construction phase B we will generate renewable energies.” the same goes for the new part, the “fourth wing” along the Kupfergraben, which connects the two stone wings of the building and will enable a tour of the entire complex for the first time.

And how much does it all cost? Construction phase A, i.e. the north wing, accounts for the planned 477 million euros, plus 12 million euros in planning services for both components. The south wing, including the new construction of the Kupfergraben wing and the Archaeological Promenade in the basement, is estimated at 722 million euros, i.e. a total of 1.2 billion euros. “This building”, Barbara Große-Rhode emphasized at the end, “has a certain claim. We have to fulfill this with our construction work. We have to future-proof this building in a way that is commensurate with its value.”

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