Old Museum Berlin

Old Museum Berlin

The Old Museum in Berlin is situated on the southern side of Museum Island. Constructed between 1823 and 1830 by Prussian architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel, it is a neoclassical structure and the oldest museum on Museum Island. The museum is a two-story, regular rectangular building built on a high plinth, with interior rooms arranged in a ring around a central rotunda. Its architectural style draws primarily from ancient Greek and Roman designs.

The current permanent exhibition at the Old Museum is “The Ancient World – Greeks, Etruscans, and Romans.” The first floor mainly displays ancient Greek artworks across 12 rooms, covering the legendary heroic age, the Archaic period, the Classical period, and the Hellenistic period — a span of nearly a thousand years. The exhibits mainly include statues, reliefs, and pottery, as well as weapons, coins, gold and silver jewelry, among others. In addition to showcasing the evolution and remarkable achievements of ancient Greek art, the exhibition also covers Greek religion, urban life, and craftsmanship.

The second floor features artworks from the Etruscans and Romans, spread across seven rooms. These range from early Etruscan pieces to those from the Roman Imperial period. In addition to statues, the collection includes bronzeware, silverware, urns, mosaics, Egyptian funerary portraits, and numerous busts of notable figures from the Imperial era. The exhibition not only illustrates how Roman art inherited from Greek art but also presents aspects of daily Roman life and Etruscan funeral culture. There is also a dedicated room showcasing ancient sexual culture. Notable pieces in the Old Museum include the Fish Plate from the Collection of the Festsfeier, the Praying Boy, the glass krater, the “Berlin Boxer,” and the mosaic from Hadrian’s Villa: The Centaur.

Altes Museum

Reason to visit: The oldest museum on Museum Island

Continent: Europe【Europe】

Country/Region: Germany

Province/State: Berlin

City: Berlin