Planning and location In the early nineteenth century, Germany's
bourgeoisie had become increasingly self-aware and self-confident. This growing class began to embrace new ideas regarding the relationship between itself and art, and the concepts that art should be open to the public and that citizens should be able to have access to a comprehensive cultural education began to pervade society. King
Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia was a strong proponent of this
Humboldtian ideal for education and charged
Karl Friedrich Schinkel with planning a public museum for the royal art collection.
Schinkel's plans Schinkel's plans for the
Königliches Museum, as it was then known, were also influenced by drafts of the crown prince, the future King
Friedrich Wilhelm IV, who desired a building that was heavily influenced by
Classical antiquity. The crown prince even sent Schinkel a pencil sketch of a large hall adorned with a classical portico. Schinkel's plans incorporated the
Königliches Museum into an ensemble of buildings, which surround the
Berliner Lustgarten (pleasure garden). The
Stadtschloss in the south was a symbol of worldly power, the
Zeughaus in the west represented military might, and the
Berliner Dom in the east was the embodiment of
divine authority. The museum to the north of the garden, which was to provide for the education of the people, stood as a symbol for science and art—and not least for their torchbearer: the self-aware bourgeoisie. For the front facing the Lustgarten, a simple columned hall in grand style and proportionate to the importance of the location would most certainly give the building character. The arrangement of the eighteen Ionic columns was effected by the Lustgarten. The portico was designed with a function in order to give the museum building an exterior befitting its site, in which the monuments can be placed. Schinkel had developed plans for the
Königliches Museum as early as 1822/23, but construction did not begin until 1825. Construction was completed in 1828 and the museum was inaugurated on 3 August 1830. Schinkel was also responsible for the renovation of the
Berliner Dom, originally a
Baroque cathedral, in the Neoclassical style, and he exercised considerable influence on
Peter Joseph Lenné's renovation of the
Lustgarten, which coincided with the construction of the museum, resulting in a harmonized and integrated ensemble.
Museum Island In 1841, King Friedrich Wilhelm IV announced, in a royal decree, that the entire northern part of the Spree Island (now known as Museum Island) "be transformed into a sanctuary for art and science". In 1845, with the completion of the
Neues Museum ("New"), the
Königliches Museum was renamed the
Altes Museum ("Old"), a name it holds to this day. helmets,
Antikensammlung Berlin With the completion of the
Neues Museum by
Friedrich August Stüler in 1855,
Museum Island began to take form. This was followed by the
Nationalgalerie (now the
Alte Nationalgalerie) by
Johann Heinrich Strack (1876), the
Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum (now the
Bodemuseum) by
Ernst von Ihne after plans by Stüler (1904), and the
Pergamonmuseum by
Alfred Messel and
Ludwig Hoffmann (1930). Thus, Museum Island evolved into the institution it is today.
Julius Carl Raschdorff's 1894–1905 reconstruction of the
Berliner Dom into a
neo-Renaissance cathedral (replacing the classical cathedral designed by Schinkel) severely disrupted the classical ensemble, especially since the new cathedral has significantly larger dimensions than its predecessor.
Content of the museum The royally appointed commission, which was responsible for the conception of the museum, decided to display only "
High Art" in the proposed building, which included
Old Master paintings and
prints and drawings on the upper floor, as well as
Classical sculpture from
ancient Greece and Rome on the ground floor. This precluded the incorporation of
ethnography, prehistory and the excavated treasures of the ancient Near East from
Assyria,
Persia, and elsewhere); instead, these artifacts were primarily housed in
Schloss Monbijou.
20th century During the
Nazi era, the Altes Museum was used as the backdrop for propaganda, both in the museum itself and upon the parade grounds of the redesigned
Lustgarten. Close to the end of
Second World War, the building was badly damaged when a tank truck exploded in front of it, and the frescoes designed by Schinkel and
Peter Cornelius, which adorned the vestibule and the back wall of the portico, were largely lost. Under General Director Ludwig Justi, the building was the first museum of Museum Island to undergo reconstruction and restoration, which was carried out from 1951 to 1966 by
Hans Erich Bogatzky and
Theodor Voissen. Following Schinkel's designs, the murals of the rotunda were restored in 1982. However, neither the ornate ceilings of the ground floor exhibition rooms nor the pairs of columns under the girders were reconstructed. The former connection to the
Neues Museum has also not been rebuilt; instead, an underground passageway connecting all of the museums of Museum Island is planned as part of the
Museumsinsel 2015 renovations. ==Gallery==