05.08.2011 – 05.08.2011  21 °C

So after spending yesterday getting the low down and what is worth doing (and after reading my new guide book to Germany) I decided to spend my time today at one of the many museums here in Berlin, the Pergamon.

The Pergamon museum was built by the last Kaiser back in the early 1900s to house many of the plundered antiquities (plundered by archaeologists back before the 1900s—not by the Nazi’s). It is a breathtaking museum with some absolutely spectacular exhibits. You enter the museum and immediately are dazzled by the Pergamon alter. The alter was discovered in Turkey in the mid 1800s and dates back to circa 200 BC. The frieze surrounding the alter depicts a battle between the Greek gods and giants. It is in impeccable condition and it is just astounding to know that this Hellenistic alter is over 2000 years old and yet looks like it was carved from marble only yesterday!

As I continued through the museum I was again and again astonished at the exhibitions. The room after the Pergamon alter houses antiquities dug up from somewhere in Syria—these were housed in a private collection that was almost totally destroyed during the war… the antiquities have been re-pieced together from the rubble found after the collection was bombed.. it has taken a whole team over 15 years to put back together a third of the original collection! You then walk into another exhibit which is a full market square entry from Turkey; it is Roman and circa 100 AD! And then there is the Ishtar Gate and the whole entry way into Babylon! No kidding the museum is absolutely amazing… every room has another whole building facade from antiquity!

What astounds me more is the fact that the whole lot survived WWII (except the private collection that the Pergamon has since purchased). The Pergamon was completely destroyed but all of the antiquities had been stored in bunkers below the museums well before the bombing raids began. In fact it has only been in the last 6 years that the Pergamon building itself has been restored and has been able to open again to the public to show off its incredible pieces. If you are ever in Berlin you have to spend the cash and see the Pergamon…

After traipsing around the museum for a jaw dropping couple of hours I decided to catch the subway to the East Side Gallery. It is the other part of the Berlin wall that has remained standing since the amalgamation of the two Germany’s. It is also the part of the wall that was “decorated” by graffiti artists as the wall was coming down. This area has been preserved and so you can still see today the graffiti paintings that were put on the wall at the end of the 80s. It’s funny but apparently the Berlin City Council asked the artists to all come back to the gallery last year and re paint their paintings (as the paint was getting old and discoloured).. many of the artists are now world famous and so asked ridiculous prices to repaint their work!! I guess the council must have paid up because the paintings are all in great condition.

Spent the evening chatting to a couple of girls from South America and then turned in for a well-deserved sleep!