Altes Museum

The Altes Museum or Old Museum was originally for the German Royal family's art collection, built in Berlin in a neoclassical style by architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel between 1823 and 1830. The building uses the Doric Parthenon in Athens as a model, not only with respect to features such as the Classical orders of the columns. It also attempted to translate the majesty with which the Parthenon sits atop the Acropolis by placing the Altes museum on top of a plinth. The original dome (invisible from the exterior) was an exact hemisphere, modelled on the Roman Pantheon. In 1830 it opened to the public but was quite badly damaged during the Second World War. After restorations in 1966 during which the dome was rebuilt to form a half elipse, it re-opened as a museum displaying ancient Greek and Roman artefacts. It is the oldest and largest public building in Berlin and sits in the Lustgarten near the Berlin City Palace, adjacent to the Berliner Dom, which was also partly designed by Schinkel.

Related Topics:
Berlin - Neoclassical - Karl Friedrich Schinkel - 1823 - 1830 - Doric Parthenon - Athens - Acropolis - Roman Pantheon - Second World War - 1966 - Lustgarten - Berlin City Palace - Berliner Dom

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