Founded on Antiquity

For many visitors to Berlin, touring the city’s Museumsinsel (Museum Island) is an essential part of their itinerary. After opening in 1830, the then-Royal Museum quickly became a major attraction. However, the experience of visiting a museum was very different at that time. The special exhibition on the Altes Museum’s upper floor provides fascinating insights into the museum’s beginnings. It shows a selection of antiquities displayed in its first permanent exhibition in 1830.

The cornerstone for the museum designed by Karl Friedrich Schinkel in Berlin’s Lustgarten was laid on 9 July 1825. Just five years later, on 3 August 1830, the first public museum in Berlin and Prussia opened its doors. The Altes Museum quickly developed into a popular destination and has remained an important institution for basic research in archaeology. The exhibition sheds light not only on the structural challenges faced by Schinkel and his innovative solutions but also on the contemporary societal context and the very different appearance at the time of the exhibition rooms, which were severely damaged during the Second World War. A large-scale model at the centre of the exhibition depicts Schinkel’s original building, of which only a few pictorial representations from the museum’s founding period and photographs from the 19th century survive.

The Altes Museum truly marked a turning point in the architectural history of public buildings dedicated to art. A structure was conceived solely as an art museum for the first time. Karl Friedrich Schinkel created a building style that was to characterise the design of museums for decades to come. As an architect, Schinkel faced major technical and financial challenges while constructing the museum, for Prussian King Frederick William III demanded extreme economy, which necessitated the development of innovative solutions that were also cost-effective.