The Museum of the Ancient Near East ranks alongside the Louvre and the British Museum as one of the world's leading museums of ancient oriental treasures.
The exhibits convey an impression of six thousand years of history, culture and art in Sumer, Akkad, Assyria, Nineveh, and Babylon. The main attractions include a model of the Tower of Babel, and above all the world-famous life-size reconstructions of the Processional Way, the huge Ishtar Gate and the facade of the throne hall of King Nebuchadnezzar II (604 - 562 BCE).
The Beginnings of Civilization: Sumer and Babylon
Mesopotamia, the land between the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers, was one of the cradles of human civilization. It is part of the Fertile Crescent where the earliest known agricultural societies built some of the world's oldest and most powerful cities.
Sumer, Uruk and Mankind’s First Script
In Southern Mesopotamia the Sumerians built one of mankind’s first civilizations. Around the temple of Inanna the world’s first city, Uruk, developed. And in order to govern an unprecendeted population, clerks came up with a brand new idea: writing!▶ The Museum of the Ancient Near East, Berlin▶ Uruk (Warka)
03:03
Babylon
Most powerful city on earth, symbol for greatness and excess, rulers like Nebuchadnezzar, Hammurabi and Belshazzar: few names unleash such a flood of associations as Babylon. And then of course, there’s the Tower of Babel. Did it actually exist…?▶ The Museum of the Ancient Near East, Berlin▶ Babylon
06:08
Resurrecting the Walls of Babylon
When archeologist Robert Koldewey uncovered the ancient metropolis of Babylon, he found a hundred thousand pieces of stone. It was his student Walter Andrae who solved the giant puzzle - and re-erected the Ishtar Gate, one the Wonders of the World…▶ The Museum of the Ancient Near East, Berlin▶ Babylon
04:27
The Assyrians
Assyria was a Mesopotamian kingdom named after its original capital, the ancient city of Aššur, or Ashur. It existed for almost two thosand years, and for much of that time successive Assyrian empires ruled over much or all of the ancient Near East.
The Assyrians
Originating as one of several Akkadian city-states, Ashur grew into the capital of the Assyrian Empire that dominated Mesopotamia. The city boasted a huge temple to Ishtar - and a little altar showing king Tukulti Ninurta that is a forerunner of films…▶The Museum of the Anicent Near East, Berlin▶ Assur (Qalat Sherqat)
02:33
Inside an Assyrian Palace
From Ashur, the capital of the Assyrian Empire was moved first to Nimrud, then to Nineveh. Guarded by frightening, winged colossal shedu, we enter the hall of an Assyrian palace as it would have looked in the first and second millennia B.C. …▶The Museum of the Anicent Near East, Berlin▶ Assur (Qalat Sherqat)
02:13
Power and Doom of the Assyrians
Water was at the heart of Assyrian power, as is shown by a basin, pieced together from a mess of fragments. Just how great its power was, a stele from Zincirli points out with a rather drastic threat – and elaborate ways of humiliating enemies…▶The Museum of the Anicent Near East, Berlin▶ Assur (Qalat Sherqat)
03:56
Address
- The Pergamon Museum
- Bodestraße
- 10178 Berlin
Links
Opening Hours
- Monday-Sunday 10:00-18:00
- Wednesday until 20:00