Beautiful Museum Island in Berlin; terrible vandalism.

Bode Museum

on the Spree River

Museum Island museums in red

Spree River in navy, Wiki

Berlin’s best museum emerged when a group of buildings finally came together on Spree Island in the Spree River. The 5 individual museums were built over time, starting under the Prussian rulers: Old Museum 1830, New Museum 1855, Old National Museum 1861, Bode Museum 1904 and Perg­amon 1930. Read a his­tory of Museum Island and note that the mus­eums comprising the Museum Island were declared a UNESCO World Her­it­age Site in 1999. Today the complex is among the most-visited cult­ur­al institutions in the nation. Pergamon Museum alone attracts 1 million visitors a year.       

Altes Museum stars classical antiquity i.e exhibits dedicat­ed to Greek, Etruscan and Roman art and culture. On the main floor, anc­ient Greece art displays vases, jewellery and stone sculptures. Neues Museum has collections of prehistoric objects, classical ant­iquities and Egyptian art. There are two permanent exhibitions. Al­te Nationalgalerie houses impressive collections of Romantic, Im­pres­sionist & early Modernist art: 1,800 paintings and 1,500 sc­ulp­tures. The 19th-C20th art is displayed over 3 floors chronologically. Bode Museum houses Sculpture (especially German and Italian works), Museum of Byzantine Art and Münz­kab­in­ett Coin and Medal Collect­ion. Pergamon houses ancient art, divided into 1] Collection of Antiquities, 2] Museum of the Ancient Near East and 3] Museum of Islamic Art.       

Yet security issues at the museums have been an ongoing con­cern. In 2017, a massive Canadian gold leaf coin val­ued at $4.4 million was stolen from the Bode Museum. The ladder was found in­side the museum under a window, high above rail­way tracks runn­ing below. Everything else in the museum seemed un­touch­ed so, with 500,000+ pieces in the Bode's Coins and Medals collection, the authorities assumed the Big Maple Leaf was a very specific target. Did the Bode analyse the adequacy of the museum's security system? The sus­pects, including a security guard, were later convicted.

In 2020 vandalism continued on the island museums, with­out an ex­plan­ation or a suspect. German authorities con­firm­ed local media reports that 70+ artefacts on 3 of the is­l­and museums (Pergamon, Altes Nationalgalerie and Neues) were spr­ayed with an oily substance. Among the objects vand­alised were C19th paint­ings, ancient Egyptian sarcophagi and stone sculptures, leaving vis­ible stains everywhere. The crime was one of the most ex­tens­ive attacks on works of art and antiquities in post-war Germany.

The State Criminal Police Office rem­ained silent so investigators could priv­ately inform the lenders of the vand­alised works and to de­termine the extent of the  property damage. The number and size of museums involved further complicated the investigation.

German media reported that the vandalism was on 3rd Oct, a national holiday marking East and West Ger­many’s 1990 reunification. The crime on that particular date fuelled spec­ulat­ion over the act’s political motivation. October was also when the cultural centre lifted its long Covid lockdown. Germany’s Min­ister of State for Culture said that the crime was directed against art­istic forms of expression, ag­ainst the nation’s cultural heritage and against civil forms of debate, but how helpful was her response? And were security improvements planned?

Altes Nationalgalerie

Neues Museum

Pergamon Museum

That same month as the oil attack, the vandals str­uck again. A 70 ton bowl had been carved out of single slab of gran­ite and placed in the Al­tes Museum’s pleasure garden in 1828 for King Friedrich Wilhelm III. It was smeared in a variety of paint colours, with obscene ph­rases, the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation announced.

After October’s incidents, the Berlin State Museums knew they had to re-evaluate their security measures. It had to be clarified how this much damage could have gone unnoticed, and how such attacks were to be prevented in the future.

Also in Oct 2022, fake blood was hurled at a Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec work in the Altes Nationalgalerie, in an incident like some recent climate protests. The glass covered work, titled Clown, was not significantly damaged. However the head of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation noted the fabric-covered wall of the room was ruined around the art. He added that the museum staff would continue to do whatever they could to protect the art in the collections while keeping them accessible. Even as officials took the suspect in­to pol­ice custody, they were still not certain of his motivation. Th­ank­ful­ly charges for trespassing and property damage were filed in Berlin.

Now in 2023 parts of the early C20th buildings are in poor struc­tural cond­it­ion, unfit for visitors and exhibitions. Restor­at­ion will focus on structural damage caused by moisture and out­dated technical systems. In the Master Plan, the ensemble of five historical buildings is viewed as a unit, in terms of content. At the same time, it pays respect to the architectural autonomy of each of the buildings. Their character will be preserved by renovation measures that follow the official regulations for historical building conservation. Their historical entrances will be restored.

Construction complications have delayed the ongoing renovations for years : $526 million now com­pared with the initial estimate of $288 mill in 2016. The worst aspect is that the entire museum complex will be completely closed for c4 years due to extensive renovation work. Pergamon, for example, will completely close for the long-term renovation project starting this year. Renovations are already underway in the northern and cent­ral part of the museum, however its southern wing will not reopen for many years.

70 ton gran­ite bowl

made in 1828 for King Friedrich Wilhelm III

in Al­tes Museum’s pleasure garden

ancient Egyptian sarcophagi

cut up and oiled in 2020