Pergamon Preview with Jamie

In just a couple of short weeks Insider is premiering a brand new public tour. The guides have been busy doing research in Berlin and Turkey, and have already hosted a student group on a Pergamon Museum tour. Enjoy a sneak peak of what Jamie's Pergamon tour looks like. Jamie, a professional archaeologist and part-time lecturer at Berlin’s Humboldt University, has been excavating the city’s past for more than a decade and is thrilled to introduce Insider guests to this exceptional collection of artifacts and architectural structures.

Pergamon ruins, photographed during Insider guides' research trip to Turkey

Introducing the history of the collections in the museums of Museum Island

A basalt basin for cultic purification from Assyrian Assur, and an explanation of why the Hanging Gardens of Babylon may not have been in Babylon!

Interpreting the building inscription of Nebuchadnezzar II next to the Ishtar Gate.

Explaining the purposes of the Market Gate of Miletus

Columns from Baalbek and the question of why the temple of Jupiter Heliopolitanus was the biggest in the Roman world

 Contrasting iconography in the Orpheus Mosaic.

Describing the journey made by the pink granite columns of Baalbek from Aswan to Lebanon and finally to Berlin.

Showing images of the bombastic Roman temple precinct at Baalbek

Revealing the synthesis of craftsman's skills required in the making of the mihrab from the Bey Hakim Mosque, Konya, Turkey

Last stop, next to an astrolabe, a product of the Islamic Golden Age

Have we perked your interest? Reserve a ticket to experience this tour for yourself! 

http://www.insidertour.com/tours.php/cat/27/id/50/title/Pergamon_&_New_Museum_Tour

Insider's Museum Island Tour: The Renowned Pergamon and New Museum

Insider is excited to announce a new tour, and more so a new direction for 2017! We will be going inside for the first time, hosting a daily public tour of the renowned Pergamon and New Musuems on Berlin's infamous Museum Island.

On this tour you will explore the wonders of ancient Egypt, Babylon, Greece and Rome. Hosted by one of Insider's expert guides, you will not only be able to admire the impressive artefacts and architectural structures, you will also be taking a journey through history and gaining a critical understanding of the collection's relationship to Berlin, past and present.

The Ishtar Gate

The ferocious bombing campaign of WWII and the final Battle of Berlin left the centre of the city, including Museum Island, in almost complete ruin. Following the war the area was allocated to East Berlin, which resulted in a stagnant rebuilding process. Only in 1999 was Museum Island awarded UNESCO status, securing its cultural heritage as an architectural and social result of the Ages of Enlightenment & Empire. A tour with Insider takes you through these different eras to the present state of continual renovation: literally a tour of history in the making.

By engaging with the whole of Museum Island, its renowned Prussian architecture, the collection of ancient structures and artefacts, and the contemporary approach to restoration, you will be able to experience the Pergamon and the New Museum in a unique light.

The Pergamon Alter

How did the Bauhaus aesthetic inadvertently preserve Prussian-era Egyptian fresco facsimiles? Who found the bust of Nefertiti lying face down in the dirt in 1912 and how did she end up in Berlin? Where can one walk down a contemporary staircase based on Classical proportions which is scarred with WWII bullet holes? Join Insider for an unforgettable tour of Berlin's two finest museums and immerse yourself in history.

VIP entry, no queuing! Price €59 per person. Duration is 3 hours visiting both museums. Plus the price includes a Museum Island day pass. This is valid for all the museums on the island for the rest of that day.

Tours run daily from Apr. 1st to Sept. 30th at 10:00am

Pre-booking is required. Just visit our website and you will receive a 10% discount! http://www.insidertour.com/tours.php/cat/27/id/50/title/Pergamon_&_New_Museum_Tour

Our meeting place, just outside the New Museum