Berlin's Museumsinsel
Museumsinsel is the largest treasure chest in Berlin; it covers 6,000 years of art, artefacts, sculpture and architecture, from Europe and around the world. Here you can climb up a Greek altar or go through objects from ancient Babylon; you can be blown away by the ethereal scenes of a Monet or encounter what's left of an ancient Egyptian Queen. It's all up to you; the Museumsinsel complex spans across the whole Northern half of small German Island. It was brought to life in the 13th century with over five large museums constructed between 1830 and 1930.
The Old Museum, known as Altes, which displays Greek, Etruscan and Roman antiquities, was the first to open. The New Museum called Neus is located behind the old one, and features the Egyptian Collection, which houses the bust of Queen Nefertiti. The Alte Nationalgalerie, like its cathedral, focuses on European art from the 19th century. The top drawing of the island is the Pergamon Museum, with its fascinating architecture from ancient times, including Babylon's magnificent Ishtar Gate. The Bode-Museum is renowned for medieval sculptures.
Most of the art in the museum are from the private collections of the Prussian royal family and is considered the oldest museum in Germany, a neo-classical masterpiece of Karl Friedrich Schinkel and a UNESCO world heritage site open to the general public.
