Page 111
Pergamon Museum. BERLIN. Section 3. 83
To the right (S.) are two rooms where a varying selection of the
best drawings and engravings is exhibited, adjoined by the students'
room for modern art.
c. Pergamon Museum. Antiquities from "Western Asia.
Entrance by the portal at the back of the National Gallery (see
plan, p. 55). — Admission to the Pergamon Museum, see p. 39. — Guide
to the Pergamon Museum (1904), 30 pf.; Guide to the Ruins of Pergamon
(4th ed., 1905; 80 pf.). Description of the Great Frieze (illustrated), 3rd
ed., 1904; 1 JC.
The *Pergamon Museum (PL R, 23), an unpretending edi¬
fice by F. Wolff, opened in 1901, contains the larger objects found
in the excavations undertaken by the Royal Museums in three Hel¬
lenistic towns of Asia Minor, viz. Pergamon (1878-86), Magnesia
on theMseander (1891-93), and Priene (1895-99). Its chief treasure is
the great **Frieze, representing the contest of the gods and giants
(Gigantomachia), which formed the artistic decoration of a huge
marble altar to Zeus (and perhaps Athena) on the Acropolis of Per¬
gamon, probably erected by King Eumenes II. about the year B.C.
180 in honour of his decisive victory over the Gauls of Asia Minor.
The altar has been reconstructed so as to exhibit the sculptures in
their original position. The engineer Karl Humauri (d. 1896) discov¬
ered several isolated reliefs in 1871 built into a mediaeval forti¬
fication wall, and in 1878-80 succeeded in bringing to light the
whole of this most valuable work of art, which is the largest existing
monument of Greek sculpture and rivals in importance the Parthenon
sculptures in the British Museum. The sculptures are characterized
by strong dramatic feeling and great boldness in the representation
of scenes of excitement; and at the same time reveal a knowledge
of the human form, a richness of fancy, and a mastery of execution,
such as are displayed in no other antique remains on so large a scale.
The Altar, reconstructed in its original size and shape, and
surrounded by a broad gangway, occupies the centre of the mu¬
seum. It has the form of a rectangular podium or platform, 30 ft.
in height, and is 113 ft. broad and 124 ft. in length at its base.
A flight of steps, 65 ft. broad (see below), let into the front,
ascends to the top. The opening on the same side, with columns
(a modern arrangement) and preceded by a fine Mosaic Pavement
from Pergamon, forms the entrance to the inner court (see p. 84).
Round the outside of the altar (including the side-walls of the
flight of steps), above a kind of dado or pedestal, 7lf% ft. in height,
runs the famous Marble Frieze, also l1/^ ft. high. The high reliefs
have been in many cases reconstructed from numerous small frag¬
ments, but none has been restored. Above the frieze are the names
of the Gods and Titans, and of the Giants, many of whom are re¬
presented in half human, half animal form.
6*