18 Dec 2018
Berlin’s Museum Island gets new addition
BY Luke Cloherty
The new James Simon Galerie at Berlin’s Musem Island, a Unesco World Heritage Site, has been completed.
Designed by David Chipperfield Architects, the new building will act as a central reception building with ticket offices, a shop, a café, an auditorium and special exhibitions.
"While its presence can be justified by the functions and facilities it provides for the museological programme, the museum's purpose is to reorganise urban relations and accessibility within the museum island," said David Chipperfield.
"Its role is not so much defined by its function but rather by its responsibility as a public building at the heart of the city."
The five-museum complex at Museum Island – built between 1830 and 1930 – has undergone far-reaching restoration over recent years. It's home to the Pergamon Museum, which houses artefacts including Pergamon Altar and Babylon's Ishtar Gate, as well as the Neues Museum, which displays a bust of Egyptian Queen Nefertiti.
Along with the Archaeological Promenade, the James Simon Galerie is part of a masterplan for Museum Island developed in 1999. It's named after one of Berlin's most prominent patrons, who left his huge art collection and excavation findings to the Berlin State Museums at the start of the 20h century.
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