Museum of the Ancient Near East

Fourteen rooms are devoted to this collection in the southern wing of the Pergamon Museum.
The objects originate from the Sumerian, Babylonian, Assyrian and northern Syrian/eastern Anatolian regions which today include Iraq, Syria, and Turkey.

Finds from Uruk offer insights into the beginnings of writing during the 4th century BC, as well as into Sumerian art and culture.

One of the major attractions lies along the main axis of this section of the museum. Here visitors can walk through and wonder at the world-famous reconstructions of brilliantly coloured Babylonian monuments: the Processional Way, the Ishtar Gate and the facade of the throne hall of King Nebuchadnezzar II (604-562 BC).

The main attractions in the Babylonian Hall include the model of the Tower of Babel, which was dedicated to Marduk, the chief god of the city, and a copy of the famous stela bearing the laws of King Hammurabi.

Other outstanding works of ancient Near Eastern monumental architecture of the 3rd and 2nd century BC include reconstructed sections of temple facades from Uruk. The Assyrian palace reliefs from Kalchu, the one-time capital city, date from the 9th century BC. The entrance to the reconstructed Neo-Assyrian palace hall is dominated by replicas of the colossal gatekeeping statues of mythical beasts.

Video: Felix von Boehm / cine-fils.com