Bode Museum
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Bode Museum belongs to the group of museums on Museum Island in Berlin and is a historically preserved building. The museum was designed by architect Ernst von Ihne and completed in 1904. Originally called the Emperor-Frederick-Museum after Emperor Frederick III, the museum was renamed in honor of its first curator, Wilhelm von Bode, in 1956.
Closed for repairs since 1997, the museum was reopened on October 18, 2006. Now it is the home for a collection of sculptures, Byzantine art, and coins and medals.
The sculpture collection shows art of the Christian Orient (with an emphasis on Coptic Egypt), sculptures from Byzantium and Ravenna, sculptures of the Middle Ages, the Italian Gothic, and the early Renaissance. Late German Gothic works are also represented by Tilman Riemenschneider, the south German Renaissance, and Prussian baroque art up to the 18th century. In the future selected works of the Gemäldegalerie will be integrated into the sculpture collection. This is reminiscent of William von Bode's concept of "style rooms", in which sculptures, paintings, and crafts are viewed together, as was usual in upper middle-class private collections.
The Münzkabinett ("coin cabinet"), currently housed at the neighboring Pergamon Museum, is one of the world's largest numismatic collections. Its range spans from the beginning of minting in the seventh century B.C. in Asia Minor up to the present day. With approximately 750,000 items the collection is a unique archive for historical research, while its medal collection makes it an important art exhibition at the same time.
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Museum Island in Berlin |  |
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| Pergamon Museum | Altes Museum | Bode Museum | Alte Nationalgalerie | Neues Museum | Berliner Dom | Lustgarten | James Simon Gallery | ||
This article incorporates text translated from the corresponding German Wikipedia article as of 7 May 2006.
