Bode Museum, Berlin
Baroque Architecture | June 25, 2010Bode Museum is located on the northernmost end of “Museum Island”, within the city-centre of Berlin. This Museum is a must-visit for any person who is interested in art, predominantly medieval art. The Bode Museum was established in the year 1904. For past few years it was closed down and was reopened in the year 2006, subsequent to extensive renovations. The Bode Museum contains prosperity of art and artifacts, which are from the medieval period and Byzantine period, mainly from Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and France.
Things to see in Bode Museum:
The Museum Building
The main building of this museum was designed by Ernst von Ihne. He was the government building officer. The Bode Museum is constructed in “Wilhelminian Baroque” form of architecture. The museum building is a majestic, splendid building, also the outer wings of the structure directly overlooks the River Spree. The river flows on both sides of this Museum Island. Also, the northwestern corner of this museum occupies the end of the museum island. It is topped by means of a huge Baroque dome. Later, a smaller dome was constructed at the other end of the structure. It overlooks the train tracks, which run across the museum island. The interior of the Bode museum is bright and spacious, moreover is decorated with superior architectural details.
Bode Museum – Collections
The Bode Museum includes three most important collections of the prominent Staatliche Museum (commonly known as National Museum): the Museum of Byzantine Art, the Numismatic Collection, and the Sculpture Collection.
Bode Museum – Sculpture Collection
The wide-ranging Sculpture Collection, which is displayed in the Bode Museum, includes many works that belongs to the Early Middle Ages up to the late eighteenth century. The sculpture collection is mostly brought here from the German-speaking world, the Netherlands, France, Spain, and Italy. Italian sculptures are specially well-represented.
The Museum of Byzantine Art
The Museum of Byzantine Art is only one of its kinds in Germany. This museum is located inside the Bode Museum and displays art and artifacts that belongs to Late Antiquity and also the Byzantine era. The art and artifacts are typically from the Mediterranean region, which includes Turkey, Italy, Greece, Egypt, North Africa, and the Balkans.
Bode Museum is the leading museum that has the sculptures of eastern roman empire, but only after Archaeological Museum, which is located in Istanbul. The art and artifacts that are on display include tombstones, Early Christian sarcophagi, inscriptions, mosaics, ivory relief’s, icons, items from every day life for example belt buckles, and different liturgical objects.
The collection of Bode museum also includes medieval seals, paper money, and various forms of money, which was used by the primitive people. In conclusion, there are around 15,000 minting tools along with that it has a huge collection of casts.
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The “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 500,000 items the collection is a unique archive for historical research, while its medal collection makes it an important art exhibition at the same time.