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James Simon Gallery

2019 establishments in GermanyBerlin State MuseumsMuseum Island
Berlin James Simon Galerie asv2019 07 img2
Berlin James Simon Galerie asv2019 07 img2

The James Simon Gallery (German: James-Simon-Galerie) is a centrally located visitor center and art gallery between the reconstructed Neues Museum and the Kupfergraben arm of the Spree river on Museum Island in Berlin, Germany. Designed by architect David Chipperfield, the gallery is named after the maecenas Henri James Simon (1851–1932) who brought worldwide fame to the Berlin State Museums with his lavish donations. As the ensemble's sixth building, the gallery has a prominent position at the site of the former Packhof designed by Karl Friedrich Schinkel, which was demolished in 1938, and its design is inspired by the construction history of Museum Island.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article James Simon Gallery (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

James Simon Gallery
Platz der Märzrevolution, Berlin Mitte

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N 52.520555555556 ° E 13.397777777778 °
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Museumsinsel

Platz der Märzrevolution
10117 Berlin, Mitte
Germany
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museumsinsel-berlin.de

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Berlin James Simon Galerie asv2019 07 img2
Berlin James Simon Galerie asv2019 07 img2
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Vorderasiatisches Museum Berlin
Vorderasiatisches Museum Berlin

The Vorderasiatisches Museum (German: [ˈfɔʁdɐ.ʔaˌzi̯atɪʃəs muˈzeːʊm], Near East Museum) is an archaeological museum in Berlin. It is in the basement of the south wing of the Pergamon Museum and has one of the world's largest collections of Southwest Asian art. 14 halls distributed across 2,000 square meters of exhibition surface display southwest Asian culture spanning six millennia. The exhibits cover a period from the 6th millennium BCE into the time of the Muslim conquests. They originate particularly from today's states of Iraq, Syria and Turkey, with singular finds also from other areas. Starting with the Neolithic finds, the emphasis of the collection is of finds from Sumer, Babylonia and Assyria, as well as northern Syria and eastern Anatolia. Excavations in historically important cities like Uruk, Shuruppak, Assur, Hattusha, Tell el Amarna, Tell Halaf (Guzana), Sam'al, Toprakkale and Babylon built the foundation of the museum's collection. Further acquisitions came from Nimrud, Nineveh, Susa and Persepolis. The museum shows finds from the cultures of Sumer, Akkad, Babylonia, Assyria, the Hittites and the Aramaeans. These finds often found their way to Berlin via the German Oriental Society. In 1899, the Middle East Department at the royal museums was created. In 1929, they were provisionally accommodated in the Bode Museum and the Pergamon Museum, where they have been accessible to the public since 1930. During the Second World War, there were hardly any war-related losses. The mobile exhibits, which were taken as art spoilage to the Soviet Union, were returned to East Germany in 1958. The collection had already opened again as the Vorderasiatisches Museum in 1953. Notable pieces of the collection are the Ishtar Gate and Procession Way of Babylon, remainders of the ancient city of Babylon, parts of the Eanna temple and Karaindash's temple to Inanna in Uruk. The museum also has an important number of Southwest Asian stamp and cylinder seals, as well as cuneiform texts. It has more than 200 of the Amarna letters and the larger ("Meissner") fragment (VAT 4105) of the Sippar tablet from the Epic of Gilgamesh, which includes Siduri's advice, unlike later editions of the epic. At present (2019) Barbara Helwing is the director of the museum, following Markus Hilgert (2014-2018). Previous directors were Beate Salje, Walter Andrae, Gerhard Rudolf Meyer, Liane Jakob-Rost and Evelyn Klengel Brandt, among others.

Fragment from the tomb of Nikarete
Fragment from the tomb of Nikarete

The Fragment from the tomb of Nikarete from the third quarter of the fourth century BC, found near Athens is displayed today in the Antikensammlung of the Altes Museum in Berlin. The 117 cm high and 59 cm wide fragment of a grave relief made out of Pentelic marble depicts a woman named Nikarete, daughter of Ktesikles of the deme of Hagnous. Her name is preserved on a piece of the grave's gable, which was separately manufactured. Nikarete belongs to the same type of scene as the Grave relief of Thraseas and Euandria, sitting at the right hand side of the relief, looking left. She sits on a backless, cushioned stool. Her head projects from the relief and faces forward. She wears a cloak (himation) over her head. Under this she wears a chiton with flaps and buttoned sleeves. Nikarete's hair is unparted, gathered up into a knot above her forehead. There are holes in her earlobes which once contained real earrings. It is not clear how large the complete relief was or how many other people were depicted in it. It probably belonged to one of the most elaborate grave monuments of the fourth century BC, some of which are known today. Such monuments were mostly erected by the economically successful members of the Athenian citizenry. The nose, part of the lips and the greater part of the cloak are entirely modern reconstruction, carried out in the workshop of Johann Gottfried Schadow. The fragments were found between Athens and the port of Piraeus. The pieces were acquired by the Baron Albert von Sack who traveled through Greece and the east with Georg Christian Gropius, then the Austrian consul in Athens and acquired a collection of ancient artefacts in the process which he later sold to the Antikensammlung in Berlin. It was one of the first ancient artworks to come to Berlin without passing through the Italian art trade.