Berlin museums + museum shops, part 1
The title may sound a little strange but museum shop is in many cases the place to make some wonderful discoveries of special editions and more.
Starting and proceeding chronologically
Within the area of Kulturforum, close to Potsdamer Platz and Sony Center, Neue Nationalgalerie [...the famous "temple of light and glass" designed by Mies van der Rohe...] was my first museum experience in Berlin, a city with dense museum network. Now on exhibition the new collection where everyone and everything in modern art from Kokoschka to contemporary abstract art, through the likes of Dix [his was some of the best pieces in the collection], Schwitters and others, has its place. Divided in art movements Neue galerie is a sure call for modern art lovers.
Museum shop: Alphabetically arranged monographs and a nice selection of art books plus the ordinary museum paraphernalia. Outside the main shop’s space there are two tables stocked with sale items, but be warned that some of these titles are available elsewhere even cheaper.
Pergamonmuseum [Museumsinsel, first take]
Inside Pergamonmuseum lies an amazing collection of antiquities [a part of this collection is housed in Altes Museum] many of them of Greek origin [finds from excavations in Olympia, Samos, Pergamon, Miletus, Priene, Magnesia, Cyprus and Didyma]. Inside museum’s halls visitor can admire the world renowned magnificently opulent structure of Pergamon Altar as well as a really big collection of Classic, Hellenistic, Roman and late Roman antiquities. Two more collections of great interest and importance found within Pergamonmuseum are the Islamic Art and the Ancient Near East one.
Museum shop: Many books covering the thematic of the museum and its collections can be found in its shop. Unfortunately the majority of them, including some not-permanent exhibitions’ catalogues, are only available in German. There is a rather big collection of jewelry also in the shop and here you can find the perfect gift for many occasions.
photos:
Housed in Charité [the largest university hospital in Europe] hospital complex, Medizinhistorisches museum is a thrilling and strange experience. More than one collections were on display, but I am unsure which of them where running exhibitions and which of them permanent. One that was [almost] for sure ongoing was a showcase of face casts presenting a variety of optical and dermatic [always concerning face] pathologies. Another that was quite haunting was a selection of medical cases spanning the last 3 or 4 centuries, presented in text along with any relating instruments of each time and a handful of personal belongings of the suffering person. Given the fact that all of them were tormented and dead, I couldn’t help but remember John Saul’s Blackstone Chronicles. The view from a nearby window was Psychiatric Clinic, as the label next to it read.
The core of the museum is the medical collection of deformities, curiosities, damaged internal organs, sick skin, dead foetuses and so on preserved in formaldehyde [?], exhibited in a big hall. Part of this collection is an awe-inspiring megacolon, stored in a huge jar. The day we visited the museum was bleak and rainy. Searching for the hospital bookstore [we didn't find one, probably misinformed] we ended up taking a walk in the hospital gardens between and around buildings and clinics. Everything was unnaturally still and quiet, and probably somewhat unsettling.
This visit was a mind-altering experience highly recommended to anyone interested in medical history and/or medical curiosities. Definitely not for the faint-hearted.
Museum shop: Much to my disappointment [although probably expected] there was just a rudimentary [book]shop featuring a handful of titles, only in German. One or two seemed interesting to my non expert eyes. If anyone knows of any catalogue of this museum’s collection [or similar books, except from the Phantom Museum and a couple of editions on Mutter museum] please leave a comment or send an email.
flyers:
more on Berlin museums soon
dmtls reporting from Berlin part 2.
