Welcome to Wall Street!! (That is the translation) As much negative press that New York’s Wall Street gets, I pick it over Berlin’s Wall Street any day!!)
The Pergamon Museum is named for the Pergamon Altar that the museum has acquired. I was looking forward to viewing this Biblical artifact but it is not available as it is being restored and won’t be back on display until 2024. I don’t think I’ll wait.
However, the Pergamon Museum has many Biblically significant ancient artifacts such as the Ishtar Gate of ancient Babylon. There are bulls and dragons in bas-relief.
The Ishtar Gate was commissioned by the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar II. He was even so kind, actually arrogant, to put a wordy inscription on the wall.
The archeologists in the late 1800s were looking for Babylon. Once a probable site was located, they unearthed many blue glazed bricks. It was a giant jigsaw puzzle with several pieces missing. They wrapped each piece and crated them. It was reassembled in Berlin by 1930. I am HORRIBLE at puzzles so it made me nervous just to think about this task that took years!!
Also, there are rooms dedicated to the Hittites and Assyrians which have Biblical significance.
Here is the Victory Stele of Esarhaddon. He was an Assyrian king during the 7th century BC noted in Biblical passages: 2 Kings 19:37, Ezra 4:2, Isaiah 37:38. He erected the monument to commemorate a military victory in Egypt. Note the two smaller figures on leashes. Esarhaddon was a powerful Assyrian king and King Manasseh of Judah was a vassal ruler under his sovereignty.
We pray each day for God to order our steps, unveil His story and show us things we do not know.
As I was searching for a few museum facts, I came across an article through an app called Google Art and Culture that talked about refugee guides at the Pergamon Museum. This is brilliant.
Refugee guides acquire insight into their own heritage and their comments to museum goers about these artifacts are poignant. The art pieces remind them of the home that they plan to return to when it is safe to do so. Germany has not only opened their shelters but their museums as well.
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