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Babylon
Myth and Truth

26.06.2008 to 05.10.2008

Pergamonmuseum
Pergamonmuseum

Exhibition-Website: www.smb.museum/babylon

An exhibition of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin in cooperation with the Musée du Louvre and the Réunion des musées nationaux in Paris, as well as the British Museum in London, on view in the Pergamon Museum on Berlin's Museum Island.
The exhibition is also privileged to be held under the auspices of the Germany's Federal Foreign Minister, Dr. Frank-Walter Steinmeier.


Babylon - myth, city, legend and truth. Vivid associations, which no other city can quite evoke as strongly in our minds. With this major exhibition, the National Museums in Berlin, jointly with the Musée du Louvre in Paris and the British Museum in London, venture to explore the myth of Babel and the true facts surrounding the ancient city of Babylon: two worlds - one exhibition.

The first section of the exhibition (=Truth) exposes the roots of our Western culture by looking at the archaeological remains of Babylon, thus revealing what lies behind the legends. This section centres around the Ishtar Gate and the Processional Way of Babylon. Over 800 objects are exhibited, among them statues, reliefs, votive offerings, architectural fragments, and documents.

The second section of the exhibition (=Myth) regards Babylon as a metaphor for the dark sides of civilisation - repression and the lack of freedom, terror and violence, hubris and madness. In European art and culture, the myth of Babel is closely related to mankind's primal fears. Here, visitors experience the mythical story of the rise and fall of Babylon as a city of sin and tyranny, as the site of the confusion of tongues and the metropolis of eternal apocalypse. They venture on an expedition to the mysterious roots of these ideas, their emergence and establishment throughout the centuries up to the current day. The story is not one of a historical truth about Babylon, but of a truth about a civilisation that needs the myth of Babel in order to understand itself.

This is the first exhibition to present the Babylonian treasures from the world's 'universal museums' jointly in a single show. In this way, 3000 years of Babylonian history is brought to life in a unique and comprehensive fashion.

Opening Hours
Sun - Wed: 9 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Thu - Sat: 9 a.m. - 10 p.m.

Tickets
12 Euro, discounted admission 6 Euro
area ticket Museum Island Berlin (with special exhibition) 15 Euro, discounted admission 7,50 Euro
There is no free admission on Thursday evenings to the Pergamonmuseum for the duration of the exhibition "Babylon. Myth and Thruth".

Online-Tickets / Tickets / Guided Tours / Groups
Phone +49(0)180 366 3668 (9 ct/Min. for touch-tone landlines, possibly different rates for cellular networks)
(Mon to Fri 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.)
E-Mail: babylon@smb.museum

Online-Booking at : www.smb.museum/babylonshop

Catalogues
Babylon. Myth and Truth
24.5 x 28 cm, bound, 280 & 648 pages, numerous colour illustrations
ISBN: 978-3-7774-5005-6
Hirmer Verlag
2-volume set: 55 Euro, price at the museum: 39.90 Euro

Individual volumes:

Myth
Publ. by Moritz Wullen & Günther Schauerte in collaboration with Hanna Strzoda 24.5 x 28 cm, bound, 280 pages, numerous colour illustrations
ISBN 978-3-7774-4575-5
Hirmer Verlag
Price: 22 Euro, price at the museum: 19.90 Euro
To order at the MuseumsShop.

Truth
Publ. by Joachim Marzahn & Günther Schauerte in collaboration with Bernd Müller-Neuhof and Katja Sternitzke
24.5 x 28 cm, bound, 648 pages, numerous colour illustrations
ISBN 978-37774-4295-2
Hirmer Verlag
Price: 33 Euro, price at the museum: 29.90 Euro
To order at the MuseumsShop.

Entdeckungsbuch BABYLON. - Lesen - Erkunden - Verstehen
Authors: Susanne Birker; Katja Sternitzke, Geraldine Saherwala
21 x 28 cm, brochure, 44 pages
ISBN: 978-3-9810469-6-0
Publishers: Roseni-Verlag
Price 7.80 Euro
To order at the MuseumsShop.

Auf dem Weg nach Babylon. Robert Koldewey - Ein Archäologenleben
21 x 23 cm, bound, ca 192 pages, 110 colour / 13 b&w illustrations
ISBN: 978-3-88609-628-2
Publishers: Verlag Philipp von Zabern
Price of museum edition: 19.80 Euro
To order at the MuseumsShop.