Neues Museum, Berlin, Germany - SpottingHistory.com

The Neues Museum ('New Museum') was built between 1843 and 1855 according to plans by Friedrich August Stüler, a student of Karl Friedrich Schinkel. The museum was closed at the beginning of World War II in 1939, and was heavily damaged during the bombing of Berlin. The rebuilding was overseen by the English architect David Chipperfield.

Exhibits include the Egyptian and Prehistory and Early History collections, as it did before the war. The artifacts it houses include the iconic bust of the Egyptian queen Nefertiti.

Both as a part of the Museum Island complex, and as an individual building, the museum testifies to the neoclassical architecture of museums in the 19th century. With its new industrialized building procedures and its use of iron construction, the museum plays an important role in the history of technology. Since the classical and ornate interiors of the Glyptothek and of the Alte Pinakothek in Munich were destroyed in World War II, the partly destroyed interior of the Neues Museum ranks among the last remaining examples of interior museum layout of this period in Germany.

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User Reviews

Rebecca Gausnell (16 months ago)
Very nice museum. Very interesting design. But very big. I still knew the Egyptian museum wanted to show it to my daughter. Now we would have to go there. But you really have to plan a lot of time. But it is definitely worth it!

Otto Bedo (16 months ago)
wonderful place with a thought out setup. if interested in natural history, this is a place for you then :) I’d suggest going up to the 3rd floor and starting from there all the way to the basement, this is the most fluid way in my opinion to enjoy what the museum offers!

Ian Allen (17 months ago)
Fascinating museum—not so much because of the artifacts housed there but rather because of the design of the museum itself. The redesign by David Chipperfield is exceptional and a wonder to behold—each room is thoughtfully imagined. While this museum will definitely interest those looking for ancient Egyptian items, it will also be of interest to students and admirers of architecture.

Vlada Martikova (17 months ago)
Very nice museum and decorations in the room. It is quite big, so if you want to hear(they give you headphones for free at the entrance) or read about everything, you will probably need more than 2 hours. I rate it 4 stars because they close 15 min before it is indicated so we couldn't see the last floor, which we planned to leave for the end for a quick glance, and it was disappointing. Also, it is prohibited to take pictures of the bust of Nefertiti. Anyhow, especially if you are into Egyptian mythology, it is definitely a worth visiting museum.

Christian Domini (17 months ago)
From what I gather this museum is more about the museum itself and some old antiques they still have. You do have the Nefertiti bust and the Golden hat but either than that it explains how most of the museum artifacts and the museum itself has been lost and renovate through the years. I bet the museum was amazing 100 years ago now is okay. I did spend almost 4 hours in it though

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The original Cochem Castle, perched prominently on a hill above the Moselle River, served to collect tolls from passing ships. Modern research dates its origins to around 1100. Before its destruction by the French in 1689, the castle had a long and fascinating history. It changed hands numerous times and, like most castles, also changed its form over the centuries.

In 1151 King Konrad III ended a dispute over who should inherit Cochem Castle by laying siege to it and taking possession of it himself. That same year it became an official Imperial Castle (Reichsburg) subject to imperial authority. In 1282 it was Habsburg King Rudolf’s turn, when he conquered the Reichsburg Cochem and took it over. But just 12 years later, in 1294, the newest owner, King Adolf of Nassau pawned the castle, the town of Cochem and the surrounding region in order to finance his coronation. Adolf’s successor, Albrecht I, was unable to redeem the pledge and was forced to grant the castle to the archbishop in nearby Trier and the Electorate of Trier, which then administered the Reichsburg continuously, except for a brief interruption when Trier’s Archbishop Balduin of Luxembourg had to pawn the castle to a countess. But he got it back a year later.

The Electorate of Trier and its nobility became wealthy and powerful in large part due to the income from Cochem Castle and the rights to shipping tolls on the Moselle. Not until 1419 did the castle and its tolls come under the administration of civil bailiffs (Amtsmänner). While under the control of the bishops and electors in Trier from the 14th to the 16th century, the castle was expanded several times.

In 1688 the French invaded the Rhine and Moselle regions of the Palatinate, which included Cochem and its castle. French troops conquered the Reichsburg and then laid waste not only to the castle but also to Cochem and most of the other surrounding towns in a scorched-earth campaign. Between that time and the Congress of Vienna, the Palatinate and Cochem went back and forth between France and Prussia. In 1815 the western Palatinate and Cochem finally became part of Prussia once and for all.

Louis Jacques Ravené (1823-1879) did not live to see the completion of his renovated castle, but it was completed by his son Louis Auguste Ravené (1866-1944). Louis Auguste was only two years old when construction work at the old ruins above Cochem began in 1868, but most of the new castle took shape from 1874 to 1877, based on designs by Berlin architects. After the death of his father in 1879, Louis Auguste supervised the final stages of construction, mostly involving work on the castle’s interior. The castle was finally completed in 1890. Louis Auguste, like his father, a lover of art, filled the castle with an extensive art collection, most of which was lost during the Second World War.

In 1942, during the Nazi years, Ravené was forced to sell the family castle to the Prussian Ministry of Justice, which turned it into a law school run by the Nazi government. Following the end of the war, the castle became the property of the new state of Rheinland-Pfalz (Rhineland-Palatinate). In 1978 the city of Cochem bought the castle for 664,000 marks.

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