— Ch. 1 · Royal Commission And Planning —
Altes Museum.
~3 min read · Ch. 1 of 5
King Frederick William III of Prussia issued a directive in the early nineteenth century to create a public museum for the bourgeoisie. This growing class had become increasingly self-aware and began to embrace new ideas regarding the relationship between itself and art. The concepts that art should be open to the public and that citizens should have access to comprehensive cultural education pervaded society. Schinkel received this charge from the King to plan a public museum for the royal art collection. Friedrich Wilhelm IV, then crown prince, influenced these plans with his desire for a building heavily influenced by Classical antiquity. He even sent Schinkel a pencil sketch of a large hall adorned with a classical portico.
Schinkels Neoclassical Design
The front facing the Lustgarten features eighteen Ionic columns arranged by the garden itself. A simple columned hall in grand style gave the building character proportionate to the importance of the location. The arrangement of these columns was effected by the Lustgarten. The portico was designed with a function to give the museum building an exterior befitting its site. Monuments could be placed within this structure. The Königliches Museum stood as a symbol for science and art rather than worldly power or military might. It represented the torchbearer: the self-aware bourgeoisie. Peter Joseph Lenné's renovation of the Lustgarten coincided with the construction of the museum. This resulted in a harmonized and integrated ensemble surrounding the pleasure garden.Evolution Of Museum Island
King Friedrich Wilhelm IV announced in 1841 that the entire northern part of the Spree Island would become a sanctuary for art and science. In 1845, the completion of the Neues Museum caused the Königliches Museum to be renamed the Altes Museum. This name holds to this day. Friedrich August Stüler completed the Neues Museum in 1855. Johann Heinrich Strack built the Nationalgalerie in 1876. Ernst von Ihne constructed the Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum after plans by Stüler in 1904. Alfred Messel and Ludwig Hoffmann finished the Pergamonmuseum in 1930. Julius Carl Raschdorff reconstructed the Berliner Dom between 1894 and 1905 into a neo-Renaissance cathedral. This new cathedral significantly disrupted the classical ensemble due to its larger dimensions.