Alfred Messel’s 1930 Pergamonmuseum is the most-visited museum in Germany and it has been closed completely since October 2023. The refurbishment goes all the way down: foundations, envelope and services renewed in full, with the Pergamon Altar dismantled and reinstalled.
Project Scope
Work follows O.M. Ungers’ masterplan, which adds a fourth wing to close the courtyard the original building never finished. Kleihues + Kleihues is executing architect with BAL on project management and the Bundesamt für Bauwesen und Raumordnung as building authority. The programme runs in two construction phases. The north wing and northern central building reopen on 4 June 2027. The south wing stays shut until 2037.
The cost history deserves to be stated straight rather than smoothed. €477 million was the 2016 estimate for the refurbishment; the second construction phase alone now carries a budget of roughly €1.018 billion including risk contingency. Those are different scopes and shouldn’t be presented as one number growing.
Why It Matters
A fourteen-year closure on a building this important is a long time to hold public patience, and the Berlin state museums have taken real criticism for it. The engineering case is straightforward though: the structure sits on reclaimed marshy ground on Museum Island, the 1930 services were beyond patching, and the antiquities inside can’t be moved twice. Doing it in phases with the collection in place would have cost more and taken longer. It’s the largest heritage construction programme running in Germany, and a useful reference for anyone pricing deep intervention in a UNESCO-listed structure.
Project Team & Details
| Owner / Client | Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz / Staatliche Museen zu Berlin |
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| Architect | Kleihues + Kleihues Gesellschaft von Architekten mbH |
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| Consultants | BAL Bauplanungs- und Steuerungs GmbH (Project Management)
O.M. Ungers (Original Masterplan) |
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| Status | Under Construction |
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| Funding Source | Public (Federal) |
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