THE NEAR EAST TREASURES OF GERMANY

On our way back from Europe to Canada we had a chance to spend one afternoon in Berlin, and Pergamon Museum was a must-visit place! Why? Here are some of the artifacts that you can find there:⠀

😍 Aleppo room - It’s probably the oldest surviving panelled room from the Ottoman Empire. It was build around 1600, and the owner wanted it to be painted with different topics and motives. Hundreds of years later it became a hotel reception room, a ‘divan’, place where guests removed their shoes and sat on low cushions.⠀

😍The Ishtar Gates - Entrance to the inner city of Babylon, constructed in about 575 BCE. You can also see a part of Processional Way too. People were gathering there annually to celebrate the beginning of the agricultural year, that corresponds to the recent Nowruz tradition. The goddess Ishtar represented the power of sexual attraction, but also, being symbolized by the star and lion, she also was the goddess of war. Interesting combination, yeah?⠀

😍The facade of Qasr Mushatta - Part of the ruins from an Umayyad winter palace located in Jordan. As I understood the palace was actually never completed but its gracious size is still absolutely impressive.

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INTERESTING FACT: many of the museum artifacts from the ancient Near East were depicting female musicians playing round frame drums, vs male musicians playing square frame drums. 😳 I’m definitely gonna research this topic further!

Do you like such little historical posts? Comment below if you‘d like to know more about different places, historical facts and traditions of the Near East. 👇👇👇

Author: Iana Komarnytska
Photographer: Pedro Bonatto

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