After early victories over Galatian forces, Attalus I promoted Pergamene royal legitimacy through major sculptural dedications (notably in the Sanctuary of Athena). These victory monuments form an important artistic and ideological prelude to the later monumental sculptural programs under Eumenes II.
Rome and Pergamon defeated the Seleucid king Antiochus III at the Battle of Magnesia (winter 190/189 BCE). The victory and subsequent settlement reshaped power in Asia Minor and helped enable Pergamon’s later monumental building and sculptural patronage under Eumenes II.
The Great Altar of Pergamon (often called the Pergamon Altar) was constructed on the acropolis terraces during the reign of Eumenes II. Its monumental architecture and integrated sculptural decoration made it one of the defining achievements of late Hellenistic art.
The altar’s outer sculptural program—the Gigantomachy—was carved in dramatic high relief around the podium, depicting the Olympian gods battling Giants. This frieze is central to the “Pergamene baroque” style: dense composition, deep carving, and heightened emotion.
A second narrative frieze, the Telephos Frieze, decorated the inner court colonnade, recounting episodes from Telephos’ life (Pergamon’s mythical founder). Its storytelling, spatial devices, and figural staging became influential for later Hellenistic and Roman visual narration.
Engineer-archaeologist Carl Humann secured Ottoman permits and Berlin backing to begin systematic excavations at Pergamon, creating the conditions for the altar’s sculptural remains to be recovered, documented, and exported under 19th-century arrangements.
Between 1878 and 1886, excavation campaigns on the Pergamon acropolis uncovered substantial portions of the altar’s sculptural decoration. Under agreements of the time, many finds—including frieze blocks—were transported to Berlin, profoundly shaping later study and display of Pergamene sculpture.
Berlin’s first purpose-built Pergamonmuseum (a “temporary building”) opened in 1901, allowing large-scale architectural and sculptural finds from Pergamon to be assembled and shown in a dedicated setting—an early milestone in reconstructive museum display.
The present Pergamon Museum building on Berlin’s Museum Island was built (with interruptions) from 1910 to 1930, based on designs by Alfred Messel and continued by Ludwig Hoffmann. Its monumental galleries were intended to accommodate large reconstructions such as the Pergamon Altar.
With the museum’s opening in 1930, the altar was installed in the new hall in a partial reconstruction that largely defines how audiences encounter the monument in Berlin. This setting became a canonical frame for interpreting late Hellenistic sculpture.
After conservation needs became acute, the Telephos Frieze underwent intensive restoration work in the mid-1990s, improving stability and legibility and enabling more coherent presentation alongside the altar’s other sculptural elements.
Following major conservation and reinstallation work, the restored frieze was presented publicly in 2004, reflecting updated scholarly and conservation standards and renewing attention to the altar’s carving techniques and narrative programs.
The Pergamonmuseum fully closed to visitors on 2023-10-23 for major refurbishment. Official plans projected that the North Wing and the hall with the Pergamon Altar would reopen in spring 2027, affecting access to one of the best-known displays of Hellenistic sculpture.
Sculpture of Pergamon and the Great Altar (3rd–2nd centuries BCE)
