Berlin’s custodians of silence look forward to museums reopening
During the cold winter months, Berlin’s museum directors have been guardians of silence. With doors closed to visitors due to the coronavirus pandemic, the artworks have languished hidden from view, but now curators hope to reopen.
Chancellor Angela Merkel and German state leaders agreed to begin easing the restrictions. If coronavirus cases are below 100 per 100,000 people for seven days, as in Berlin with a rate of 67.8, people should be able to visit museums from Monday (March 8) after reserving a space. .
In the Egyptian Museum, the colorful bust of Queen Nefertiti, made of limestone and stucco around 1340 BC. C., has seemed lonely lately. Friederike Seyfried, director of the museum, said that working in an empty space was depressing. “A museum is there to be open to people, to offer them something and make art accessible to everyone and if we cannot fulfill this task of ours due to the current circumstances, it is understandable but also very painful,” he said.
She said the museum had made sure people were socially estranged when it reopened after a closure last year and is convinced it can keep visitors safe.
At the Pergamon Museum, the imposing blue Ishtar Gate, rebuilt with fragments of the original from Babylon, is normally a major tourist attraction, but only those who work in the museum have been able to admire it recently.
“Objects come to life in dialogue with viewers, so we can’t wait to finally welcome visitors back,” said Barbara Helwing, who runs the Museum of the Ancient Near East located at the Pergamon Museum.
Other treasures that Berlin’s museum curators are eager to show off again include the Miletus Market Gate, a 17-meter-high marble entrance built around AD 100. C. Edouard Manet’s painting “At the Conservatory”; and “The Virgin and Child with Singing Angels” by Sandro Botticelli.
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She is a freelance blogger, writer, and speaker, and writes for various entertainment magazines.