The Pergamon Museum in Berlin is closed, so what can you actually visit in 2026?
Start with the part most guidebooks bury: the Pergamonmuseum has been entirely closed to visitors since October 2023 for refurbishment, and it is not opening again this year. The north wing, with the Pergamon Altar, is announced for 4 June 2027. The south wing, which holds the Ishtar Gate, the Processional Way and the Market Gate of Miletus, is not expected before the 2030s. What is open is a separate building across the Kupfergraben canal, a purpose built rotunda holding Yadegar Asisi's 360 degree panorama of the ancient city, on its own ticket. This guide explains what that is, what it is not, and whether it is worth your 12 euros.
About This Experience
Am Kupfergraben 2, Mitte, 10117 Berlin. The rotunda stands on the mainland side of the canal, opposite the Pergamonmuseum, so it is not inside Museum Island and has its own entrance.
Trams M1 and 12 stop at Am Kupfergraben, essentially outside the door. U5 to Museumsinsel is about 4 minutes away, S and U Friedrichstrasse about 8 minutes, and S-Bahn Hackescher Markt roughly 10.
Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00 to 18:00, with special hours on public holidays. There is no regular late evening opening. Closed every Monday. The Pergamonmuseum itself is closed to all visitors, with the north wing announced to reopen on 4 June 2027 and group tours of that wing already bookable from June 2027.
Das Panorama on its own is 12 euros, 6 euros concession. The combined Museumsinsel plus Panorama ticket is 24 euros, 12 euros concession, and covers the whole island on the same day. Under 18s are free but still need a ticket issued. The Berlin WelcomeCard Museum Island and the 32 euro Museum Pass Berlin both include it. Berlin no longer has a free first Sunday; the Museumssonntag scheme ended after 1 December 2024.
A rotunda built across the canal from the Pergamonmuseum specifically to house the panorama while the main museum is shut. It opened in November 2018 and was designed as a temporary structure for the duration of the refurbishment.
The painted city of Pergamon in 129 CE, the altar shown standing on its acropolis terraces, a viewing tower with several stair levels, a programmed day to night lighting cycle with a composed soundscape, and original Antikensammlung sculpture in the entrance galleries.
Check Live Availability & Prices
The Panorama runs timed entry through the day and rarely sells out, though weekend lunchtimes fill as the island museums empty. Live dates and prices are below.
Which Pergamon Panorama Ticket to Pick
The bookable ticket at $16 covers entry to the rotunda and the entrance galleries in front of it. Inside, you get Asisi's circular painted panorama of Pergamon as it stood in 129 CE, the year Hadrian visited, with the altar shown in place on the acropolis terraces rather than as the reassembled fragments the museum used to display. A tower in the middle gives several stair levels, and the same view reads differently from the top and the bottom.
A lighting cycle takes the painted city from dawn through midday to dusk, timed to a soundscape composed by Eric Babak, and original sculpture and frieze material from the Antikensammlung is shown alongside, including Asisi's coloured reconstruction of how the surviving marble would once have been painted.
Who it suits is a genuine split, and worth thinking about before you pay. People who like immersive art tend to rate it highly. People who came to Berlin for archaeology often find it thin, because it is a painting of objects rather than the objects themselves.
It is one room of experience, not a museum, and 45 minutes to an hour covers it, or around 90 minutes if you sit through a full light cycle, which is what most of the positive reviews single out. If you have already seen an Asisi panorama in another city, expect the same format here.
What it does not cover matters more than usual. The Ishtar Gate, the Processional Way and the Market Gate of Miletus are not viewable anywhere in Berlin at the moment, so any tour advertising them should be checked before you book. The Panorama is not a stand-in for the collection, and it does not get you into the Pergamonmuseum, which has no public admission at all.
One practical note: if you are already visiting two island museums, take the 24 euro combined ticket rather than the 12 euro standalone, since the Panorama then costs you almost nothing extra. If you are deciding where else to spend the day, the rest of Berlin's museum lineup is set out by museum and by district.
Pergamon Panorama Tickets
One product, since the Pergamonmuseum itself sells nothing while it is closed. This is entry to the rotunda across the canal.
from $16 Pergamonmuseum. The Panorama Exhibition Ticket
- Open while the Pergamon is closed
- 360-degree Asisi panorama
- Original altar sculpture
What You'll See
The panorama shows Pergamon in 129 CE, a working Greek city on its hillside in the year the emperor Hadrian came through. Streets, terraces, roofs and figures wrap the full circle, and the Pergamon Altar appears where it belonged, standing on the acropolis rather than sectioned into a museum hall. A tower in the centre of the rotunda has several stair levels, and the change of eye height genuinely changes the picture: from the top you read the city plan, from the bottom you are standing in the street.
The other half of the experience is time. A programmed lighting cycle carries the painted city through dawn, midday and dusk, with a soundscape by Eric Babak timed to it, and the night sequence is the part most visitors talk about afterwards. In the galleries before the rotunda are original antiquities from the Antikensammlung, including sculpture and frieze material from Pergamon itself, plus Asisi's coloured reconstruction of the frieze, which shows how the marble that now reads as plain white stone would have been painted.
How a Visit Flows
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10:00
Find the right building
Get off the M1 or 12 tram at Am Kupfergraben and look for the rotunda on the mainland side of the canal. Do not walk over to the Pergamonmuseum entrance on the island, because there is nothing to enter there.
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10:10
The entrance galleries
Before the panorama itself there is original sculpture and frieze material from the Antikensammlung, with Asisi's coloured reconstruction showing the painted version. Ten minutes here gives the panorama something to sit against.
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10:25
First lap of the rotunda
Walk the circle once at ground level to work out where the acropolis, the altar and the harbour sit relative to each other.
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10:40
Up the tower
Climb the stair levels and look again. The city plan only resolves from height, and the same detail you stood next to reads as one house among hundreds.
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10:55
Sit through the cycle
Take a bench and stay through a full day to night sequence with the sound. This is the part people who liked the visit came for, and the part people who left after a lap never saw.
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11:30
On to the island
Most visits run 45 minutes to an hour, or closer to 90 with a full cycle. The Neues Museum and the Alte Nationalgalerie are a short walk over the bridge if you hold the combined ticket.
Know Before You Go
Not suitable for
- Anyone coming specifically for the Ishtar Gate or the Market Gate of Miletus, neither of which can be seen in Berlin at present
- Visitors who want original artefacts rather than a painted reconstruction
- Monday arrivals, since the Panorama is closed all day
What to bring
- Your ticket on a phone, bought at the door or online up to four weeks ahead
- ID for a concession or free entry claim
- Patience for one full light cycle rather than a single lap
- A jacket layer, since the rotunda is kept dim and cool
Not allowed
- Entry to the Pergamonmuseum itself, which is closed to all visitors
- Large bags and backpacks inside the rotunda
- Blocking the benches or the tower stairs during the light cycle, when the room fills quickly
Insider Tips
Six things that decide whether this visit lands or disappoints.
- Work out first whether you are here for immersive art or for archaeology, because the reviews split cleanly along that line and 12 euros is the wrong price for the wrong answer
- Check the museum closure before booking any tour that names the Ishtar Gate, since visitors still arrive expecting the collection
- Stay for at least one complete day to night cycle; the night sequence is what the good reviews are actually about
- If you have seen an Asisi panorama elsewhere, know that the format repeats, and some visitors rate the Dresden version higher
- Buy the 24 euro combined island ticket if you were visiting two museums anyway, rather than the 12 euro standalone
- Arrive early on a weekday morning; the rotunda fills when the island museums break for lunch
Where You're Headed
Pergamon Museum Berlin FAQ
Is the Pergamon Museum in Berlin open in 2026?
No. The Pergamonmuseum has been entirely closed to visitors since October 2023 for refurbishment, and it stays closed through 2026. The only part of the site you can visit is the separate Panorama rotunda across the Kupfergraben canal, which has its own entrance and its own ticket.
When does the Pergamon Museum reopen?
The north wing, which holds the Pergamon Altar, is announced to reopen on 4 June 2027, and group tours of that wing are already bookable from June 2027. The south wing, with the Ishtar Gate, the Processional Way and the Market Gate of Miletus, is not expected before the 2030s.
Where is the Ishtar Gate now that the Pergamon Museum is closed?
It is still in the south wing of the Pergamonmuseum, behind the closure, and it is not on display anywhere else in the city. There is no way to see it in Berlin at the moment, so treat any tour that advertises it with suspicion.
How much is a ticket for the Pergamon Panorama?
The door price is 12 euros, or 6 euros concession. The bookable online ticket is $16. The combined Museumsinsel plus Panorama ticket is 24 euros, 12 euros concession, and covers the whole island the same day. Under 18s are free but still need a ticket issued.
How long does the Pergamon Panorama take to visit?
Plan 45 minutes to an hour. Visitors who sit through a full day to night lighting cycle usually report closer to 90 minutes. It is one room of experience, so do not build a whole day around it.
Is the Pergamon Panorama worth it if the museum is closed?
That depends on what you came for. Visitors who enjoy immersive painted environments rate it highly, and the light and sound cycle is what they single out. Visitors who wanted ancient objects often find it thin, since the panorama is a reconstruction rather than a collection. Decide which you are before paying.
Where is the Pergamon Panorama building located?
At Am Kupfergraben 2 in Mitte, on the mainland side of the canal opposite the Pergamonmuseum, not on Museum Island itself. Trams M1 and 12 stop outside; U5 Museumsinsel is about 4 minutes away.
Can you see the Pergamon Altar anywhere in Berlin right now?
Not the altar itself, which is inside the closed north wing until 2027. The Panorama shows it painted in place on the acropolis, and original sculpture and frieze material from Pergamon is displayed in the entrance galleries alongside Asisi's coloured reconstruction of the frieze.
What Visitors Say
We turned up at the museum entrance on the island and only then found out it has been shut for years. The Panorama across the water saved the morning, but I wish someone had told us first.
Sat down on the bench for the full cycle. When the lights drop and the city goes to night the whole room stops talking. That fifteen minutes is the ticket.
I study classics and I will be honest, it is a painting. Beautifully done, and the frieze colour reconstruction taught me something, but it is not the collection and it should not pretend to be.