Bodenmuseum

The Kaiser Friedrich Museum, today Bode Museum, is one of the five museums of what is named the “museum insel” or in English, the museum island, in the city of berlin. Along with it’s other fourpieces, the pergamon museum, the neues museum, the altes museum and the national gallerie, the Bode museum sits on an island in the Spree connected to the rest of the city by bridges in different areas.The Bode Museum is one of the many pieces within Berlin’s extensive museum collection, and a keen component in the museum island.
During the end of the XIXth century, Wilhelm von Bode conceived theidea of a museum in which the “christian era” sculptures and art would be housed (schulz, page 16). With the tip of the museum island empty, it was decided that the erection of such museum would bein this location, where all could admire its greatness. Crown prince Friedrich Wilhem, was persuaded by Bode, and approved the construction with the purpose of it being a memorial of his deceasedfather, the Kaiser Friedrich III.
Ernst von Ihnen who had already been comissioned with several other buildings at the time, was appointed chief architect of the project. In 1898 the construction of theKaiser Friedrich Museum was begun. It was awarded a budget of five million Reich Marks, which was later increased to 6.5 million reich marks, due to the construction of the two domes. (schulz,page 16).
Once commissioned with the task, von Ihnen had to come up with a design that would not only represent the newest museum, but also would live up to the name and memory of its namesake. Aclassic French baroque style was chosen by the architect, giving the building an external appereance that reminded us more of a castle or a palace than a museum. As stated by Benjamin Schulz in …. Page18)“He needed to create a building that met the demand for a structure that served both as a museum as well as a pantheon for the Kaiser’s father… It is only when this dual function is taken into...