Explore the The Aleppo Room mobility of this artwork, Aleppo Room.
The painted wooden wall panelling once furnished the reception hall of a wealthy broker's home, who was a Christian citizen in the Ottoman Empire at the beginning of the 17th century. In this room he welcomed visitors from other ethnic and religious backgrounds.The panels found there way to Germany after the Wakil family sold them in 1912 to Mrs. Mary Koch, who then donated them to the Pergamom Museum in Berlin. The museum obtained them by purchase in 1912 AD for an amount of one thousand Ottoman liras at that time. They are housed in the Museum of Islamic Art.Since the Aleppo Room came from Aleppo, Syria into the collection of the Museum für Islamische Kunst, its presentation has changed several times. All these changes are related to historical assumptions, museum concepts and didactic approaches. Soon after its arrival in Berlin, only some of the panels were shown in the Kaiser Friedrich Museum (originally called Kaiser - Friedrich - Museum by Emperor Frederick III of Germany), now known as the Bode Museum. Presumably the lack of space made this reduced presentation necessary, because the Islamic collection was only one department of the Kaiser Friedrich Museum. But it also reveals the founders’ intention at that time. The exhibition should represent a wide range of works of art from the Islamic lands with their different compositions of ornaments and patterns. Islamic Art changed at that time from a relatively strange and unknown to a popular subject with a growing public interest.
The display was first of all aimed at making this style descriptive and comprehensible to the visitors. In 1932 the collection moved into the then newly built Pergamon Museum, where it has remained until today. This was the chance for an extended exhibition. With more space available, the Aleppo Room was presented in a special space of its own, where the whole room could be viewed at once.
A historical photograph of 1938 shows the arrangement of the complete panelling in a rectangular form along the walls. It has been extended to a three-dimensional presentation. But the decorative panels of the Aleppo Room served more as a surrounding for a regular exhibition room with show-cases. The impression of its original intention and its relevance as a unique example of interior decoration was still barely noticeable. Also, the aim was to present the panels as objects of art rather than to convey their relevance to an architectural context. The room remained as such until the end of World War II. In order to protect the panels, they were dismantled and stored in boxes. Some of the panels were kept in storage in the Pergamon.
Pergamon Bode Museum Pergamon Museum Kaiser Friedrich Museum Berlin Pergamom Museum Germany Museum of Islamic Art Aleppo Syria Christian Islamic Art World War II