擦肩而過的博物館島

文、圖羿明Yi Ming 譯曹宇光Cao Yuguang

柏林新博物館一景Scene of the Neues Museum in Berlin

離開歐洲的前一天晚上在柏林觀看演出，旁邊是一位德國大爺，濃密的白胡須沿著上唇整齊地走了一排，典型的德國人特點。老先生將近70歲，退休以后開始學(xué)中文，目前已能用漢語簡單交流，還會使用微信。他熱情地向我推薦，到了柏林一定要去看一個東西?？烧f了半天，我還是沒搞明白。感謝萬能的網(wǎng)絡(luò)，老者最后從手機里調(diào)出一幅圖像，原來是——埃及王后納菲爾緹緹！

想不到吧？埃及王后的塑像居然在柏林?？上覀冊诎亓执巳?，離收藏埃及王后塑像的博物館僅僅一兩公里遠，卻錯過了機會，沒能親自看上一眼。美麗擦肩而過。

我們參加活動的地方，緊鄰施普雷河，從河邊橋上很容易看到一個巴洛克風(fēng)格的巨大建筑，高大的圓形穹頂甚為引人注目。走進細看，知道是博德博物館，以收藏宗教題材的塑像和錢幣為主。一座這樣的博物館建筑已令人嘆為觀止，可就在這座博物館后面，還有四座更大的博物館，構(gòu)成蔚為壯觀的博物館群——博物館島。

施普雷河從博德博物館那里分成兩支，中間形成博物館島。17世紀(jì)中葉前，這里還是普魯士的皇家菜園。1825年至1830年，博柏林老博物館在此設(shè)計建成，成為島上最早的博物館，也是德國最早的獨立博物館之一。柏林老博物館正面由古希臘式的柱廊組成，氣勢宏大，正對面是原來的柏林王宮。這里收藏的雕塑、古希臘陶罐和馬賽克作品頗有特點。

與柏林老博物館相應(yīng)的是柏林新博物館。雖然名字里有一個“新”字，卻收藏了人類文明中最古老的藝術(shù)品。柏林新博物館是島上建成的第二個博物館，埃及王后納菲爾緹緹的頭像就保存在此處，為島上最為舉世聞名的藏品。柏林新博物館為此專設(shè)展廳，其他展品均可拍照，唯獨埃及王后禁止。

島上最年輕的建筑是于1909年至1930年間建成的帕加馬博物館，這也是島上唯一一個以藏品命名的博物館。其中的帕加馬祭壇，曾經(jīng)是古希臘殖民城邦帕加馬的重要祭祀場所之一，祭壇臺座的高浮雕壁帶，是古希臘的雕塑藝術(shù)典范。此外，這里還收藏了公元前6世紀(jì)古巴比倫的城門——伊斯塔爾門。伊斯塔爾門是20世紀(jì)初德國在美索不達米亞的考古發(fā)現(xiàn)，當(dāng)時有幾十萬片琉璃碎磚被運到柏林，經(jīng)過脫鹽、加固之后重新拼合，再現(xiàn)了東方古國的神秘氣韻。帕加馬祭壇與伊斯塔爾門一起，每年為帕加馬博物館帶來上百萬人次參觀者。

全世界最古老的文明，古巴比倫文明和古埃及文明的文物精品，在博物館島上均能看到。二戰(zhàn)期間，據(jù)說島上70%的建筑被毀，很多文物流散各地。后來，文物陸續(xù)回流，博物館得以重建。現(xiàn)在很多建筑的廊柱、墻壁上，依然可以看到二戰(zhàn)時期留下的彈孔。1999年，博物館島入選聯(lián)合國教科文組織“世界文化遺產(chǎn)名錄”，據(jù)說2027年將完成全部整修工程。

雖然博物館島遠不及盧浮宮有名，但博物館組團帶來的震撼依然難于言表，總的感覺是體量巨大，有種凝重崇高之美。另外，對于喜歡建筑的朋友，島上五座建于不同時期的博物館，風(fēng)格各異，再加上緊鄰的柏林大教堂，以及幾步之遙正在施工復(fù)建的柏林王宮，一起構(gòu)成了一座建筑與文化的奇觀。

On the last evening of my trip in Europe, I was watching a performance in Berlin. nd next to me sat a senioraged German senior citizen whose thick white moustache lined straight along his upper lip. As a typical German,he was almost in his 70s. After his retirement, he started to learn mandarin and currently could communicate with me in a simple Chinese as well as utilize WeChat App on his mobile phone. In a genuine passion, he recommended a must-see in Berlin, but his limited Chinese and my poor English made his long explanation more confusing to me. Thanks to the versatile Internet, he finally found a picture from the searching engine in his phone and showed it to me. Actually, it was Nefertiti, the Egyptian queen.

It was a quite unexpected fact that the bust of such a famous Egyptian queen as Nefertiti was available in Berlin. Throughout our three-days stay in Berlin, we were always one or two kilometers away from the museum of Nefertiti collection. It was quite a pity that we missed such a priceless opportunity to appreciate her beauty.

The venue of our event that we attended was close to Spree river, and standing on a bridge over the river,we could easily find a giant building in Baroque style as its lofty and round dome was quite outstanding.Taking a closer look, we could recognize it as the Bode Museum with major collections of sculptures and coins of religious themes. Such a museum was already an acme building in our mind,but just behind it there stood another four larger museums, all of which constituted a magnificent complex of museums, i.e., the Museum Island.

Starting from the Bode Museum, the Spree river divides in two tributaries branches and in the middle stands the Museum Island.Before the mid-17thcentury, it had been a royal vegetable garden of the Kingdom of Prussia. Between 1825 and 1830, the Altes Museum (Old Museum) was designed and constructed, and then became the first museum on this island as well as one of the earliest independent museum in Germany. The front of the Altes Museum consists of magnificent colonnade of ancient Greek style in a magnificent manner, facing the old royal palace in Berlin in the past. Sculptures, ancient Greek pottery and mosaics are quite typical here.

柏林老博物館正門入口處的雕塑Sculpture at the entrance of the Altes Museum gate

Correspondingly, there exists the Neues Museum (New Museum)on the same island. Though it is called “New”, its collection involves the most ancient artworks in human civilization. As the second eldest museum on the island, the bust of Egyptian queen Nefertiti was kept in a separate exhibition hall as the most notable exhibit. In this museum, pictures can be taken with other exhibits except Nefertiti.

The youngest building on this island is Pergamon Museum that was constructed from 1909 till 1930, and it was the only one named after its exhibit. The Pergamon Altar used to be one of the key sacrifice venue in Pergamon, an ancient Greek colonized city-state. The frieze in high relief decorated on the base is an example of sculpture arts in Ancient Greece. Besides, Ishtar Gate,the eighth gate to the inner city of Babylon in the 6thcentury B.C., was within its collection. The ruins of the Ishtar Gate were discovered in an archaeological survey by German experts in Mesopotamia at the beginning of the 20thcentury A.D. After that,hundreds of thousands of broken pieces of colored glaze were transported to Berlin, and after being desalted and consolidated,they were pieced together to restore the mysterious charm of

that Oriental civilization.Both Pergamon Altar and Ishtar Gate have brought over a million visitors annually to the Pergamon Museum.

The cream of relics in ancient Babylon civilization and ancient Egypt civilization, the most time-honored civilizations in the world,are still available on the Museum Island. It is said that during the Second World War, 70 percent of the buildings on this island were destroyed and many relics were spread all over Germany. Later on, those relics luckily returned home and those museums were consecutively reconstructed. On many pillars and walls of those museums, some bullet holes are still visible. In 1999, the Museum Island was listed into World Cultural Heritage by UNESCO and reportedly the entire renovation will be completed by 2027.

Though Museum Island is not as well-known as the Louvre, the visual shock by this giant complex is far from verbal description.In a word, this gigantic complex of museums portrays a beauty of noble dignity. Furthermore, in the eyes of architectural fans,those five museums of different styles in varied times, along with the next-door Berlin Dome and the Berlin Palace under renovation, have constituted a miracle of architecture and culture.

柏林新博物館外的柱廊，上面依然有戰(zhàn)爭留下的彈孔Shot Marks in the Second World War are still Visible in the External Colonnade of the Neues Museum in Berlin

由北京畫院主辦的“光影巋然——沙飛的藝術(shù)·理念·行動”展于8月18日至9月26日在北京畫院美術(shù)館展出。圖為著名攝影家沙飛拍攝的《人力車夫》Sponsored by Beijing Fine Art Academy, “Steadfast Light and Shadow—Photographer SHA Fei’s Art · Concept · Action” Exhibition was Held in the Art Museum of Beijing Fine Art Academy from August 18 till September 26. The Above Photo is Rickshaw Puller Taken by the Well-known Photographer SHA Fei