Staatliche Antikensammlungen

About this place

On the south side of Koenigsplatz stands a Corinthian-columned building put up by Georg Friedrich Ziebland between 1838 and 1848, which was not originally an antiquities museum at all but a hall for exhibitions of art and industry. Since 1967 it has held the state collections of classical antiquities: Greek, Roman and Etruscan art on the smaller scale, as a counterpart to the Glyptothek across the square, which keeps the large sculpture. The real strength here is painted Greek pottery. The collection ranks among the best in the world for it: cups, jars and amphorae in the black-figure and red-figure styles, carrying scenes of myth, drinking parties and athletic contests, some by painters whose names survive on their signatures. Add to that finely worked Etruscan gold jewellery, small bronze and terracotta figures, and Roman glass — material spanning from the third millennium before Christ to the fifth century after. The visit is quiet and fairly short: the galleries occupy the basement and ground floor, an hour to ninety minutes is enough, and the museum is rarely crowded even in summer. The building is old and not adapted for limited mobility, and the cafe is closed. Entry is six euros, one euro on Sundays, and a combined ticket with the Glyptothek opposite makes seeing both in a day cheaper.