Martin Gropius

Martin Gropius Bau

Last Thursday I went to Martin Gropius Bau to see an exhibition of Islamic Art from the Aga Khan collection. It closed yesterday and will move to a permanent site in Toronto in Canada. That's why I decided to move myself and see it here rather than fly to Canada!

Martin Gropius Bau is a big museum not far from Potsdamer Platz and opposite the Preusischer Landstag,  which is a building housing Berlin's parliament. This should not  be confused with the Rotes Rathaus in Alaxander Platz which houses Berlin's government. I hope you are all paying attention and this is clear :-)

When I got there I was surprised to see hundreds of people in a long queue. When I asked about this I discovered it was for the Frida Kahlo exhibition on the first floor. My exhibition was on the second floor and there was no queue.

It was very well presented and easy to follow the time line from the time of the prophet Mohammed but I wondered why it all stopped in 1858, when the British exiled the last Moghul Emperor to Burma. It was as if Islamic art suddenly stopped then. Of course it is an arbitrary cut-off point.

Well worth a visit the next time you go to Toronto!