The Pergamon Museum was built between 1910 and 1930 under the supervision of Ludwig Hoffmann, working from designs by Alfred Messel. A smaller building had previously stood on the site, from 1901 to 1909. This building originally accommodated the important excavation finds of the Berlin Museums, such as the frieze of the Pergamon Altar which was recovered between 1878 and 1886. However, insufficient foundations soon led to damages in the building structure and the building had to be demolished even before the outbreak of the First World War.

The new, larger Pergamon Museum was conceived as a three-winged complex. Today, it accommodates three separate museums: the Collection of Classical Antiquities, the Museum of the Ancient Near East and the Museum of Islamic Art. The monumental reconstructions of archaeological building ensembles - such as the Pergamon Altar, the Market Gate of Miletus and the Ishtar Gate including the Processional Way of Babylon and the Mshatta Façade - made the Pergamonmuseum world-famous.

Staggered renovation work, begun in 2008, is currently under way as part of the Museum Island Master Plan, fulfilling plans devised by the architectural offices of Oswald Mathias Ungers. A total closure of the building will be avoided.