The museum was built between 1910 and 1930 by Ludwig Hoffmann according to the designs of Alfred Messel. Previously, from 1901 to 1909, a smaller building stood on the same site. It initially housed the important excavation finds of the Berlin museums, such as the frieze slabs of the Pergamon Altar recovered between 1878 and 1886.

Insufficient foundations, however, caused damage to the building, so that it had to be demolished before the First World War. The new, larger Pergamonmuseum was designed as a three-wing complex.

Today it houses three museums: the Antikensammlung with its testimonies of Hellenistic and Roman architecture, the Vorderasiatisches Museum and the Museum für Islamische Kunst. The museum is known worldwide for its impressive reconstructions of archaeological building ensembles - the Pergamon Altar, the Market Gate of Miletus and the Ishtar Gate with the Processional Way of Babylon and the Mshatta Façade.

In the course of the renovation, the hall with the Pergamon Altar will remain closed until probably 2023. The north wing and the Hellenistic Hall are affected by the closure. The south wing of the Pergamonmuseum with the Ishtar Gate, the Processional Way and the Market Gate of Miletus as well as the Museum für Islamische Kunst will remain open.