Museum Island Germany

Its artefacts, originating largely from the private collections of the Prussian royal family, have been administered since 1918 by the Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz (Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation). The first museum, the Altes Museum (1830) considered to be Karl Friedrich Schinkel's neoclassical masterpiece is Germany's oldest museum. The development of the area as a museum complex and the construction of the other four museums stemmed from King Friedrich Wilhelm's (1840-1861) romantic vision of a refuge of the arts and sciences similar to the Forum of ancient Rome. UNESCO defined it 'an outstanding example of the Enlightenment vision of making art publicly accessible, given material form in a central urban setting".