The Bode Museum is one of a cluster of museums on Berlin's beautiful Museum Island. The museum is best known for its quite comprehensive collection of European sculpture but it also contains a collection of Byzantine art and a large numismatic collection.The museum stands like a beacon in the Spree, and its curved shape follows the contour of the island's western tip. The domed building was erected between 1897 and 1904 to a neo-Baroque design by Ernst von Ihne, the court architect of Emperor Frederick III.
The museum was at first known as the Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum (Emperor Frederick Museum). Originally conceived as a museum dedicated to Renaissance art, it soon housed a wide-ranging collection of European art. In 1956 the museum was renamed after its first director, Wilhelm von Bode, who was responsible for significantly expanding the museum's collections.