Built between 1825 and 1830 by order of King Frederick William III of Prussia according to plans by Karl Friedrich Schinkel, it is considered a major work of German Neoclassical architecture.

[citation needed] Schinkel's plans incorporated the Königliches Museum into an ensemble of buildings, which surround the Berliner Lustgarten (pleasure garden).

The Stadtschloss in the south was a symbol of worldly power, the Zeughaus in the west represented military might, and the Berliner Dom in the east was the embodiment of divine authority.

For the front facing the Lustgarten, a simple columned hall in grand style and proportionate to the importance of the location would most certainly give the building character.

This precluded the incorporation of ethnography, prehistory and the excavated treasures of the ancient Near East from Assyria, Persia, and elsewhere); instead, these artifacts were primarily housed in Schloss Monbijou.

Close to the end of Second World War, the building was badly damaged when a tank truck exploded in front of it, and the frescoes designed by Schinkel and Peter Cornelius, which adorned the vestibule and the back wall of the portico, were largely lost.

[5] The Altes Museum was originally constructed to house all of the city's collections of fine arts, including Old Master paintings, and prints and drawings.