Susan C.
Yelp
4.5 the Alte Nationalgalerie is a key museum in Berlin art exhibition landscape, focusing on 18-19th century European painting and sculpture, and based on the crowds on the day I was there, is very popular with visitors.
With conceptualization beginning in the 1830-40s, the basis of the collection began with a bequeathment of 262 works from banker Joachim Heinrich William Wagener upon his passing in 1862. The building was completed in 1876 at the direction of King Frederick William IV of Prussia based on original designs in a Neoclassical style by Friedrich August Stüler, which after his death were completed by Johann Heinrich Strack.
During WWII, much of Museumsinsel was damaged by bombing, with holdings displaced between East and West Germany, and the museum's collections only reunited after the 1990 fall of the Berlin Wall. Restorations began then and continued thru the 90s, reopening in 2001 to the public.
Their permanent collections include Friedrich, Cézanne, Renoir, Manet, Monet, von Menzel, Liebermann, etc. You could quickly walk thru the entire 2.5 floors in about 45 minutes though if you want to listen to more of the descriptions and background for some pieces via the free audio guide provided you could easily spend 2.5 hours here. I do wish for the pieces without audio guide that there was more info provided outside the name of the work, artist, year of completion, and method of acquisition.
Tickets are €12 regular adult, €6 discounted for student/seniors/patrons with disabilities, either online in advance or in person. Also available is a single museum island day pass (24 hours) for €24, a Berlin Museum Pass for €32 exists which allows admission over 3 days to 30 museums around Berlin, or different options of the Berlin Welcome card (varied prices). Separately, admission is free the first Sunday of each month, though be forewarned the lines are long. I waited over an hour to enter here in October, though the wait was only 10-15 minutes at other museums. Tickets are distributed on site only for free Sundays. Normal hours are Tue - Sun: 10:00 am to 6:00 pm, closed Mondays.
Note: The museum building has elevators though is not entirely mobility-handicap accessible due to the split-level construction of part of the galleries.