Museums in Berlin

The Alte Nationalgalerie (“Old National Gallery”) is part of the impressive Museum Island complex. The antiquated temple building dates back to Friedrich Wilhelm IV. It is the parent house of an art collection that is now distributed among several museums, such as the Neue Nationalgalerie, the Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwart – Berlin, the Friedrichswerdersche Kirche, the Museum Berggruen and the Sammlung Scharf-Gerstenberg. On display in the Alte Nationalgalerie are mainly paintings from earlier epochs. Famous works of art that you can view in the Alte Nationalgalerie are by Paul Cézanne, Edouard Manet, Carl Spitzweg, Arnold Böcklin, Max Liebermann, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Eduard Gaertner, Adolph Menzel, Wilhelm Leibl, Carl Blechen, Anselm Feuerbach, Hans von Marées, Carl Schuch, Carl Gustav Carus, Edouard Manet and many other masters. © ART at Berlin: Museums in in Berlin: Alte Nationalgalerie

The Bauhaus Archiv e.V. – Museum für Gestaltung offers comprehensive insight into the formative style of the Bauhaus with all genres in which it is represented. It is an equally fruitful place for scholars and interested art lovers alike. On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Bauhaus in 2019, the Bauhaus Archive / Museum für Gestaltung, Berlin will be renovated in accordance with the regulations for listed buildings and extended by a new building. In the meantime, the museum is located at Knesebeckstraße 1-2 in Charlottenburg. The actual location, which is currently under construction, is in Klingelhöferstraße in Berlin-Tiergarten (see photo). © ART@Berlin: Kunst in Berlin Bauhaus Archiv e.V. – Museum für Gestaltung

The Bode Museum primarily houses the sculpture collection and the Museum of Byzantine Art. About one hundred and fifty works from the collection of the Gemäldegalerie enrich the presentation of the sculptures. The Coin Cabinet shows its metal chronicle of human history.   Photo: Bode-Museum, Am Kupfergraben, Museumsinsel Berlin, Berlin-Mitte © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin / David von Becker ART at Berlin: Museum in Berlin Bode-Museum, Museumsinsel

The Buchstabenmuseum takes on a preserving task for “built letters”. Built letters are disappearing from the cityscape. Globalisation and standardisation are displacing regional, traditional businesses, retail shops and handcrafted lettering. Individually and high-quality designed shop lettering is disappearing from our view and our consciousness – if we do not preserve it. The basis for the huge collection of the Buchstabenmuseum was the private collection of Barbara Dechant, a designer from Vienna. She and her like-minded colleagues have already been able to save hundreds of letters from being scrapped, from disappearing, from being used as decorative objects, salvage them in the Buchstabenmuseum and make them accessible to the public. Image caption: Buchstabenmuseum, Foto: vanishingberlin   © ART at Berlin: Museums in in Berlin: Buchstabenmuseum

Reopened after renovation work from 16 September 2022. The Ephraim Palais features a wide range of exhibitions on Berlin’s history and culture. In events, workshops or hands-on activities in the Ephraim Salon or the museum laboratory, young and old can experience the fascination of the various arts in an interactive way. The architecture of the building, which was literally in motion (it was dismantled in 1935 and reconstructed a few metres away in a new location for the city’s 750th anniversary celebrations), originates from the Rococo period. Because of its special façade shape, it was called the most beautiful corner of Berlin. The museum is located in Poststraße in Berlin-Mitte. Photo: Museum Ephraim-Palais © Stadtmuseum Berlin, Photo Oliver Ziebe   © ART@Berlin: Museums in Berlin Ephraim Palais

The renovation of the Friedrichswerder Church is complete. Since 27 October 2020, the National Museums in Berlin have once again been using the church building as an exhibition space for the Alte Nationalgalerie. Until the end of 2012, the Friedrichswerder Church housed a selection of sculptures from the first half of the 19th century as a branch of the Old National Gallery. The institution of the Nationalgalerie also includes the Neue Nationalgalerie, the Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwart Berlin, the Museum Berggruen and the Scharf-Gerstenberg Collection. {Play}   Image caption: Friedrichswerdersche Kirche, Ostseite. Berlin-Mitte, Werdescher Markt. © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin / Maximilian Meisse © ART at Berlin: Kunst in Berlin: Friedrichwerdersche Kirche

The Gipsformerei (Plaster Moulding Shop) of the National Museums in Berlin is the largest institution of its kind in the world. For 200 years, high-quality art replicas from mainly Berlin museums, but also from European museums, have been produced here. As an art manufactory, the Gipsformerei sees its task as treating tradition with respect and creating unique works of art according to traditional production methods, with the most careful handiwork and a wealth of specialist knowledge. Almost 7,000 casts of original works of art from all epochs and world cultures are part of the inventory of this traditional house. In addition to casts of works from the European and Egyptian art epochs, the range also includes objects from Central and South America, Asia and Africa. The oldest piece is the original 25,000-year-old Venus of Willendorf, the largest cast is the 42-metre-high Marcus Aurelius Column from Rome. A unique feature is that the entire mould stock is open to interested buyers to make an art replica. Caption: Gipsformerei, Berlin-Charlottenburg, Sophie-Charlotten-Straße 17/18. © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin / Maximilian Meisse   ART at Berlin: Museum in Berlin Gipsformerei

The Käthe Kollwitz Museum exhibits a collection of works by the artist Käthe Kollwitz. It was located in Fasanenstraße from 1986 until early summer 2022. The museum is currently closed. From autumn 2022, the museum will once again welcome visitors in its new premises in the theatre building of Charlottenburg Palace. The Käthe Kollwitz Museum was founded in 1986 at Fasanenstraße 24 and is dedicated to the life’s work of one of Germany’s most important artists. Kollwitz achieved worldwide fame and created unique works of art against war and social injustice throughout her life. After 36 years, the museum is now saying goodbye to Fasanenstraße and moving to the prestigious theatre building at Charlottenburg Palace. The three-storey early classicist building was built according to the plans of Carl Gotthard Langhans (1732-1808), the architect of the Brandenburg Gate. In her future place of work, too, the museum’s primary tasks will be to cultivate Käthe Kollwitz’s artistic oeuvre and to convey its significance for the present. From October 2022, the Berlin Kollwitz Collection will initially be presented at Spandauer Damm with a newly designed permanent exhibition on the ground floor of the building. It is expected that special exhibitions will also be […]

The Kunstgewerbemuseum Schloss Köpenick is located in the baroque Köpenick Palace, in a charming setting on the banks of the river Dahme, and houses the treasures of the Museum of Decorative Arts. Schloss Köpenick has been used by the Museum of Decorative Arts since 1963. During the German division, the holdings located in the eastern part of Berlin were exhibited here. After extensive renovation of all the buildings on the castle island, the Museum of Decorative Arts has been showing a permanent exhibition of works of “Renaissance, Baroque and Rococo spatial art” since 2004. Unique masterpieces of interior design from the 16th to the 18th century are presented on three floors. You can also marvel at the baroque stucco decorations preserved in almost all rooms of the palace. In the basement, archaeological excavation finds document the building and settlement history of Köpenick Castle Island. Caption: Köpenick Palace, entrance. Berlin-Köpenick, Schlossinsel 1 © National Museums in Berlin / Maximilian Meisse   © ART at Berlin: Museums in Berlin: Kunstgewerbemuseum Schloss Köpenick

The Liebermann Villa at Wannsee was the summer home of the artist Max Liebermann and his family. It is known not only for its art exhibition with works by Max Liebermann as well as a media exhibition, where you can even listen to the personal stories from the artist’s childhood, but also for the wonderful utility and strolling garden with Wannsee shore. The villa is located in Colomierstraße in Berlin-Wannsee. Photo: View from the garden to the flower terrace of the Liebermann Villa, © Ta-Trung Berlin   © ART at Berlin: Museums in Berlin: Liebermann Villa am Wannsee

The Mies van der Rohe House, named after its architect, belonged to Karl Lemke, the owner of a graphic printing house and print shop in Berlin, and his wife Martha. It was built in 1932/33 and is architecturally classified as Classical Modernism. Incidentally, it was the last house Mies built before emigrating to America. Together with the garden, nature, the house forms a creative unity on an aesthetic-spiritual level. The house can be visited every day except Mondays, and there are usually so-called Sunday tours of the house, the garden and the exhibition on the first Sunday of each month. Mies van der Rohe Haus is located in Oberseestraße in Berlin-Weissensee. Photo: René Müller   © ART@Berlin: Kommunale Galerie in Berlin Mies van der Rohe Haus

The Museum der Unerhörten Dinge (Museum of Unheard-of Things) is a “Literary Cabinet of Curiosities” curated by Roland Albrecht and is located between house numbers 5 and 6 on Crellestraße in Schöneberg, Berlin. The museum displays unique objects and their outrageous (stories), all categorised by weight.   © ART@Berlin: Museums in Berlin Museum of Unheard-of Things

The Museum für Islamische Kunst (Museum of Islamic Art) is the reference museum in the German-speaking world for the artistic and archaeological heritage of Islamic regions. Founded in 1904, it belongs to the National Museums in Berlin – Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation. As a result, it is part of a collection that spans various world regions and temporal epochs. Together with the Collection of Classical Antiquities and the Museum of the Ancient Near East, it is located in the Pergamon Museum on Berlin’s Museum Island, thus creating a panorama of a coherent Middle Eastern cultural history. It offers up to 1 million visitors a year space to explore different approaches to the art and cultural history of Islamic regions and to enjoy outstanding art objects and architecture. The museum houses around 100,000 historical objects from the Mediterranean region (Southern Europe, North Africa, West Asia) as well as Central and South Asia, and were created between the 7th and 19th centuries. Photo: Am Kupfergraben, Museum Island Berlin, Berlin-Mitte, © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin / Maximilian Meisse   ART@Berlin: Museum in Berlin Museum für Islamische Kunst

The display collection of the Musikinstrumenten-Museum is one of the most representative in Germany in terms of its diversity. A good 800 instruments from five centuries are on permanent display. In addition, the museum offers numerous events, from scientific symposia to concerts on historical instruments and workshops for schools and daycare groups to regular participation in the Long Night of Museums. Photo: Front of the house at the Long Night of Museums 2017, SIMPK / Christian Elsner   © ART@Berlin: Art in Berlin Musikinstrumenten-Museum

The Pergamonmuseum is part of the impressive museum island (Museumsinsel). It shows the Antikensammlung, the Vorderasiatische Museum and the Museum für Islamische Kunst. The Pergamon Museum houses the impressive Pergamon Altar and the Ishtar Gate, one of the city gates of Babylon, with the Processional Way of Babylon, the Mshatta Façade and the Market Gate of Miletus. As part of the Museum Island Master Plan, the museum has been renovated in sections since 2013 according to plans by the architectural firm O.M. Ungers. The project is being realised in two construction phases so that part of the museum can always remain open to visitors. In May 2019, the topping-out ceremony for the north wing and the middle wing of the basic renovation and addition to the Pergamon Museum was celebrated on Museum Island Berlin. In the course of the renovation, the hall with the Pergamon Altar will remain closed until at least 2025. The north wing and the Hellenistic Hall are also affected by the closure. The south wing of the Pergamon Museum with the Ishtar Gate, the Processional Way and the Museum of Islamic Art as well as the Hall with the Market Gate of Miletus will remain open. The […]

The Tchoban Foundation is dedicated to the theme of hand drawing in architecture and would like to recall this art. Because in our computer-dominated present this skill has faded into the background. On display are architectural drawings and visions from Tchoban’s own pen and works by leading international architects of the last and current century. The museum is located in Christinenstraße in Berlin-Mitte.   © ART@Berlin: Museum in Berlin Tchoban Foundation – Museum für Architekturzeichnung