Berlin is home to more than 170 museums and galleries and many of them contain some of the most important art collections known to the world. The ensemble on the Museum Island is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is situated in the northern part of the Spree Island between the Spree and the Kupfergraben. As early as 1841 it was designated a "district dedicated to art and antiquities" by a royal decree.
Subsequently, the Altes Museum (Old Museum) was built in the Lustgarten. The Neues Museum (New Museum), which displays the bust of Queen Nefertiti, Alte Nationalgalerie (Old National Gallery) and Pergamon Museum were built there. While these buildings once housed distinct collections, the names of the buildings no longer necessarily correspond to the names of their collections. Here are 7 museums that should be on your list when looking to spend a few cultural days in the German capital.
1.Altes Museum – Old Museum
Berlin’s oldest museum built in 1830 by Prussia’s greatest architect, Friedrich Schinkel, the Altes Museum, is one of the most important examples of neoclassicism in architecture in Europe. As part of the UNESCO-listed Museum Island it is best known for its Greek and Roman Antiquities collection.
2.Topography of Terror (Topographie Des Terrors)
Topography of Terror is an outdoor museum located on the site where once stood buildings in which during the Nazi regime from 1933 to 1945 were the headquarters of the Gestapo and the SS, the principal instruments of repression during the Nazi era. With honesty, this museum is not for the faint of heart, but it’s one of the few places in Berlin where you get the crude appreciation of Berlin’s history during WWII.
3.Berlin Wall Documentation Center (Gedenkstätte Berliner Mauer)
The Berlin Wall Memorial is the central memorial site of German division, located in the middle of the capital. The memorial contains the last piece of Berlin Wall with the preserved grounds behind it and is thus able to convey an impression of how the border fortifications developed until the end of the 1980s.
4.Jewish Museum Berlin (Jüdisches Museum Berlin)
This museum chronicles the Jewish history and culture in Germany from the Middle Ages to present-day. While the extensive exhibition is great, the greatest impression and strongest poetic message is delivered through it’s building – designed by Daniel Libeskind. It leaves a lasting impression on its visitors, making them feel completely disoriented, an expression of what Jewish people experienced throughout history and the war.
5.The Berlin Wall Memorial
Bernauer Strasse witnessed some of the most tragic scenes when the city was divided in 1961: East Berliners jumped from apartment windows, vaulted over barbed wire, tunnelled beneath the streets in an attempt to reach freedom. The Berlin Wall Memorial – which includes the city's only unadorned stretch of border fortifications and a superb museum – marks the iniquity, compliance and heroism of East and West Berliners during those tragic years. A must.
6.Pergamon Museum
With 850,000 visitors a year, the Pergamon is one of the most popular attractions in Berlin. Three museums in one, or three collections under one roof, its awe-inspiring monuments include the Pergamon Altar, the Market Gate of Miletus and the Ishtar Gate.
7.Deutsches Historisches Museum – German Historical Museum Berlin
Berlin’s Geman Historical Museum newly inaugurated in 2006 is a stunning chronicle of 2,000 years of German history. The permanent exhibition’s presentation of the past is arranged by epoch and contains over 8,000 exhibits.
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