New museums in Berlin

Berlin's historic centre is ultra-modern! Around the Museum Island and the Humboldt Forum, experience spaces are being created for first-class art exhibitions, for culture and science, for lingering in between. New excavations are revealing exciting aspects of the city's development.

Berlin's international appeal: The museums and memorials in the cultural centre

The children's museum ANOHA, the children's world of the Jewish Museum Berlin, has been delighting not only young guests but also every architecture lover for three years:in: The centrepiece is a giant wooden Noah's Ark with 150 animal sculptures, which can be "played on" and climbed on as desired.

The ensemble of Berlin memorials and memorial sites has also been enriched in a special way: In the heart of the capital at Anhalter Bahnhof, the Documentation Centre Flight, Expulsion, Reconciliation with library and site archive - a unique place where the problems of expulsion, flight and forced migration can be experienced - a challenging current topic today as it was then.

A world-famous museum has been open to the public again for a few years now following a thorough renovation: The Neue Nationalgalerie Berlin at the Kulturforum, an architectural icon designed by the famous architect Mies van der Rohe in 1968. What makes it so special: The careful restoration followed the principle of "as much Mies van der Rohe as possible" and has hardly changed the extraordinary spatial effect.

The berlin modern, a new museum at the Kulturforum, is under construction in the immediate neighbourhood.From 2027, it will present first-class art from the 20th century on around 9,000 square metres.

In 2022, the new cultural centre celebrated a top-class museum opening on the boulevard Unter den Linden: The new Stabi Kulturwerk presents unique exhibits of book art in permanent and temporary exhibitions.

For all Japan fans: In Auguststraße, the new Samurai Museum Berlin has been inviting visitors to see the masterfully forged armour, swords and masks of Japanese samurai warriors for two years. It is the largest collection of original exhibits outside of Japan.

The centrepiece: The Humboldt Forum

The large Humboldt Forum is actually representative of the dynamic development of the entire historical centre of Berlin: it is ultra-modern! Hidden behind its baroque palace façades are highly functional exhibition and event halls, art collections and ideas workshops.

The spacious interior of the new forum presents various exhibitions on the history of the city and exciting topics relating to art, society and research. In addition, the famous Ethnological Collections and the Museum of Asian Art on the upper floors.

Wide seating steps by the water

In front of the Humboldt Forum, a Freitreppe, a wide seating step system on the Spree Canal, is currently being built on the Schlossfreiheit.

Around Museum Island and Humboldt Forum

In front of Museum Island and Humboldt Forum, a special one opened in 2021, underground station covered with an artistic starry sky: The station Museum Island of the U-Bahn line 5. This now connects important cultural highlights in Berlin.

The Pergamon Hall of the Pergamon Museum with the world-famous altar. Unfortunately, the Pergamon Museum has been closed since October 2023 due to renovation work, but the Pergamon Altar is expected to be on display again in 2027. The historic armoury of the Deutsches Historisches Museum opposite Unter den Linden is also currently undergoing major refurbishment and will present a new permanent exhibition in future.

Exciting: The Hohenzollern crypt of the Berlin Cathedral, one of the most important dynastic burial grounds in Europe, which houses 90 unique coffins and magnificent sarcophagi, will be accessible again in autumn 2025: expanded and with a new digital concept.

In November 2024 there will be a grand reopening on Bebelplatz: The Sankt Hedwigs-Kathedrale, a favourite destination for many Berlin visitors, has been renovated and refurbished in recent years and shines in new splendour - rebuilt for the future and designed for everyone.

For those wondering why the famous Gendarmenmarkt in Mitte still looks like a building site: It is currently being renovated and made fit for the future. An underground network of pipes, barrier-free historic paving and a sustainable new rainwater drainage system will ensure that a visit to one of Berlin's most beautiful squares will once again be a pleasure for everyone. The work should be completed in a few months.

Exciting insights into the early urban development of Berlin

A little further on is Petriplatz - one of the oldest squares in Berlin. The House of One, a unique piece of sacred architecture, is planned here: Three churches are to be united under one roof, a mosque, a synagogue and a Christian church - a global symbol from the heart of Berlin for interreligious exchange and tolerance.
Right next door, the PETRI Berlin. Discover Archaeology, the city's new multi-storey archaeological visitor centre, will open in 2025. It is not only an exhibition venue, but also an authentic workplace for Berlin archaeologists.
Under the PETRI, archaeological windows will be visible, offering an insight into the early history of the city.
The excavations at Molkenmarkt also offer exciting perspectives on early urban development in Berlin: the nearby Molkenmarkt has been a consistently important centre of Berlin since the city was founded in the Middle Ages, today overlaid by wide traffic arteries and squares. Before its future redevelopment, archaeological traces of 800 years of urban development have been unearthed in recent years and made visible to interested parties in guided tours on site.

Art on the go

In the cultural centre of Berlin, distances are short. Turn your walk into an experience by paying attention to the historical and modern sculptures and monuments along the way. Take a look at our new compilation Berlin, capital of sculptures!

A current overview of the cultural highlights in Berlin 2024 can be found on our website. 

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