Lange Nacht der Museen im Museum Nikolaikirche

Berlin's oldest surviving church building now houses a museum. The permanent exhibition conveys the architectural, church and music history of the building and the urban development of Berlin in the Middle Ages.

With the exhibition area "Understanding Architecture", it also opens up the history of the place and its surroundings to blind and visually impaired people.

The architecture and artistic furnishings of St. Nicholas' Church form the background for the eight themed stations of the permanent exhibition. Two 3D models provide a deeper understanding of the construction, the external appearance and the interior of the building. This reveals how aesthetics and functionality are combined in the individual architectural elements.

Audio texts provide historical backgrounds and explain the models. In this way, they guide the groping hands of blind people as well as the eyes of sighted people, which are sharpened by the explanations.

6 p.m. - 2 a.m. | Family & Children

Eight exciting puzzles invite young and old to explore the Nikolaikirche Museum together.

6 + 7 p.m. | Project presentation

Where do we come from? Where are we going? Students from a 9th grade class at the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Gymnasium have researched the origins of Berlin in today's Nikolaiviertel as junior curators. In their presentation, they use sound and image to show how they would enrich the Nikolaikirche with their visions. During the long night, they enter into a creative dialogue with you about shrines, treasures and wishes for the future.

Duration: approx. 30 minutes

6:30 p.m. + 9 + 11 p.m. | Short tour

The deceased were buried in Berlin's Nikolaikirche as early as the beginning of the 13th century. After the Reformation, it became one of the most important burial sites in Berlin for centuries by incorporating the side chapels. Artistic grave monuments still bear witness to this today. You will learn about this high form of Protestant burial culture using outstanding examples.

Duration: approx. 30 minutes.

With the art historian Claudia Wasow-Kania.

8 p.m. + 10 p.m. + midnight | Music

The intercultural concert performance combines various world religions with Gregorian chant, Sufi poetry in Arabic, Sema (dervish whirling dance) and sounds from the Buddhist and Hindu music tradition. The focus is particularly on historically significant women: the early Sufi mystic Rabi'a al-Adawiyya (9th century) and the Christian mystic and scholar Hildegard von Bingen (1098–1179).

Duration: approx. 40 minutes. With the vocal ensemble Vox Nostra (Winnie Brückner, soprano; Philipp Cieslewicz, alto; Werner Blau, bass; Burkard Wehner, tenor and musical director), Rasha Ragab-Shakuhachi (recitation and performance), Normisa Pereira da Silva (bass flute), Christoph Nicolaus (stone harp) and Claire Fontanille (Sema).