Berlin Museums

Berlin is one of the world’s great museum cities, with collections of art and artifacts encompassing all subjects and eras. The Staatliche Museen zu Berlin ( Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz or SPK, or simply SMB ) runs over 20 museums in four major regions— Museumsinsel (an island of historic museums in the middle of the Spree), Kulturforum, Charlottenburg, and Dahlem —as well as elsewhere in Mitte and around the Tiergarten. Prices are generally standardized: €8, students €4 for Hamburger Bahnhof, Charlottenburg, the KulturForum, and Museumsinsel houses. Dahlem museums are €6, students 3. Tickets are valid for all SMB-PK museums in a given complex on the day of purchase. The Drei-Tage-Karte (€19, students €9.50) is valid for three consecutive days. Buy either card at any SMB-PK museum. Admission is free the first Sunday of every month. Non-SMB-PK-affiliated museums tend to be smaller and more specialized, dealing with everything from Käthe Kollwitz to the cultural history of marijuana. Berlin Programm (€1.75) lists museums and galleries. Most state museums close on Mondays and are free Thursday nights 6-10pm. Twice every year, all state museums stay open all night on the Long Night of the Museums. Check online for more information (www.smb.museum).

Galleries

Berlin has an extremely well-funded art scene, with many first-rate galleries. The work is as diverse as Berlin’s cultural landscape and includes everything from early Christian antiques in Charlottenburg ...more

Charlottenburg

Charlottenburg’s museums range from high culture to smut and house one of the strongest collections of Picasso outside of Barcelona. Museum Berggruen. This intimate three-floor museum ...more

Mitte

The Museumsinsel holds five separate museums on an area cordoned off from the rest of Mitte by two arms of the Spree. The museums were built in the 19th- and 20th centuries, suffered bombing during ...more

Kreuzberg

Museums in Kreuzberg are a grab-bag. This area has one must-see (the Jewish Museum). You can see the rest if it’s raining out or you’re feeling especially ambitious. Jüdisches ...more

Outer Districts

Museen Dahlem. The Museen Dahlem consists of three museums housed within Dahlem’s Freie Universität . The Ethnologisches Museum (Ethnology Museum) dominates the main building, a white Bauhaus ...more