Do you know how many museums there are in the German capital? More than 200. Of all the possible themes. There are exhibition spaces, both public and private, dedicated to science, literature, German history, technology… as well as the most classic and well-known archaeological or artistic themes. Today I’m going to tell you about the 5 museums in Berlin that you can’t miss. Yes. Pergamo’s is not going to be absent from this list I propose you.
These five museums in Berlin that I’m going to tell you about are the ones that make up what is known as the Museum Island of Berlin. In a few meters is located one of the most important museum complexes in the world. It is located in the heart of the city on the river Spree. This area is one of the essential that you have to see in Berlin along with the Berlin Wall or climb the TV Tower, the tallest building in the city.
Berlin’s Museum Island
It is made up of: the Pergamon Museum, the Old Museum, the New Museum, the Old National Gallery and the Bode Museum. This complex has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site and as in practically the entire city, you can see the terrible damage Berlin suffered during the Second World War. The city was practically razed to the ground and is still being built today. I told you about it in this post of curiosities from Berlin. At the end of the article I will also make you a very special recommendation that is “off-road”.
Getting to this area is very simple. It is one of the neuralgic points of the city. Its access by public transport is unbeatable. Near here you have the Hackescher Markt train station, a square of the Mitte where on Saturdays a popular market is held. From there you only have to walk a few minutes to reach the island of museums. I had to pay attention to the signs because the entrances to the buildings had changed.
On the museum island you can enjoy the bust of Nefertiti, the Pergamon Altar or the imposing Ishtar Gate. Three real wonders, but not the only ones. This place is a reference point for Egyptian and classical art.
As a tip, I recommend that you buy your ticket in advance to avoid long queues. The museum island of Berlin is one of the most visited places in the city. Forget about the selfie stick and tripod and don’t carry a bulky backpack. You will have to leave everything in the wardrobes of the different museums before entering.
Egyptian Art in Berlin’s MuseumsHow and where to buy your tickets for Berlin’s Museums
Before going into the matter and reviewing one by one these important Berlin museums, I’m going to explain the most important things: how to buy your tickets and which is the cheapest formula.
There are several options. I’ll tell you about them and I’ll also tell you about the one I used.
With the Welcome Card Berlin
I will start by telling you that if you are going to visit this German city, the Welcome Card Berlin is essential for me. There are several modalities depending on the days you choose – 48h, 72h, 4, 5 or 6 days – and the zones, the most complete covers you the two airports and Potsdam. There is a Welcome Card Berlin that gives you access to the island’s museums and provides you with transport for 72 hours.
What is included in the Welcome Card:
Free 72-hour access to the city’s public transport
Free admission to all museums on the Berlin Museum Island: Pergamo, Bode, the Altes Museum, the former national gallery and the Neues Museum.
Discounts on 200 tourist attractions and city events
Duration: you can enter all the museums once a day and you have 72 hours of public transport.
Where to exchange it: at either of the two airports.
Prices: 45 €.
Museum Pass Berlin
This card is basic if your trip to the capital of Germany is aimed at its museums. You have more than 30 and you include the mentioned island museums for three days.
Duration: three days.
Where to exchange it: at either of the two airports.
Prices: 29 €. You can buy it here.
Tour of the Pergamon and New Museums with an expert guide
With this tour you have an expert guide who will explain all the ins and outs of both museums. You also have a VIP pass without queues to access them. The visit lasts three hours and with the pass you can then visit the rest of the museums on the island.
Prices: 59 €. Buy here your ticket for the Pergamon Museum and New Museum.
With this tour you have an expert guide who will explain all the ins and outs of both museums. You also have a VIP pass without queues to access them. Something very interesting because the queues are usually many meters…
The visit lasts three hours and with the pass you can then visit the rest of the island’s museums.
Prices: 59 €.
You can buy your ticket for this tour by clicking on this link.
5 Berlin museums you have to visit
1. Pergamon Museum, the most visited
The Pergamon Museum is the most important and the one with the most visitors in the whole city. It was inaugurated in 1930 and exhibits one of the best collections of oriental and Islamic art. This museum houses one of the most spectacular pieces of ancient art that we can contemplate today, the Pergamon Altar. The remains of this altar built more than 2000 years ago, found in the acropolis of the Greek city, rest in this Berlin museum that I could not see on my visit …
WARNING: due to renovation work, the north wing where the Pergamon altar is located will remain closed until 2023. Until its reopening, the multimedia exhibition “Museo Pérgamo: El Panorama” replaces it.
But don’t worry, this museum is full of wonders. Like the gateway to the Miletus market. An immense 17 metre high door that, despite being destroyed for almost its entire history, is still standing thanks to numerous restorations. And, of course, my favourite, the Ishtar Gate, one of the 8 walls of Babylon, through which the temple of Marduk was accessed. It is the first thing you see when you enter the museum and it leaves you in a vegetative state because of its dazzling beauty.
You can’t miss the Mushatta Façade and my greatest discovery, Aleppo’s room. In the war-torn Syrian city, works of art of extraordinary beauty were built, many of them disappeared forever.
The art of Mesopotamia, Syria and Anatolia is well represented in a collection of more than 270,000 pieces. The museum is completed with works of ancient Islamic Art ranging from the eighth to the nineteenth century.
Address: Bodestraße, 1-3 Berlin.
Directions: Metro: Friedrichstraße, line U6. Train: Friedrichstraße, lines S1, S2, S5, S7, S9, S25 and S75. Bus: Straatsoper, line TXL; Lustgarten, lines 100 and 200; Friedrichstrasse, line 147.
Prices: Adults: 12€. Students: 6€. Museum Island: €18 (students €9). Museumspass Berlin: free entrance.
2. Neues Museum, the New Museum of Berlin
The Neues Museum is undoubtedly the museum I liked the most about my visit. I thought that after the Pergamon nothing would surprise me, but its collection of Egyptian, prehistoric and protohistoric art is spectacular, with the bust of Nefertiti as the crown jewel. Just one small detail: the Egyptian queen cannot be photographed in the room in which she is exhibited. The vigilantes are very strict about the distance you can focus on her.
The building that currently houses the museum is already one of the attractions that has the visit of the museum, but like the rest of the city was destroyed by bombs. After being forced to close its doors after the Second World War, it was not until 2003 that it was decided to begin the restoration process.
The most important part of the museum is dedicated to Egypt. With a magnificent collection of papyri, mummies, and funerary figures this museum is key in the study of this civilization. As I have already told you, the collection is completed with a magnificent bust of Queen Nefertiti. Another of the masterpieces is the Green Head, which I could not see because it was ceded to the New York Met.
In the other large area of the museum dedicated to ancient history, two pieces stand out from the rest: a 3,000-year-old ceremonial gold hat capable of predicting lunar eclipses, and a huge statue of Helios, from the 2nd century.
Address: Genthiner Straße, 38.
Directions: Metro: Friedrichstraße, line U6. Train: Friedrichstraße, lines S1, S2, S5, S7, S9, S25 and S75. Bus: Straatsoper, line TXL; Lustgarten, lines 100 and 200; Friedrichstrasse, line 147.
Prices: Adults: 12€. Students: 6€. Museum Island: €18 (students €9). Museumspass Berlin: free entrance.
Timetables:Every day: from 10:00 to 18:00. (Thursday until 20:00).
3. Old National Gallery
The Old National Gallery of Berlin is located in a magnificent neoclassical building that was inaugurated in 1876. It basically houses 19th century pictorial and sculptural art. It contains the works of the well-known Berlin painter Adolph Menzel, in addition to others of different German painters of great level as Max Lieberman, Karl Friedrich Schinkel, Caspar David Friedrich and Carl Blechen. It often hosts interesting temporary exhibitions. I couldn’t get in because the queues were always huge and I was left with the desire to visit him.
Address: Bodestraße, 1-3.
Directions: Metro: Friedrichstraße, line U6. Train: Friedrichstraße, lines S1, S2, S5, S7, S9, S25 and S75. Bus: Straatsoper, line TXL; Lustgarten, lines 100 and 200; Friedrichstrasse, line 147.
Prices:Adults: 10€. Students 5€. Museum Island: €18 (students €9). Museumspass Berlin: free entrance.
Timetables:Every day: from 10:00 to 18:00. (Thursday until 20:00). Monday: closed.
Website: https://www.smb.museum/museen-und-einrichtungen/alte-nationalgalerie/home.html
4. Bode Museum
Here you can enjoy one of the largest collections of sculptures in the world. The Byzantine Art collection and the Numismatic Cabinet – more than 4000 coins and medals covering a historical period from the 6th century BC to the arrival of the euro – are very interesting. Previously the museum was called Kaiser Friedrich Museum and was also affected during World War II. After almost forty years of repairs the museum reopened with a name change in honor of its creator, Wilhelm von Bode.
Today its access is a bit confused by the large number of works around it. Trust better the physical panels than Google maps so as not to stop spinning as happened to me.
Address: Bodestraße, 1.
Directions: Metro: Friedrichstraße, line U6. Train: Friedrichstraße, lines S1, S2, S5, S7, S9, S25 and S75. Bus: Straatsoper, line TXL; Lustgarten, lines 100 and 200; Friedrichstrasse, line 147.
Prices:Adults: 12€. Students 6€. Museum Island: €18 (students €9). Museumspass Berlin: free entrance.
Timetables:Every day: from 10:00 to 18:00. (Thursday until 20:00).
5. Altes Old Museum
The Altes Museum is one of the most important works of classical Berlin architecture. The grand Greek-style building houses one of the world’s most important classical art collections, reopened in 1966. During the period of reconstruction of the New Museum, this building housed the collection of Egyptian art which allowed it to earn a reputation that has lost to some extent with the reopening of the Neues Museum. Nevertheless, its collection of ancient Greek art with stone sculptures, bronze and clay figures, vases or jewels of gold and silver; and Roman art also has its place in the museum, with portraits of Julius Caesar, tombs and paintings are worth a visit.
That morning I had already seen two other museums and I thought I wouldn’t be able to with a third one, but I got it and in what way. If you have to choose between several, don’t delete this one from your list, you’re sure to enjoy it.
Address: Bodestraße, 1-3.
Directions: Metro: Friedrichstraße, line U6. Train: Friedrichstraße, lines S1, S2, S5, S7, S9, S25 and S75. Bus: Straatsoper, line TXL; Lustgarten, lines 100 and 200; Friedrichstrasse, line 147.
Adult prices: 10€. Students: 5€. Museumspass Berlin: free entrance. Museum Island: €18 (students €9).
Timetables:Every day: from 10:00 to 18:00. (Thursdays until 20:00).
An off-road recommendation, the Kreutzberg Museum
The FHXB Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg Museum, which you will find in all the guides in Spanish with the name of museum of Kreutzberg is one of the most interesting surprises of my visit to the German capital. The five museums in Berlin that I told you about before have overwhelming collections, but precisely for that reason I needed a relief…
The Kreutzberg museum is dedicated to the history of this neighbourhood marked by the strong militancy of its neighbours, who have survived hard times of delinquency and degradation, but who have gone ahead with a marked sense of social and collective responsibility.
I recommend that you take a stroll through the streets of this neighbourhood. There are a lot of pimp graffiti, restaurants with a falafel to suck your fingers and alternative clothing stores.
Address: Adalbertstraße 95a, 10999 Berlin.
Hours: Closed on Mondays. Tuesday to Friday 12.00 to 18.00 and Saturday and Sunday 10.00 to 18.00.
Admission: free of charge.
What did you think of my tour of Berlin’s museums?
I hope you have used my advice to plan your visit and decide which ones you can’t miss. I also hope I helped you decide which ticket best suits your trip.
