15 Best Museums in Berlin

With five fantastic museums located on Berlin’s Museum Island alone, it’s fair to say that this amazing capital has a wealth of interesting, interactive and educational museums for you to check out. Covering a broad range of subjects, you can be gazing upon ancient Egyptian art one minute and exploring two thousand years of German history the next.

With some poignant museums and moving exhibitions on the horrors that went on during the Second World War, visitors will be fascinated and shocked by the exhibitions at the Stasi Museum, the DDR Museum and the Topography of Terror.

Now an open, tolerant and welcoming place, Berlin is great to visit; its museums, amazing art collections, and fascinating Middle Eastern artifacts will leave you hungry for more.

15. Bode Museum

The beautifully designed Bode Museum is located on Museum Island and looks out imperiously over the Spree River. Home to a lovely collection of sculptures that include masterpieces by Donatello, Canova, and Tacca, the museum is marvelous to visit and has lots of fantastic pieces that visitors will adore.

With a number of galleries dedicated to Byzantine art, you will also see lots of interesting and beautiful pieces dating from the 3rd to 15th Centuries.

14. Game Science Center

Offering a fascinating glimpse into the future, the interactive installations and games in the Game Science Center will astound and awe anyone interested in what the next generation of games might look like. Looking at how art, play, and technology can be combined, the center is a fun and entertaining place to visit.

The virtual and augmented reality games that you can try will certainly leave you eagerly anticipating what the future will bring.

13. Alte Nationalgalerie

Set in a temple-like structure, the Alte Nationalgalerie is a lovely museum with a fantastic art collection and as is well worth stopping by when you’re in Berlin. With some stunning masterpieces on display, you’ll see paintings by Monet, Schinkel and Adolph Menzel, amongst others.

Wandering around the galleries is absolutely delightful, as so many beautiful pieces pop out at you.

12. Classic Remise Berlin

Set in an old tram depot that dates back to 1899, the industrial setting is now home to everything there is to do with vintage cars. Opened in 2003, there is an extensive range of classic cars on show that will delight car lovers. Classic Remise Berlin also has garages, dealers and shops, where car owners can buy accessories and spare parts.

A living, breathing institution, the venue also hosts some brilliant events throughout the year, so keep your eyes peeled for any that interest you if cars aren’t your thing!

11. Stasi Museum

Set in the old Stasi headquarters, this museum offers a fascinating insight into life in East Berlin and the role the secret police played in monitoring and controlling the population.

While traipsing around the bland boardrooms isn’t that entertaining, the guided tours really do breathe life into the horrific events that took place here and are definitely to be recommended. An eerie place to visit, the Stasi Museum is also where the fantastic film ‘The Lives of Others’ – which won an Oscar – was shot.

10. Museum fur Naturkunde

Containing over thirty million items, the Museum fur Naturkunde is constantly expanding its collection as its research facility makes new discoveries and pushes the boundaries of scientific knowledge. Focusing on planet Earth, you’ll find anything from animal species and minerals to dinosaurs and meteorites on display, while lots of interesting display panels will enlighten you about paleontology and geology, for instance.

Set in a beautiful building on Museum Island, the stunning collection is well set out and lots of fun to explore, with frogs, fish, fossils and more all looking out at you as you wander from exhibit to exhibit.

9. Deutsches Technikmuseum Berlin

With a huge catalog of trains, cars, and planes for visitors to wander around, the nearly endless collection warrants days if not weeks of exploration. The German Museum of Technology Berlin looks at the world-renowned German engineering.

Visitors can have a go at messing around with the interactive exhibits and learn how everything works in practice. With some interesting displays on what the world of tomorrow may look like, technology lovers will adore all that the museum has to offer.

8. Palace of Tears

From 1962 to 1989, Berlin was divided in two by the wall that cut across it, separating East from West, friends from families, and seeing entire neighborhoods cut in half. The Palace of Tears looks at what life in Germany was like during the Cold War, with its permanent exhibitions being particularly moving.

Now set on the spot where the Friedrichstrasse Station border crossing used to be, it is here that East Germans had to tearfully bid farewell to friends and family who were visiting. Appropriately named, the museum is a heart wrenching and emotional look at what happens when a country is torn in two.

7. German Historical Museum

Located in the center of the city in Mitte, the German Historical Museum is the place to go if you want to learn anything and everything about Germany. With over two thousand years of history on show and seven thousand objects permanently exhibited, the museum takes you on a marvelous ride through the ages.

The museum looks at the history, politics, and culture of Germany on the way. Set in a beautiful baroque building and its wonderfully modern counterpart, the German Historical Museum’s paintings, photos, statues, flags and texts all make for an interesting visit.

6. Gemaldegalerie

With over seventy main galleries to explore and countless small rooms and alcoves to delve into, the Gemaldegalerie’s world-class reputation is fully deserved and it is a delight to wander around. Looking at European art from the 13th to 18th Centuries, this impressive museum is one of the best places in the world to see many of the great masterpieces in one place.

Whether it is the spectacular art of Raphael and Titian that you are interested in or the breathtaking works of Bruegel and Konrad Witz, the Gemaldegalerie’s almost endless collection makes for fascinating viewing as well as a great day out in Berlin.

5. Jewish Museum Berlin

A very popular museum amongst locals and tourists alike, the Jewish Museum Berlin looks at Jewish life in the country throughout the ages. From art and important texts to exhibitions and photo galleries, the museum remarkably covers over two thousand years of German Jewish history.

The tragic history of Berlin’s Jewish population during World War Two is also explored; it is heartbreaking to think that this city was once home to the largest Jewish community in the world. Now, the interactive installations, guided tours and temporary exhibitions on contemporary Jewish art, history, and identity mean that there is something for everyone to appreciate.

4. DDR Museum

A very interesting museum to visit, the DDR offers a fascinating look at life in East Berlin behind the iron curtain. Very interactive in nature, you can wander around an old reconstructed apartment, experience the feeling of being in an interrogation room, watch old TV shows and explore other exhibits about life under Communist rule.

Full of life, it’s a fun place to visit and is conveniently located just in front of the Berlin Cathedral.

3. Neues Museum

Focusing on Ancient Egypt, the Neues Museum is jam-packed with amazing artifacts, delightful artworks, and large sarcophaguses – this is what makes it so interesting and entertaining to walk around.

With some stunning hieroglyphics on display as well as some epic tomb walls, it is a great museum to visit and well worth stopping by. Almost completely destroyed in the Second World War, it was rebuilt and reopened in 1999; its most famous attraction is the gorgeous bust of Nefertiti which dates all the way back to 1300BC!

2. Topography of Terror

Documenting the horrendous atrocities perpetrated by the Nazis, the Topography of Terror museum is an important yet chilling place to visit. It was actually built on the site where the SS and Gestapo used to have their headquarters.

Unsettling and at times deeply disturbing, the exhibitions, audios and short film clips bring the crimes of Hitler’s SS into the light, and the sobering look at this horrific part of history really makes you reflect. Free for all, the museum is just one example of how Germany has faced its past and taken responsibility for its actions; this has helped create the open, tolerant country that we know today.

1. Pergamon Museum

Fascinating to wander around, the Pergamon’s stunning collection of works almost defies belief such is the size and beauty of some of the pieces on display. For example, the Miletus Market Gate which dates to the 2nd Century AD is absolutely huge, as is the Gate of Ishtar; it is scarcely believable that they both fit into the museum.

Home to some lovely Greek, Roman, Babylonian and Persian art collections, the Pergamon Museum is a must-see for people interested in the ancient world and is one of the most popular museums in the country.