10 Museums in Mitte (Borough) That You Shouldn't Miss

Home to three famous museums - the Pergamon, the Altes and the Bode.

The Pergamonmuseum is a three-wing complex. The museum houses three of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin’s collections: the Antikensammlung, Vorderasiatisches Museum, and the Museum für Islamische Kunst. The impressive reconstructions of massive archaeological structures – the Pergamon Altar, Market Gate of Miletus, the Ishtar Gate and Processional Way from Babylon, and the Mshatta Facade – have made the Pergamonmuseum famous throughout the world, with the result that it is the most visited museum at the Staatliche Museen and in Germany as a whole.

We are more than happy that starting from 12th of May 2020 we can reopen several of the museums belonging to the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin – among them the Gemäldegalerie! Please note that during your visit you have to follow some special hygiene and safety measures. All important information about visiting the museum can be found on our website. // The Gemäldegalerie boasts one of the world’s most important collections of European painting ranging from the 13th to 18th century. Masterpieces from all epochs in the history of art are on permanent display here, including paintings by Jan van Eyck, Pieter Bruegel, Albrecht Durer, Raphael, Titian, Caravaggio, Peter Paul Rubens, Rembrandt, and Jan Vermeer van Delft. The gallery is especially proud of its strong collection of German and Italian painting from the 13th to 16th century and painting from the Low Countries dating from the 15th to 17th century.

This guardhouse, built in Neoclassical style, was a center for East German soldiers during the Cold War and now serves as a memorial for war victims.

This East Berlin gallery of art and other odds and ends could use some refurbishing.

We are more than happy that starting from 12th of May 2020 we can reopen several of the museums belonging to the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin – among them the Alte Nationalgalerie! Please note that during your visit you have to follow some special hygiene and safety measures. All important information about visiting the museum can be found on our website. // The collection of the Alte Nationalgalerie is one of the largest collection of art between the French Revolution and the First World War, between Classicism and secession. Unique is the harmony between the collection and the style of the building.

Our exhibition “Site of German Division” at this historical site shows how the division of Germany and the construction of the Berlin Wall came about. It also explains how the customs and passport checkpoint functioned at the Tränenpalast and outlines the surveillance system in place at the Friedrichstrasse border crossing. In the Tränenpalast itself, visitors can experience the checkpoint procedures and actually walk through the original passport control booth. The exhibition focusses on the personal stories of various individuals who lived through the ordeals of divided Germany. Contemporary witnesses describe in interviews how they escaped from Communist East Germany and how they kept in contact with their families on the other side by sending letters or parcels. They also narrate how they smuggled documents and secret photographs across the border or protested against the travel ban in Communist East Germany.

The German Historical Museum presents itself in two buildings: In the unique Baroque Zeughaus and the neighbouring modern exhibition hall designed by the Chinese-American architect Ioeh Minh Pei. The 300-year old Zeughaus is one of the most important buildings of the Baroque period in Berlin and the oldest buildings at the boulevard Unter den Linden. In 2006 the Permanent Exhibition “German History in Images and Artefacts” was inaugurated here; it showcases 2000 years of eventful and enthralling German history as seen within its European context. 8000 selected objects from the extensive collections of the German Historical Museum furnish valuable evidence of history and reveal, on a surface area of 8000 square meters, a fascinating and vivid picture of the past. Supplementing the Permanent Exhibition are specialized temporary exhibitions displayed in the fascinating exhibition building designed by I.M. Pei. The spacious new structure with its glass and steel entrance lobby and distinctive winding staircase was opened in 2003. Definitive events and facets of German history are presented in a variety of special exhibitions on the four floors of the new building.

Welcome to Museum für Naturkunde Berlin (Natural History Museum Berlin). Comprising over 30 million collection items, an exhibition area of over 7,000 square metres and a Research Department, the Museum für Naturkunde is the largest German natural history museum. On a global scale, it is among the top five natural history museums. It was founded in 1810. Some of the exhibition highlights include the "Fossil Mona Lisa" one of the only 11 finds of the primeval bid Archaeopteryx, the 13,27-metre tall skeleton of Brachiosaurus which is the tallest mounted dinosaur skeleton worldwide, our Biodiversity wall and many more storytelling objects like original items collected by Alexander von or a piece of pitchblende in which the element uranium was discovered.