Museums in Berlin

Hi

I am travelling to Berlin for a business trip in a few weeks time. I will have 2 free days and would like to visit a couple of museums - natural history/science/war. Can someone suggest which ones to visit please?

Also, are there any national art galleries?

Thanks

|||

German History

DHM (German Historical Museum)

http://www.dhm.de

others: DDR Museum, Jewish Museum Berlin

Natural History

Naturkundemuseum Berlin

http://www.naturkundemuseum-berlin.de/

(has e.g. the largest dinosaur skeleton on display)

Science

Deutschens Technikmuseum Berlin

http://www.sdtb.de/Home.623.0.html

(has e.g. the first computer, Zuse%26#39;s Z1, on display)

War

There is no museum like e.g. the Imperial War Museum in London. The below two are also in the outskirts of Berlin.

German-Russian Museum in Berlin-Karlshorst

www.museum-karlshorst.de/html/museum/museum/

Allied Museum in Berlin-Zehlendorf

http://www.alliiertenmuseum.de/

%26gt; Also, are there any national art galleries?

There is an old national gallery and a new national gallery.

http://www.alte-nationalgalerie.de/

http://www.neue-nationalgalerie.de/

Other important art museums

http://www.alte-nationalgalerie.de/

- Pergamon Museum (Museum of the Ancient Near East)

- Altes Museum (Classical Antiquities,Egyptian Museum)

- Gemäldegalerie (European art (paintings) from the 13th to 18th century)

- Hamburger Bahnhof - Museum of contemporary art

Pergamon Museum, Altes Museum, Old National Gallery are part of the Museum Island, a UNESCO world heritage.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum_Island

Altes Museum (Old Museum) was the first museum building explicitly built as a museum.

|||

The Luftwaffe museum has a very large collection of aircraft. It is just inside zone B and can be reached by bus from Spandau. If you are interested in that museum, let me know and I can try and find the exact details on how to get there.

|||

Just to add, to extend your sightseeing time beyond usual museum-closing at 6pm: the DDR-Museum is open daily till 8pm and till 10pm on Saturdays; Jewish Museum (whole history of Jews in Germany not just the 20th century) also till 8pm daily and Mondays till 10pm.

The Deutsches Historisches Museum is very large so you%26#39;re better to choose a period you are interested in rather than thinking of seeing it all; main explanatory panels are translated into English but not all the detailed captions; also interesting special exhibitions.

The museums on Museum Island and at Kulturforum (near Potsdamer Platz) are all open till 10pm on Thursdays and most have free entry from 6pm. The Pergamon does not have free entry then if there is a special exhibition running.

The Gemäldegalerie (%26quot;paintings gallery%26quot; of European art is HUGE. We%26#39;ve never managed to see it all in one visit). Alte Natonalgalerie (on Museum Island) covers German art and French Impressionists (rough description!). The Bodemuseum, next to Pergamon, is a museum dedicated to sculpture. Not something that particularly grabs me normally (I prefer paintings) but the collection here, esp. on the ground floor, is stunning, and beautifully displayed. There%26#39;s a cafe upstairs so you can get refreshments during your time on Museum Island too.

Neue Nationalgaleries, at Kulturforum near Gemäldegalerie) has only special exhibitions so depends on your interest in that specific artist/movement.

|||

Because the DHM (German History Museum) is, as has been mentioned, really large, I might suggest you concentrate on the 20th century exhibits, which could still take you a coupe hours easily. There are plenty of exhibits focusing on Germany%26#39;s military history in that century. This might serve your purposes nicely.

|||

Many thanks to all for your advice, I did spend a few hours at the DHM and was very impressed with the 20thC exhibitions.

Pete