Deutsches Historiches Museum, Museum

Deutsches Historisches Museum

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If you’re wondering what the Germans have been up to for the past 1500 years, take a spin around the baroque Zeughaus, formerly the Prussian arsenal and now home of the German Historical Museum. Upstairs, displays concentrate on the period from the 6th century AD to the end of WWI in 1918, while the ground floor tracks the 20th century all the way through to the early years after German reunification.

The adjacent modern annexe, designed by Chinese-American architect IM Pei, presents high-calibre changing exhibitions.

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Nearby attractions

1. Kronprinzenpalais

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Now occasionally used as an event space and for special exhibits, this froufrou baroque palace was blueprinted by Johann Arnold Nering as the residence of…

2. Neue Wache

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This temple-like neoclassical structure (1818) was Karl Friedrich Schinkel’s first important Berlin commission. Originally a royal guardhouse and a…

3. Schlossbrücke

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Marking the transition from Unter den Linden to Museum Island, the Palace Bridge is considered among Berlin’s prettiest. Designed by Karl Friedrich…

4. IM Pei Bau

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High-calibre temporary exhibits, curated by the Deutsches Historisches Museum, occupy this spectacular contemporary annexe designed by Chinese-American…

5. Palais Populaire

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Contemporary art, culture and sports activities are the focus of this gallery sponsored by Deutsche Bank and set within the updated rooms of a rococo…

6. Staatsoper Unter den Linden

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Berlin’s opulent state opera was commissioned as the royal opera house by Frederick the Great and designed by his friend and master architect Georg…

7. Altes Museum

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A curtain of fluted columns gives way to the Pantheon-inspired rotunda of the grand neoclassical Old Museum, which harbours a prized antiquities…

8. Humboldt Universität zu Berlin

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Marx and Engels studied here, and the Brothers Grimm and Albert Einstein taught here: Humboldt is Berlin’s oldest university, founded in 1810 in a palace…