On the northern tip of Museumsinsel, this palatial edifice houses a comprehensive collection of European sculpture from the early Middle Ages to the 18th century, including priceless masterpieces by Tilman Riemenschneider, Donatello and Giovanni Pisano. Other rooms harbour a precious coin collection and a smattering of Byzantine art, including sarcophagi and ivory carvings.

Until the opening of the Humboldt Forum on nearby Schlossplatz, choice African art works from the Museum of Ethnology will be displayed throughout the Bode's galleries.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby attractions

1. Pergamonmuseum

0.09 MILES

The Pergamonmuseum is one of Berlin’s most visited historical gems and perhaps also its most controversial. This museum offers an archaeological time-warp…

2. Museumsinsel

0.13 MILES

Walk through ancient Babylon, meet an Egyptian queen, clamber up a Greek altar or be mesmerized by Monet's ethereal landscapes. Welcome to Museumsinsel …

3. Alte Nationalgalerie

0.15 MILES

The Greek temple–style Old National Gallery is a three-storey showcase of 19th-century European art. To get a sense of the period's virtuosity, pay…

4. Neues Museum

0.18 MILES

For over 60 years, not a soul was able to visit Berlin’s Neues Museum – in fact, it sat in ruins. But today it’s one of the city’s most celebrated…

5. IM Pei Bau

0.22 MILES

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

6. Neue Synagoge

0.22 MILES

The gleaming gold dome of the Neue Synagoge is the most visible symbol of Berlin’s revitalised Jewish community. The 1866 original was Germany's largest…

7. Altes Museum

0.23 MILES

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

0.25 MILES

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…