The Museumsinsel (Museum Island) right at Hackescher Markt in Berlin Mitte is the perfect place for all museum enthusiasts visiting Berlin (or for those who simply want to cram as many museums into one day as possible, whatever floats your boat). The first addition to the island was the Altes Museum in 1830. Soon thereafter more and more museums were added to the island. Today, it encompasses six buildings (Altes Museum (Old Museum), Neues Museum (New Museum), Alte Nationalgalerie (Old National Gallery), Bode Museum, Pergamonmuseum, and the James-Simon-Galerie), with art that displays six thousand years of history, ranging from the Ancient Egyptians to European art of the 19th century. Due to its incredible number of famous collections, as well as its unique architecture, the Museumsinsel was added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites in 1999. Partially because of this, combined with the need for restoration of the museum buildings after the Second World War, the island has been in the process of being reconstructed since the turn of the century. While the Alte Nationalgalerie, the Bode Museum, and the Neues Museum have already been through the process, the Pergamonmuseum is currently being renovated, though visitors can still access parts of the museum in the meantime.
If you’re really into museums, and your legs don’t hurt yet after hours of exploring and admiring everything the island has to offer, you can find many more museums close to it such as the Deutsches Historisches Museum (German historical museum), the Designpanoptikum (small, unique museum for industrial objects), or the Hanfmuseum (Hemp museum).
Additionally, next to hosting museums, this little island and its surrounding area are a popular meeting place for people when the weather is nice . So after a long, fun, art-filled day, you can walk across the bridge leading from the island and sit in Monbijoupark right by the Spree, listen to the street musicians that frequent this popular spot, or go to one of the several bars along the river to have a drink (or just buy a Späti beer) and people-watch.
Where? Bodestr. 3, 10178 Berlin (S Hackescher Markt, U Klosterstraße) Opening Hours: Monday: closed Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday: 10AM – 6PM Thursday: 10AM – 8PM Admission: free with your Museum Pass!