Continuation: The museums in Berlin

The “Stadtmuseum Berlin” foundation, which was founded in 1995 as the federal state museum for the culture and history of Berlin, consists of collections on history, literature, theatre and art and has exhibits from all periods. The Jewish Museum of Berlin designed by Daniel Libeskind, an architectural highlight of the southern Friedrichstadt, will present and explain the two thousand year history of the Jews in Germany.

Berlin also has other extensive collections with a wider significance. The Bauhaus-Archiv documents the works of this trendsetting school of design. The Brücke-Museum has one of the major collections on German Expressionism. The Museum of Contemporary Art in Hamburger Bahnhof, which is sponsored by the “Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbesitz” (Prussian Cultural Foundation) combines the contemporary art exhibits of the National Gallery and the exhibits of the private art collector Erich Marx. The German Museum of Technology Berlin, with its extension which is soon to be completed, not only has originals and faithful replicas of historical transport vehicles – it also contains the world’s first computer. After extensive renovation work, the Martin Gropius building opened again with the exhibition on the fifty-year history of the Federal Republic of Germany. The German History Museum in the baroque Zeughaus (Armoury) on Unter den Linden aims to give a comprehensive overview of German history from its beginnings to the present day in a European context. The new permanent exhibition is scheduled to be open from 2001 after extensive renovations to the building, which will also have an extension based on a design by the American architect Ieoh Ming Pei.