Museum Island

Museum Island is a museum complex on the northern part of Spree Island in central Berlin, featuring five major museums built between 1830 and 1930. It was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999 for its architectural and cultural significance. The site also includes the Berlin Cathedral and the Lustgarten park.

Don't miss

• The Pergamon Museum contains the reconstructed Pergamon Altar and the Ishtar Gate of Babylon.
• The Neues Museum displays the renowned bust of Queen Nefertiti and reopened in 2009 after a reconstruction by David Chipperfield.
• The Altes Museum, completed in 1830, was designed by Karl Friedrich Schinkel and originally called the Königliches Museum.
• The Bode Museum, opened in 1904, exhibits sculpture collections and late Antique and Byzantine art.
• The Alte Nationalgalerie, completed in 1876, hosts a collection of 19th-century art donated by banker Joachim H. W. Wagener.
• The James Simon Gallery, a visitor center opened in 2019, is linked to four museums by an underground passageway decorated with archaeological objects.

Tickets & tours

Ways to visit Museum Island

Cheapest way inExpress Tour Government District plus Visit Reichstag with Dome4.8★ · 96 travelers~3 hoursFree cancellationFrom$19 per personSee dates →Most bookedDiscover Berlin Half-Day Walking Tour4.9★ · 10,055 travelers~4 hoursFree cancellationFrom$21 per personSee dates →Private & flexiblePrivate Walking Tour: World War 2 and Cold War Sites in Berlin5★ · 244 travelers3-4 hoursFree cancellationFrom$191 per personSee dates →

Getting there

Know before you go

• The Museum Island includes all of Spree Island north of Karl Liebknecht Boulevard.
• Between the Bode and Pergamon Museums, the site is crossed by the Stadtbahn railway viaduct.
• The Berlin Cathedral, located on the island, contains the dynastic crypt of the House of Hohenzollern.

A bit of history

The first exhibition hall was proposed in 1797 by archaeologist Aloys Hirt. King Frederick William IV of Prussia dedicated the island to 'art and science' in 1841. The collections were turned into a public foundation after 1918 and are now maintained by the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation. During the Cold War, the Prussian collections were separated but reunited after German reunification.