German Historical Museum

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Renovation Notice

Renovation work on the Zeughaus, home to the German Historical Museum, is expected to last until the end of 2025 and the survey exhibition on German history will be redesigned by then. The Zeughaus café will also close at the end of October and the Zeughaus cinema will move just north to the Pei-Bau at the turn of the year.

All temporary exhibitions will also be on display there: From 9 December, the multi-year exhibition Roads not Taken. Oder: Es hätte auch anders kommen können“ which uses 14 turning points in German history in the 19th and 20th centuries to show that there were often alternatives to historical events.

Housed in the Baroque Zeughaus on Unter den Linden, the Deutsches Historisches Museum (German historical museum) should not be missed. The museum reveals two centuries of German history.

With about 8,000 square meters and 7,000 exhibits you will want to allow plenty of time for your visit. Four hours is not an unreasonable amount of time to spend here and you could easily spend an entire day.

A tour of the Middle Ages to the Current Day

The chronological layout will lead you from the early Middle Ages to the current day.

Follow the conquests of Charlemagne, discover Luther's Theses, study the elements leading to World War II and learn about German reunification.

The items on display cover a broad range from art and everyday items, paintings of historical scenes, armour, a vacuum cleaner to GDR sheet music.

History

In 1987, Chancellor Helmut Kohl signed the founding document for the Museum on the 750th anniversary of the city. A historic moment changed everything. When the Berlin Wall fell, the still youthful Deutsches Historisches Museum Foundation received all pertinent collections and moved to the Zeughaus. The large permanent exhibition you see today opened in 2006.

Exhibits

"German history in images and artifacts" incorporates nine eras over two floors, filled with art and history. Walk chronologically through the upper floor starting with the Middle Ages. Here you will observe a collection of armour. You'll see filigree embroidered tunics that belonged to princes and knights from approx. 1750. From imperial times you can see two-wheeled penny farthing bikes and the first automobiles.

Descending to the first floor, you will discover photographs and old election signs from the Weimar Republic. The exhibits about in the years following World War II deal with the troublesome period of reparation. Here you will see actual CARE packages sent from the United States and maps of German occupied territories.

The tour then leads you to an actual fragment of the Berlin wall,continuing cronologially toward the nineties. All exhibitions in the museum look at historical developments, revolutionary events, and the people behind them. The exhibits offers insight into the great stories and the people behind them, but also, into the lives of ordinary people.

The museum also contains a 165 seat movie theatre where historical and thematic films are shown

Special Exhibitions

After visiting the permanent exhibition, be sure to check-out the special exhibitions housed in the modern Pei building. The Pei building, which opened in 2003, features a helical staircase and a steel and glass foyer.

Highlights

The 3.5 meter high Cape cross weapon column, made of stone (1486) painting by Martin Luther by Lucas Cranach the Elder (1529) 22 masks reliefs for dying giants, under the glass roof of the courtyard (Andreas Schlüter, circa 1690) relic from the battle of Waterloo: Napoleon's stitch hat (1815) Personal computer "PC 1715" of the GDR (1989)

Visiting the Deutsches Historisches Museum

Audio tours are available and recommended for the best experience.

See the complete line of Berlin Experiences on Viator

Facts For Your Visit

Fee: Yes

German Historical Museum Hours:
Opening hours may differ on holidays

Monday: 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM
Tuesday: 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM
Wednesday: 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM
Thursday: 10:00 AM – 8:00 PM
Friday: 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM
Saturday: 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM
Sunday: 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM

Address: Unter den Linden 2, 10117 Berlin, Germany

Phone: 030 203040

Official Website: German Historical Museum

German Historical Museum Reviews

Rated 4.5 out of 5 Star Rating

4 Star Rating Beautiful retelling of the German history, with interesting details, provided you have enough time. Entry is free for the underaged and the different exhibitions vary over time. Only issue I had was that you seemingly can't visit the permanent exhibition during holidays, which only left two smaller ones for me.
Marvin Ernst - in the last week

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5 Star Rating Beautiful museum to visit. And wonderful Architecture. 7 to 10 Euro tickets and you need to leave your jackets and bags. Cloakroom is free of charge and on lower ground floor. Toilet facilities on same level. It worth spending time. You can book tickets online so you don't need to wait on queue to purchase one?
Stylianos Prodromou - 11 months ago

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4 Star Rating The museum is currently renovating, and the ordinary exhibition is closed. Currently they have 2 mini exhibitions, which is about German History from 1848 - 1991 and integration between Germany, Poland and France. It’s a bit disappointing as the mini exhibition is really small, and you can generally finish it within 1 - 1.5 hrs. However, there are still numerous of interesting items worth to take a look. Look forward the renovation work finish and revisit in the future.
Martin C - a year ago

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5 Star Rating Very interesting and creative exhibition about the « Fall of Berlin wall » It’s very interesting to understand German History from 1912 to 1989. I really enjoyed it!!
sarra arfaoui - 2 months ago

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5 Star Rating I went on free museum Sunday, an awesome opportunity! I went to two exhibits, one that gave a really comprehensive timeline of Germany. I was a little confused on how to walk through the exhibit but it was still really interesting. Even though there were a lot of people it was designed so that it was easy to read the information and see the whole exhibit. The other exhibit was about a German poet and songwriter. Also really interesting, with a lot of details about the events and lots of neat things to look at and listen to. One of the best things about this museum was the effort to make it more accessible. There were some booths with raised areas so you could feel artwork, and a lot of the exhibit could be read or listened to, and I believe much of it was available in Braille as well.
Cai Jo - 2 months ago

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Directions

How to get to German Historical Museum by U-Bahn, S-Bahn

Nearest U-Bahn, S-Bahn Line(s): U6, S3, S5, S7, S9
Nearest U-Bahn, S-Bahn Station(s): U Friedrichstraße, S Hackescher Markt

The Deutsches Historisches Museum is best accessed by public transportation. Hackescher Markt and The Friedrichstraße S-Bahn stops are within a 10-minute walk.

From Hackescher Markt on the S-Bahn, follow the neue promonade west to Burgstraße, bear left (south), cross the bridge to Museum Island and continue right across the island and the next bridge to the museum entrance.

From Friedrichstraße on the U-Bahn, walk south on Friedrichstraße, go left on Dorotheenstraße to the river, go right to the bridge, go right again on Bodestraße (at the bridge) to the museum entrance.

Buses 100, 245, 300 State Opera or Lustgarten stop almost right in front of the entrance.