Jewish Museum Berlin

Since opening its doors in 2001, the Jewish Museums Berlin has joined the ranks of Europe’s leading museums. Its exhibitions and permanent collection, educational activities, and diverse program of events make the museum a vibrant center of reflection onJewish history and culture as well as about migration and diversity in Germany. An architectural masterpiece, Daniel Libeskind’s spectacular structure has firmly established itself as one of Berlin’s most recognizable landmarks. The zinc-paneled building is innovative in the connection it creates between the museum’s topics and its architecture. Rich in symbolism, the museum’s architecture makes German-Jewish history palpable. The museum’s permanent historical exhibition extends over 3,000 m² and invites visitors to travel through two millennia of German-Jewish history. Its depictions of 14 historical periods from the Middle Ages to the present paint a vivid portrait of Jewish life in Germany. Artistic and everyday objects, photos and letters, interactive displays and media stations together convey the history of Jewish culture and show how tightly Jewish life and German history are interwoven. Temporary exhibitions on cultural history, contemporary art installations, and special displays – these are a few of the ways in which the museum’s special exhibitions draw on a broad range of themes to complement the permanent historical exhibition. The W. Michael Blumenthal Academy, built across the street from the museum, unites, with a total surface of 6.000 square meters, the archives, library and education department under one roof, as well as the newly founded Academy Programs. These programs broaden the museum’s spectrum to include the debate on new terms and concepts necessary for greater social participation of ethnic and religious minorities in German society today.