Museumsportal Berlin

On the last Saturday in January, more than 60 Berlin museums will be open all evening for the Long Night of the Museums. Everywhere visitors have a special programme to look forward to – with guided tours, music, readings, films, discussions and special offers giving entertaining information about the permanent collections and currently running special exhibitions. The Long Night ticket is valid for all participating museums, for public transport and for the bus shuttles that carry night owls from one museum to the next. The online ticket is obtainable here at the Museumsportal from mid-December.
Long Night of the Museums 2012: Saturday, 28 January.

At Easter many museums offer a special programme – ranging from guided tours and concerts to Easter walks and activities for children and families. The Düppel museum village celebrates the start of the season at Easter. Berlin museum events occurring around Easter 2012 (8/9 April) will be listed here on the Museumsportal from mid-March.

Every two years the Berlin Biennial for Contemporary Art popularises new artistic developments and introduces interesting artists from all over the world. The changing curators give the festival a specific profile on each occasion. The venues vary as well – only the Kunst-Werke, located at Auguststrasse, as organiser of the festival, is a constant.
Curator of the 7th Berlin Biennial is the polish artist Artur Żmijewski.
7th Berlin Biennial 2012: 27 April to 1 July.

In mid-May, International Museum Day will be celebrated throughout Germany. Many Berlin museums will take part in this by offering free admission, special guided tours and other events.
35th International Museum Day 2012: Sunday, 20 May.

On Whit Monday, the Deutscher Mühlentag (German Mill Day) will be taking place. In Berlin and Potsdam this is an opportunity to visit the post mills in Berlin-Marzahn and Gatow and at the Kreuzberg Technology Museum, as well as the Dutch windmills in the Sanssouci Park, in Britz and again at the Technology Museum. If there is enough wind, the mills will actually be operating. At the German Historical Museum, children and adults can find out all they want to know about the miller’s trade.
German Mill Day 2012: Whit Monday, 28 May.

At the beginning of June the International Design Festival Berlin gives an opportunity for designers and design colleges from all over the world to present their most recent creations. Berlin’s design institutions, galleries and museums will be showing parallel exhibitions on the same theme. The works of the winners of the DMY Award and the Jury Selection will be shown in the Bauhaus Archive/ Museum of Design.
DMY International Design Festival 2012: 6 to 10 June.

In summer many museums offer events in the open air. In mid-June Berlin’s Jewish Museum opens the Cultural Summer in its garden, with concerts, Sunday matinees and the Summer Festival as a climax. Festivals in the open air are also being celebrated by the Georg Kolbe Museum, the Stadtmuseum (in the courtyard of the Märkisches Museum) and the Botanical Gardens – the latter also offering summer concerts from mid-June onwards. The Water Music Festival offers a range of concerts and films from different continents on the roof terrace of the House of World Cultures.
Reclining chairs for the open-air cinema will be set up from mid-July in front of the Kulturforum, in the garden of the Dahlem Museums and at the front of the Charlottenburg Palace.

During the month of fasting, Ramadan, Nights of Ramadan invite you to encounter the culture of Msulims throughout the world. Tours, workshops and concerts in the Museum of Islamic Art and around Museum Island provide an insight into the traditions of countries such as Morocco and Turkey, Syria and China.

During the Jewish Culture Days, some of the Berlin Museums are taking part with exhibitions and events. Concerts, literature and talks, the street market Shuk Ha' Carmel and the Long Night of the Synagogues give an insight into Jewish culture and Jewish life in Germany today.
Jewish Culture Days in Berlin 2012:16 to 26 August.

At the end of August, the Potsdamer Schlössernacht (Potsdam's Palaces by Night) takes place in Sanssouci Park. The Concert of the Eve, with the park lit up by night and a firework display to finish, is popular as well.
Potsdam's Palaces by Night 2012: 18 August.

On the second Sunday in September, the Tag des Offenen Denkmals (Open Monument Day) takes place throughout Germany. In Berlin this is being extended to cover the entire weekend. Heritage specialists, archaeologists and restoration experts will be conducting guided tours of churches, graveyards, parks, manor houses, settlements, former industrial sites, schools and municipal baths that are of historic or architectural interest. Numerous museums, palaces and memorial sites – which of course are frequently to be found in listed buildings – will also be offering guided tours.
Open Monument Days in Berlin 2012: 8 and 9 September.

The European Month of Photography is held every two years. Seven cities have come to be involved in this event – Berlin, Bratislava, Luxembourg, Moscow, Paris, Rome and Vienna. In Berlin more than a hundred museums, galleries, cultural institutes and other institutions take part in this photographic festival. Ranging from pictures taken in the early days of the medium to contemporary works, from documentary photographs to urban, travel and portrait photography, from experimental photography to photographic journalism, an enormous variety of genres and approaches is represented. The joint exhibition of all partner cities will be shown at the Berlinische Galerie. A catalogue, a website and a programme brochure are available, giving information about all exhibitions, together with the accompanying panel discussions and lectures.
5th European Month of Photography Berlin: 19 October to 25 November 2012.