The Dahlem museums
Cultures and art from around the world
- Entrance to the Dahlem museums
- The South Sea section of the Ethnological Museum. Photo: Andreas Praefcke, source: Wikimedia Commons
The almost village-like Berlin district of Dahlem is home to a concentration of world-class collections of non-European art and artefacts. Built in 1970 by Fritz Bornemann and Wils Ebert, the building that houses the collections of the Ethnological Museum is generous and inviting. The collections include the Ancient American collection with stone sculptures and vessels from the Maya, Inca and Mexican cultures, the North American Indian exhibition and the South Sea section with an entire fleet of boats and a reconstructed meeting house from the Palau Islands that visitors can climb on. In the Art from Africa collection, masks and ceremonial figures are presented as works of art, with video films explaining their cultural and historical background. A new exhibition is ‘Muslims’ Worlds’, showing objects from the Islamic Orient collection again for the first time in decades. And in November, the Junior Museum opened an hands-on exhibition for younger children, revolving around rice in South-East Asia.
On the other side of the foyer is the Museum of Asian Art. The ground floor houses artefacts from four thousand years of Indo-Asian culture, especially stone and bronze Buddhist and Hindu religious images. There is also the world-famous Turfan Collection of murals and textile paintings and clay and wood sculptures from cave monasteries on the Northern Silk Road. Upstairs are the collections of art and arts and crafts objects from China, Japan, Korea and Vietnam, from Stone Age bronzes to Ming Dynasty porcelain and lacquer art to Chinese and Japanese paintings and prints. Because the scrolls, albums, fans and painted screens are light-sensitive, they are regularly changed. A separate room houses the collection presented as a gift by the Japan expert Klaus F. Naumann.
- Museum of European Cultures © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Photo: Sandra Steiß
The Museum of European Cultures, which has branched off from the former ’Museum für Volkskunde’ (Ethnological Museum), has moved into renovated premises in the old building at the rear of the complex in December, 2011. Its displays include collections of selected objects from everyday life and culture from the 18th Century to the present that show how regional customs and traditions have spread and integrated through Europe as a result of trade, travel, migration and war.
The Dahlem museums will soon have a new location in the rebuilt City Palace, and you can get a sneak preview of what that could look like by popping into the Humboldt Box in Schlossplatz in the city centre. But until at least 2014 you’ll still need to travel out to Dahlem. Is a half-hour trip on the underground a very high price to pay if at the end of it there’s a trip around the world and irresistible treasures from every continent on earth waiting for you?
Don’t miss: The royal throne from Cameroon and the Benin bronzes in the Africa exhibition, the relief steles from Guatemala in the Mesoamerica exhibition, the carved figures from New Ireland in the South Sea and Melanesia section, the house temple from western India, the cult cave from the Silk Road and the Chinese throne from a 17th Century Emperor’s palace in the Museum of Asian Art, and the Venetian gondola in the Museum of European Cultures.
How to get there: By U-Bahn (underground) No. 3 line to Dahlem-Dorf and then three minutes on foot.
Where to get a coffee: The restaurant in the lower floor of the Dahlem complex offers dishes from around the world. There are more cafés and restaurants, and lovely beer gardens for the summer, along Königin-Luise-Strasse.
To see everything: The ticket is valid for all the collections. You have to pay separately for big special exhibitions.
Events: The Dahlem museums are a regular attraction in the Long Night of Museums in summer that takes place on the last Saturday of August. At Easter, the Museum of European Cultures extends an invitation for the European Easter Market. In July and August, the gardens host a summer cinema. On the four weekends leading up to Christmas, the Market of the Continents offers arts and crafts, live music, guided tours and a programme for children.
There are special events for families all year round in the Dahlem museums. From time to time visitors have the opportunity to take part in a tea ceremony in the Museum of Asian Art.
