DAY 1 | Island Festival | Friday, May 30, 2025 | from 10:00 a.m

DAY 2 | Island Festival | Saturday, May 31, 2025 | from 10:00 a.m

DAY 3 | Island Festival | Sunday, June 1, 2025 | from 10:00 a.m

Museum Island Berlin is kicking off the 200th anniversary year of Museum Island with a kick-off weekend around UNESCO World Heritage Day. A varied program awaits you with free guided tours, workshops and surprise offers in the museums on the history, architecture and collections of Museum Island. On the three days of the Island Festival there will be a colorful stage program in the Kolonnadenhof.

10 a.m. - 6 p.m.
SEARCH GAME: THREADS OF LIFE
James-Simon-Galerie - Level 1
The colorful tapestries of the world-famous Wassef Art Center from Cairo show the rural life, flora and fauna of Egypt in all its facets and in impressive pictures. With the search game, which is available in German and English, you will learn more about the unique techniques of this weaving art and also discover many lovingly crafted detailed scenes. At the end, you will receive a small gift that you can creatively design yourself.

10 a.m. - 6 p.m.
COLLECTION AREAS: CHARACTER COPIES
Neues Museum - Foyer
The Egyptian Museum and Papyrus Collection Berlin is home to some of the most important masterpieces of ancient Egyptian art. In addition to famous personalities such as Nefertiti, Akhenaten and Hatshepsut, the exhibition also presents outstanding sculptures by private individuals. With the collection fan, you can explore the museum individually and get to know some of these "character heads" better.

11 am - 4 pm
ACHTET ALIS: MUSEUMSINSEL MAL ANDERS
Altes Museum - Vorhalle
Achtet Alis is the youth committee of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin - we bring the perspectives of young people into the museums. Together with curators and educators, we ask: What should museums be like today? What is missing? What is annoying? What is fun? We invite you to join us in the conversation: With an interactive quiz, open questions to the museum, small hands-on activities such as weaving frames and creative think pieces. Come along, pick up some stickers and tell us what your museum should look like!

12 noon - 4 p.m.
FREE CRAFT CREATURE FOR ALL
Colonnade walk
Get creative! Design strong poses based on ancient goddesses, model lucky charms, take a look at the sky and capture clouds in pictures, draw the island panorama or make your own buttons with your own motifs! Welcome to the open studio!

12 - 4 p.m.
LOOK AHEAD! MUSEUMSINSEL
Colonnade walk
Capture the Museum Island in panoramic format. Draw what you see high up on the roofs or in hidden corners. Discover the sculptures in Kolonnadenhof and add more. Various tools encourage you to take a closer look and explore the Museum Island artistically.

12 - 4 p.m.
WORKSHOP FOR ALL: YOUR ISLAND PANORAMA
Haus Bastian - Level 0 and 1
From Haus Bastian you have a good view of the Museum Island. What can you see from here? Which buildings can you recognize? Are there any details that particularly catch your eye? You will draw and print on transparencies and papers, rearrange buildings and redesign the Museum Island according to your ideas.

12 - 6 p.m.
LAB.MINT: BUNTE WISSENSCHAFT!
James-Simon-Galerie - Level 0 - 12-6 p.m.
Is bronze a pure metal? Can metal objects be x-rayed? How is a ceramic vase fired? How do you calculate the circumference of the earth? At the LAB.mint stand you can learn a lot about our objects, the production techniques and important Arab scholars at the Museum of Islamic Art. With interactive knowledge cards, exciting experiments and oversized painting templates for our objects, you will learn a lot about the various scientific topics in a short space of time. On your marks, get set, grab your crayons!

12 - 6 p.m.
CULTURALXCOLLABS - STORIES OF CULTURAL DIVERSITY
Kolonnadenhof
Become part of the CulturalxCollabs journey! The project "CulturalxCollabs - Weaving the Future" by the Museum of Islamic Art shows the unifying power of cultural exchange and diversity. It tells stories that connect us - yesterday, today and tomorrow. On the Museum Island, we invite you to an open conversation over tea. Experience how cultural collaborations build bridges and weave the future.

12 - 6 p.m.
CULTURALXCOLLABS - YOUR MINI-WEAVING LOOM ON THE ISLAND
Kolonnadenhof
Here you can get active yourself and weave your own ribbon with a weaving card. It works like a small loom, where threads are raised and lowered in a simple way. You can try out this weaving technique on our carpet landscape in a relaxed atmosphere with a glass of tea. It is also suitable for younger children with the help of an adult.

12 - 6 p.m.
100 CARPET FRAGMENTS ON THE MOVE - A GLOBAL PROJECT PRESENTS ITSELF
Kolonnadenhof
Imagine a museum cutting a carpet into 100 pieces - that's exactly what the Museum of Islamic Art and DHL have done as part of "CulturalxCollabs - Weaving the Future". The fragments travel around the world and tell stories of cultural exchange. Find out more at our stand, send postcards worldwide free of charge with DHL - and with a bit of luck receive a fragment to carry on the cultural dialog yourself.

12-6pm
EXPERIENCE, UNDERSTAND, PROMOTE OLD MASTERS
Colonnade walk
The Kaiser Friedrich Museumsverein was founded on Museum Island in 1897 to support the Kaiser Friedrich
Museum (now the Bode Museum). Today, with over 600 members, the association supports the Gemäldegalerie am Kulturforum and the sculpture collection in the Bode Museum in the acquisition and restoration of works of art, supports exhibitions and offers an exclusive program for members.

12, 12:30, 13, 13:30, 14, 14:30, 15, 15:30, 16, 16:30 and 17
Guided tours: BE SURPRISED - AND DISCOVER THE MUSEUMISLAND!
Meeting point at the information desk in front of the James-Simon-Galerie
From ancient Rome to Egyptian sarcophagi and the bust of Nefertiti - surprise tours of Berlin's Museum Island offer fascinating insights into thousands of years of cultural history. Take part in our half-hourly drop-in surprise tours and discover masterpieces and myths.

Start: 2 pm
DGS-TANDEM GUIDED TOUR: ARCHITECTURE AND MORE - THE OLD NATIONAL GALLERY
Meeting point Alte Nationalgalerie - 90 min.
Explore this temple of art from the outside and inside. With its columns, the museum building is indeed reminiscent of an ancient temple. But there is much more to see: The program of figures on the façade, the sculptures in the colonnaded courtyard and the interior with its magnificent staircase. Join us on a discovery tour around and inside the Alte Nationalgalerie.

Start: 12, 14, 16 hrs
WORKSHOP: ANCIENT EYPTIC WRITING WORKSHOP
Neues Museum - Egyptian Museum and Papyrus Collection - Information Room - 60 min each
Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs are among the oldest scripts in the world. In this workshop, you will learn how to read and write some ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. As a souvenir of the workshop, you can make your own bookmark out of real papyrus - for many hours of reading at home.

Start: 1, 3, 5 p.m. WORKSHOP: ANCIENT EGYPTIC SYMBOLS
Neues Museum - Egyptian Museum and Papyrus Collection - Information Room - 60 min each
In Ancient Egypt, amulets were worn to protect against evil. Symbols such as the Anch or the Eye of Horus are still known today. In this workshop, you will take a look behind the scenes and learn more about the true meanings of some ancient Egyptian symbols. You can also create a glass magnet from your personal favorite symbol

STAGE PROGRAM

12:30 p.m.
IN TALK WITH ANDREAS SCHOLL
Director of the Collection of Classical Antiquities

12:45 p.m.
AFRICAN VOICES
African voices - coordinated and directed by Jordan Palah The members come from various African countries, from diverse religious backgrounds and are spread all over Germany. They not only sing on stage, but also perform in theaters, such as the Volksbühne in Berlin. The choir sings in various African languages, such as Zulu, Swahili or Kikongo, but also in English, French and German.

1:30 pm
IN TALK WITH ANETTE HÜSCH
Director Alte Nationalgalerie

4:45 pm
IN TALK WITH PETRA WINTER
Director Zentralarchiv der Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin

5 pm
KOMISCHE OPER
The opera dolmuş sings: "Hadi Bakalım - Let's go!" - The Operndolmuş - Komische Oper Berlin's musical shared cab - brings contemporary music theater directly to Berlin's neighborhoods. Singers and musicians from the ensemble, orchestra and opera studio are on the road with the mobile format to perform musical highlights from operetta, musicals, film and Anatolian rock or Turkish pop for the whole neighborhood - free of charge, with a desire for exchange and the motto: "Hadi Bakalım - Let's go!".

8 pm
PATRICE 25 years of Ancient Spirit: Roots & Soulstorm
Patrice is a cross-genre singer, songwriter and producer. His debut album "Ancient Spirit" was released 25 years ago - a milestone between roots reggae, soul and hip-hop and the most successful album of its genre in Europe at the time. Since then, he has been shaping the international music scene with depth, energy and vision. "Ancient Spirit" remains a manifesto for identity, freedom and change.

Download the complete programme DE (PDF 1MB)

Download the complete program EN (PDF 1 MB)

Island Festival | Tickets

The day ticket for 14 euros (reduced price 7 euros) is valid on the festival weekend for all six buildings on Museum Island: Altes Museum, Neues Museum, Alte Nationalgalerie, Bode-Museum, Pergamon. The Panorama and the James-Simon-Galerie.

Holders of an annual ticket (Basic, Classic or Classic Plus) may take one additional person with them free of charge at the weekend.

Children and young people under the age of 18 are admitted free of charge.

Admission to the events in the outdoor area of the Museum Island is free.

The day ticket for 14 euros (reduced price 7 euros) is valid on the festival weekend for all six buildings on Museum Island: Altes Museum, Neues Museum, Alte Nationalgalerie, Bode-Museum, Pergamon. The Panorama and the James-Simon-Galerie.

Holders of an annual ticket (Basic, Classic or Classic Plus) can take one additional person with them free of charge at the weekend.

Children and young people under the age of 18 are admitted free of charge.

Admission to the events in the outdoor area of the Museum Island is free.

NOTE
This event will be photographed and filmed (including sound). By participating in the event, you agree that the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation and its partners may use these recordings for public relations purposes.

CULINARY OFFER
Visit our food court in the New Courtyard between the James-Simon-Galerie and the Neues Museum or enjoy a cool drink at the Kolonnadenbar near the Alte Nationalgalerie.

We would like to thank our partners and sponsors:

Lotto Foundation Berlin
The Board of Trustees of Prussian Cultural Heritage
Visit Berlin

Media partners:
Radio3rbb
radioeinsrbb

Mobility partner:
Flix

All information on the events without guarantee. Subject to change without notice.