Best Museums in Berlin: World-Class History, Art & Science

Berlin has the highest density of world-class museums of any German city — a product of Cold War duplication (both East and West Berlin developed competing museum infrastructure), massive post-reunification investment, and the city's unique position at the fulcrum of 20th-century history. Museum Island (Museumsinsel) in the Spree River is a UNESCO World Heritage Site housing five exceptional museums within walking distance: the Pergamon Museum with its reconstructed Pergamon Altar and Ishtar Gate from Babylon; the Neues Museum with the iconic bust of Nefertiti; the Bode Museum's Byzantine and coin collections; the Alte Nationalgalerie for 19th-century European art; and the Altes Museum for classical antiquities. The Berlin Wall Memorial and Documentation Centre on Bernauer Strasse provides the most comprehensive account of the divided city. The Jewish Museum Berlin by Daniel Libeskind is one of the world's most powerful architectural experiences — the building itself, with its deliberately disorienting voids and axes, communicates what no exhibition text can. The German Historical Museum covers 2,000 years of German history with extraordinary primary source material.