"Bauhaus—the German design, crafts, and architecture school founded in 1919 by Walter Gropius—is one of the most famous design movements of the 20th century, and this Berlin museum shows its impressive breadth and influence. Designed by Gropius himself and completed in 1979, the building holds a wealth of Bauhaus items such as furniture (lamps, chairs, tables), ceramics, photography, and theater pieces by an array of the movement’s most famous teachers and practitioners, including Gropius, Johannes Itten, Paul Klee, Lyonel Feininger, Wassily Kandinsky, László Moholy-Nagy, and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. (Note: The museum is temporarily located in theCharlottenburg district while the main building is being renovated and extended to pay tribute to the movement’s centennial.)"

"The architecturally striking Jewish Museum is the best place in Berlin to get an overview of German-Jewish relations and to understand the nature of the integration ofthe two cultures before the Holocaust’s horrors. Designed by Daniel Libeskind, the building is clad in polished silver metal and features severe angles and thin window slits that create a deliberately jarring impression. The interior is equally intriguing, especially the three long, intersecting corridors that lead to installations addressing aspects of the Holocaust: a garden of pillars meant to disorient; a windowless Holocaust Tower; and a space filled with thousands of grimacing iron masks that grind together as you walk on them. Across the street, the Jewish Academy (open to the public) has a related research center, library, and educational institution."

"Museums in Berlin I believe you need to put yourself in a certain mindset before making a trip to Berlin . It's not a beautiful city—in the traditional sense—and walking around the city can be very grim. However, the history and artwork displayed in many Berlin museums is worth the trip. My two favorites were the Deutsches Historiches Museum and the Pergamon Museum. By Meghan Casey"

"Denkmal für die Ermordeten Juden Europas | Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe Occupying a prominent space between Brandenburg Gate and Potsdamer Platz, this memorial (also known as the Holocaust-Mahnmal, or Holocaust Memorial) has almost 3,000 gray oblong pillars (stelae), arranged at varying heights, that form a kind of labyrinth intended to reference the disorientation felt by Europe’s hunted Jewish population. Designed by New York architect Peter Eisenman, it opened in 2005. The effectiveness of the labyrinth is arguable; you may see groups of teenagers playing tag and picnicking on and among the blocks. However, there’s no denying the power of the site’s underground information center, which relates some of the life stories of Holocaust victims. Several other smaller but related memorials are nearby, dedicated to homosexuals, gypsies, and victims of National Socialist euthanasia killings."

"Neues Museum | New Museum Bombed to smithereens during World War II, the Neues Museum—inaugurated in 1855—reopened in 2009 following a slow and sensitive reconstruction by the office of British architect David Chipperfield; both the building and its inspiring contents are well worth the visit. The current structure, featuring delicately restored frescoes, beautifully renovated columns and doors, and deliberately preserved war damage, won the prestigious Mies van der Rohe Award in 2011. The museum's collections comprise thousands of ancient artifacts from the Egyptian Museum and Papyrus Collection, the Museum of Prehistory and Early History, and the Collection of Classical Antiquities. Highlights include a3,300-year-old bust of Queen Nefertiti, the famous Neanderthal skull from Le Moustier in France, and Heinrich Schliemann’s collection of antiquities from Troy."

"The most famous remaining stretch of the Berlin Wall gets its name from its location on the east side of the Spree River, as well as from its collection of political and satirical murals. Originally painted just after the wall fell, the murals were repainted (or in some cases painted over) in 2009 as a way of cleaning up the increasingly decayed originals and in recognition of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the wall. Today, a fence partly protects the gallery to prevent vandalism of the murals, but people throng here nonetheless, especially in summer. A museum at the site tells the fascinating story of the structure through interactive displays, original newsreel footage, and filmed interviews with Berliners who lived on both sides."

"Contemporary Art Museum in Former Train Station The contemporary and modern art museum Hamburger Bahnhof is named for the building's previous incarnation: a train station. The current museum opened in the mid-1990s after being a museum of transport & trains. Museum exhibitions change regularly, though the permanent collections are extensive."

"Spy Museum Berlin traces the global history of espionage, with insights into "intelligence gathering" in ancient times and throughout the Middle Ages, up to the 20th century, with advancements in technology and the tensions of the world wars and cold war. Cabinets display weapons disguised as umbrellas, impossibly tiny spy cameras hidden in watering cans, and a rare three-rotor Enigma machine. There are also profiles of famous spies and double agents, as well as interactive screens that give insights into hacking and encryption. At the end of your visit, test your physical agility with some laser parkour activities. ."

"Berlin’s German Resistance Memorial Center, close to Potsdamer Platz, recounts the city’s tales of resistance against the Nazis. The center is in the Bendlerblock, a historic military building where the expansion of the German navy was planned during the reign of Kaiser Wilhelm II and the role of the German army was reassessed during the Weimar Republic. In addition, several of those involved in the July Bomb Plot to murder Adolf Hitler and bring down the Nazi regime in 1944 were executed in the building’s courtyard. Apermanent exhibition, spread across a couple of atmospheric floors, documents the bravery, as well as the diversity, of those who fought against the Nazi dictatorship."

"One of the biggest stars of the five museums on Museum Island, the Pergamon was the last to open, in 1930. Built to resemble a Babylonian temple, it houses a trove of ancient treasures from the Middle East, with highlights that include the enormous Pergamon Altar, dating from around 170 B.C.E. and featuring a dramatic frieze showing a battle between gods and giants; the two-story Market Gate of Miletus, built by the Romans in 120 C.E.; and the equally impressive Ishtar Gate, from the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II in the 6th century B.C.E. Another poignant highlight, given the large influx of Syrian refugees into the city since 2015, is the 17th-century Aleppo Room, a reception chamber from a merchant’s house with exquisitely carved wall decorations."

"Visiting at least one of the five museums that make up Museum Island, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is a must for any serious culture-seeker in Berlin. A pioneering concept, this ensemble of public institutions brimming with exquisite artworks and historical artifacts traces its origin back to 1810 and King Friedrich Wilhelm III’s decision to open a museum for his personal collection of royal treasures. Today, the original Altes Museum—located opposite the former Royal Palace—is joined by the Pergamon Museum, with its jaw-dropping Middle Eastern antiquities; the Neues Museum and its treasures from ancient Egypt;the Alte Nationalgalerie’s collection of 19th-century European masters; and the Bode Museum, which hosts one of Europe’s most important sculpture collections."

"Urban Nation was founded back in 2013 by Yasha Young, originally as an official strategy to use Berlin’s facades as canvasses for creative and unique street art projects. Her work garnered plenty of attention and led to the opening, in 2017, of this four-story exhibition space in the Schöneberg district: Berlin 's first gallery dedicated to street art. Its several rooms and stairways present an impressive and surprisingly diverse mix of work by up-and-coming local artists and international big-hitters like Jeff Soto, VhiLs, Swoon, Borondo, Nuno, David Mesguiche, and Dan Witz, to name a few. Urban Nation also continues to commission work on building exteriors, some of which can be seen close to the museum, around Bülowstraße and surrounding streets. The space also hosts events and workshops, and from 2019 will launch an artist-in-residency program, complete with live painting sessions that the public can drop in and watch."

"Nineties Berlin Opened in 2018, this contemporary museum showcases the notorious decade that followed the fall of the Berlin Wall in the city: one that saw the joy of an unexpectedly sudden German reunion merged with a rush of young artists and techno ravers taking advantage of the capital’s slew of empty, cheap (sometimes free!) spaces. The organizers have reflected the hedonism of those years with a heady, sometimes chaotic mix of multimedia installations accompanied by specially commissioned street art, video interviews with those who were there (photographers, politicians, DJs, club owners, punks)—and a bass-heavy soundtrack throughout. The one moment of sobriety comes with a large room, deliberately ice-cold, that memorializes those who lost their lives to the brutality of the Wall itself."