Visit the Altes Museum in Berlin: tickets, prices, schedules

Are you passing through Berlin, the capital and emblematic city of Germany? Here’s how to make the most of your stay by discovering the Altes Museum in Berlin!

The Altes Museum (“The Old Museum”, in the language of Goethe) is in front of the Berlin Castle and is part of the many cultural spaces located on the island at the Museums of Berlin – this island of the district of Mitte in the middle of the river Spree.

This legendary and sumptuous place, in rich and complex history, offers one of the most interesting activities to do in Berlin, especially if we are an antique art lover. Presenting permanent and temporary collections dedicated to German, Greek and Roman art, the place is indeed taken by visitors wishing to discover the exciting exhibitions that take place there.

To allow you to enjoy a cultural stop in this city too often reduced to its role as a European economic hub, we have prepared a small guide that will allow you to visit the Altes Museum in all tranquility: a brief history, attractions and places to discover, access plan, rates, times and many other essential elements.

So, ready to dive into one of the main European cultural centres? Here we go, follow the guide!

History of the Altes Museum in Berlin

He who was First public museum The city of Berlin is located in a neoclassical building built in the early 19th century by architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel to house the important art collection of the Prussian royal family.

Possing a majestic ion colonnade, the work was open to the public in 1830 in order to initially expose the artistic works held by the Prussian sovereigns, then a collection of ancient Greek and Roman elements from 1904 . The bourgeoisie, who also wanted to gain access to culture and art — normally reserved for nobility — put pressure on the authorities to set up a space to discover these areas which were so far subtracted, thus agreeing with the ideal of popular artistic education advocated by the famous scholar and academic Humboldt . When you visit the Altes Museum in Berlin, one of the first cultural spaces open to the people is also here!

Destroyed at the end of the Second World War, and restored shortly afterwards, it served to house contemporary works of art developed by artists from the GDR, and finally received an imposing exhibition of Roman, Greek and Etruscan artifacts from the beginning of 2015 , when the restoration of the building was completed.

What to see and do at the Altes Museum in Berlin?

The Altes Museum and its hidden dome

The building, which is believed to be almost out of Ancient Greece with its 18 gigantic columns, has since its conception a rather surprising feature. Indeed, a dome — inspired by the Pantheon of Rome — can be admired from the inside but remains perfectly invisible from the outside thanks to a clever architectural camouflage. All this in order not to compete with his neighbour — the cathedral of Berliner Dom — also wearing a dome inspired by that of Saint Peter of Rome !

The Altes Museum and its ancient vestiges

When you visit the Altes Museum in Berlin, you quickly realize that the building is truly sublime and has a pretty internal rotunda decorated with mosaics from Villa Adriana de Tivoli. On the ground floor — where you can observe the pieces from Greek art — and on the first floor — to which one accesses by borrowing a colossal staircase hidden behind the columns and presenting this time the Roman and Etruscan art — are typical vestiges of the regions concerned.

These were long shared between Western Germany and Eastern Germany, but since the Reunification of Germany, they have now been housed in the Island of the Museums. If some are still present Pergamon Museum most of them found room in the Altes Museum in Berlin. For example, there can be admire the many acquisitions of the royal and imperial family of the Hohenzollern , as well as the finds brought back after the excavations at the archaeological sites of Olympia, Pergame, Milet, Samos or Priene.

Art and ancient objects

Armies, helmets, armours, typical antique sculptures, but also centuries-old paintings welcome the curious to visit the Altes Museum in Berlin. Discover the bust of the “César Vert admirant Cléopâtre”, the bronze of Caracalla, Egyptian paintings dating from the Ith to the 4th century of our era, as the “portraits of the Fayoum”. These funerary portraits, intertwined in strips covering the face of mummies, are worth a visit! Extremely modern in the precision of their realization, they embody the last evolutionary stage of the funeral art applied to sarcophagi and masks of the dead.

In addition to the other exceptional pieces, such as the bust of Pericles or Brutus du Capitole, many less famous objects are waiting for you. Des jewelry and everyday life objects — like pieces of silverware, bottles, pottery — allow tourists who come to visit the Altes Museum to represent themselves what could be the daily life of the inhabitants of the time.

You'll have to count one. 1:30 at least to fully appreciate this captivating space, and immerse in ancient times who fascinated so much the Prussian sovereigns.

How to go to the Altes Museum in Berlin?

Car

It is quite simple to access the Altes Museum in Berlin. The latter is located in the heart of the city, on the Spreeinsel. That you came with your own car wherever you chose the car rental , we advise you to go to the parking closest to the Cathedral of Berlin, on the Karl-Liebknecht-Strasse .

By public transport

But let us not forget that we are in the largest German city, and that like all others, it is a model in terms of transport! You can use public transport as well, densely organized network in the German capital.

• S-Bahn

Take the lines S5 , S7 or S75 and stop at the station Hasckescher Markt located only a few hundred meters from the Altes Museum.

• The bus

Take the lines 100 or 200 , and stop at the station Am Lustgarten .

Schedules & Prices of the Altes Museum in Berlin

HORARI

• Closed on Monday
• Tuesday to Friday(except Thursday): 10am to 6pm
• Thursday10am to 8pm

RATES

For rates, access to the Altes Museum is charged:

• Standard rate: 10€
• Student and person with reduced mobility (sur présentation d’un justificatif) : 5€
• Free for young people under 18, holders of Museums Berlin Pass or WelcomeCard Museum Island.