Jewish Museum Berlin

Overview

The Jewish Museum Berlin traces two millennia of German-Jewish history across Daniel Libeskind's zinc-clad deconstructivist building and the adjacent Baroque Kollegienhaus. The architecture itself — disorienting voids, slashed windows, dead ends — is as powerful as the exhibits.

Highlights

• Axes of Exile, Holocaust, and Continuity: Three intersecting corridors forming the spatial narrative core.
• Memory Void: An empty concrete shaft filled with 10,000 iron face sculptures by Menashe Kadishman.
• Garden of Exile: 49 tilted concrete columns planted with oleaster, creating deliberate disorientation.

History

Opened in 2001, Libeskind's design won a 1989 competition. The zigzag plan traces an invisible Star of David across the site. A 2020 core-exhibition redesign emphasizes personal stories and contemporary Jewish life.

Visitor Tips

• Architecture first: Allow time to experience the empty building spaces before diving into exhibits.
• Free entry: The permanent collection has been free since 2024.
• Duration: 2–2.5 hours.