Museums in Berlin

Berlin has a long and fascinating history, and its museums certainly play their part well in helping to tell its stories. If you only have time to visit one place, Museum Island should be first on your list. This World Heritage Site is a dazzling display of some of Europe's best historical collections and beautiful architecture. A natural island in the Spree river, the site has 4 museums, each impressive in its own right. The Pergamon, Altes, and Bode celebrate the wonders of the ancient world, with Grecian, Byzantine, and Egyptian artifacts - just to name a few! - and the Ishtar gate at the Pergamon is reason enough to come here. There's so much to see that you might want to consider buying a multiple-day pass for the museums, and be sure to check ahead of time to see if there are any museum closures, since massive renovations of the entire island complex will be going on for several more years. Of course, Berlin has a darker heritage, too, and there are several excellent museums that serve as somber yet interesting testaments to the past. The Haus der Wannsee-Konferenz was the site for a notorious SS conference in 1992 to discuss the Final Solution, and it has been turned into a museum and memorial dedicated to the Holocaust. The building is a serene lakeside villa, which makes the knowledge of what took place here seem even more chilling. More recent history can be explored at the Stasi museum, another frightening look into a darker side of Berlin's past. The Stasi, or state security force, went to incredible extremes to keep watch over the people of East Germany at any cost. The notorious jars with fabric from prisoners that were kept to preserve their scents in case they needed to be tracked down by dogs are here, and the spy equipment they used is both fascinating and frightening to see. For more Cold War era history, visit the museum at Checkpoint Charlie. The exhibits here are very informative about the wall and life in divided Germany, and the stories of those who tried to get across the wall at all costs are impressive and saddening. You'll be amazed at how much has changed here in such a short time.

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