Berlin’s cultural ecosystem is evolving: in 2022, several new museums are set to open, reopen or reemerge in miraculous fashion at different locations. These range from the niche (Samurai Museum, anyone?) to the hotly anticipated (GDR art at Museum Minsk in Potsdam, and Fotografiska at the renovated Tacheles).
And it’s not just new museums: famous exhibits are also returning to the Hauptstadt – most notably a 300-piece T-rex skeleton named Tristan. Here are the new museums we’re most excited about in 2022.
‘Story of Berlin’: A new exhibition of city history
When the Kudamm-Karree complex closed down, the ‘Story of Berlin’ exhibition, which opened in 1999 in a hidden bunker complex, also had to close. The site is currently being converted and its set to reemerge under the name ‘Fürst’, with the reopening of the exhibition also planned. The makers promise a revised exhibition on the city’s history aimed (not only) at a tourist audience.
- Story of Berlin Kurfürstendamm 207/208, Charlottenburg, reopening: autumn 2022
Museum of Medical History at Charité
“The Virchow core will be preserved,” promised museum director Thomas Schnalke in 2019 shortly before renovation began at Charité’s Museum of Medical History. The space is set to reopen once the works are completed at the end of 2022. Until then, visitors can experience a programme of special exhibitions in a nearby temporary building, with ‘Rudolf Virchow and the Charité of the Future’ on show until the end of February (daily, 10-18).
- Museum of Medical History Charitéplatz 1, Mitte, modular building: Invalidenstr. 86, Mitte, reopening: winter 2022
Samurai Museum: Swords and VR
Berlin-based entrepreneur Peter Janssen has long been an admirer of Japanese sword warriors, amassing a collection of armour, helmets and weapons over the last 30 years. In 2022, his Samurai Art Museum will leave its Dahlem location and reopen on Auguststraße in Mitte. The promise? Alongside original objects, there will also be some samurai-themed virtual reality.
Samurai Museum Auguststr. 68, Mitte, reopening: spring 2022
The Kollwitz Museum relocates
Kollwitz Museum director Josephine Gabler is a little wistful. She enjoyed working at the Fasanenstraße location, she says in an interview with taz. But once the museum moves to the theatre building at Charlottenburg Palace, Gabler will be glad to have more space for the permanent exhibition on the influential graphic artist, and the museum will finally be barrier-free.
- Käthe Kollwitz Museum Fasanenstr. 24 Charlottenburg, daily 11-16, relocation: spring 2022
East Wing of the Humboldt Forum
Much ink has already been spilled over the Humboldt Forum, but the museum is not yet complete: the east wing is still missing. Scheduled to open in late summer, the new wing will provide more space for the Ethnological Museum, where the controversial Benin bronzes are to be exhibited. Whether or not they end up on display in Berlin, however, also depends on the return negotiations with Nigeria. Our Red Flag columnist has plenty to say on the matter.
- Humboldt Forum Schloßplatz, Mitte, Mon, Wed, Thu + Sun 10am-8pm, Fri+Sat until 10pm, opening: summer 2022
GDR art at the Minsk Museum in Potsdam
Cultural benefactor and tech entrepreneur Hasso Plattner (who also founded Potsdam’s Museum Barberini) recently bought the DDR terrace restaurant ‘Minsk’ and is currently converting it into a gallery in which his collection of East German art will be shown. The modernist building will house a 900-square-metre exhibition space over two floors, with a terrace cafe also planned.
- Museum Minsk Max-Planck-Straße 10, Potsdam, opening: spring 2022
Fotografiska moves into Tacheles
A new city quarter has been evolving on the site of the former Kunsthaus Tacheles, once a five-storey creative commune and tourist magnet on Oranienburger Straße. Later this year the Berlin branch of photography museum Fotografiska, already established in Stockholm, Tallinn and New York, will open there.
- Fotografiska Oranienburger Str. 54, Mitte, opening: winter 2022
Tristan the T-Rex returns to Berlin
It’s not just new museums: cherished exhibits will also return to Berlin in 2022. Later this year, Tristan the crowd-pleasing T-rex skeleton will be reassembled and displayed at the Museum für Naturkunde following a stint at Copenhagen’s Natural History Museum.
- Museum für Naturkunde Invalidenstraße 43, Mitte, Tue-Fri 9.30am-6pm, Sat + Sun 10am-6pm
Original article by Max Müller for tipBerlin
