Neues Museum

The Neues Museum is one of the five museums on Museum Island, the ensemble in the Spree that is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and for many visitors it is the one to choose if time is short. Friedrich August Stüler designed the building, which was constructed between 1843 and 1855. It was closed in 1939, badly damaged by bombing in the Second World War and left as a ruin for decades.

The restoration by the British architect David Chipperfield, which ran from 1999 to 2009, is part of the attraction. Rather than recreating the lost interiors, Chipperfield kept the surviving wall paintings, scorched columns and bullet marks and added calm new spaces in pale brick and concrete, so the building itself tells the story of the twentieth century. The great staircase hall, with its bare brick walls, is one of the most admired modern interiors in Germany.

The best-known object is the painted bust of Queen Nefertiti, made around 1340 BC in the Amarna period, which has its own room under a dome. The Egyptian Museum and Papyrus Collection surround it with statues, reliefs, sarcophagi and objects of daily life. The Museum of Prehistory and Early History covers the Stone, Bronze and Iron Ages, and its highlights include the Berlin Gold Hat, a tall cone of thin gold decorated with circles that may encode a calendar, and the Neupotz treasure found in the Rhine. Temporary exhibitions add further reasons to return.

The museum opens Tuesday to Sunday from 10am to 6pm and is closed on Mondays. Book a ticket online in advance, especially at weekends and in school holidays, when queues build up. Allow two to three hours. Note that the neighbouring Pergamonmuseum is completely closed for construction work, so check the Staatliche Museen website for current arrangements on the island and for combined tickets. The building suits adults and older children; younger children usually enjoy the mummies and the Egyptian objects.

Museum Island is a short walk from Hackescher Markt S-Bahn station and Museumsinsel station on the U5. The Altes Museum, the Alte Nationalgalerie, the Bode-Museum, Berlin Cathedral and the Humboldt Forum are all within a few minutes, and the colonnades and lawns of the Lustgarten are good for a break.