One of the city’s most significant UNESCO World Heritage Sites is Spree Island, also known as Museum Island (Museumsinsel), located in a 400-meter-long canal sandwiched between the River Spree and the Kupfergraben. Many of the city’s oldest and most significant museums may be found here, including the Old Museum (Altes Museum), which was constructed in 1830 to store the Crown Jewels and other royal artifacts.
After being devastated during World War II, The New Museum (Neues Museum) was reconstructed and reopened in 2009. It houses sizable collections from the Papyrus Collection, the Collection of Classical Antiquities, and the Egyptian Museum.
In addition to Impressionist and early Modernist works, the Old National Gallery (Alte Nationalgalerie), which opened in 1876, features Neoclassical sculpture and paintings from 1815 to 1848. In addition to a sizable collection of sculptures from the late 1700s to the medieval periods, the Bode Museum also has a collection of Byzantine art.
The Pergamon, the most visited museum in the city, houses the Ishtar Gate, a Museum of Islamic Art, and replicas of ancient Middle Eastern structures. The Ethnological Museum of Berlin and the Museum of Asian Art are housed in the Humboldt Forum, the area’s newest museum attraction, which debuted here in 2019.