Ethnological Museum Berlin

About

The Ethnologisches Museum Berlin (English: Ethnological Museum of Berlin) is an ethnological museum, part of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz Berlin (English: State Museums of the Prussian Heritage Foundation), the de facto national collection of the Federal Republic of Germany. Its exhibitions are located in the Humboldt Forum in Mitte, along with the Museum für Asiatische Kunst (English: Museum of Asian Arts). The museum holds more than 500,000 objects and is one of the world's largest important collections of works of art and culture from outside Europe. Its highlights include objects from the Sepik River, Hawaii, the Kingdom of Benin, Cameroon, Congo, Tanzania, China, the Pacific Coast of North America, Mesoamerica, the Andes, as well as one of the first ethnomusicology collections of sound recordings (the Berliner Phonogramm-Archiv).

The Ethnologisches Museum was founded in 1873 and opened its doors in 1886 as the Royal Museum for Ethnology ( German : Königliches Museum für Völkerkunde ), but its roots go back to the 17th-century Kunstkammer of the rulers of Brandenburg-Prussia. As the museum’s collections expanded in the early 20th century, the museum quickly outgrew its facility in the center of Berlin on Königgrätzer Straße (today named Stresemannstraße). A new building was erected in the suburb of Dahlem to house the museum’s store rooms and research collections. In World War II, the main building of the museum was heavily damaged. It was demolished in 1961, and the buildings in Dahlem (in what was then West Berlin ) were reconfigured to serve as the museum's exhibition spaces.

Following German reunification, although many of the Berlin museum collections were relocated, the collections of the Ethnologisches Museum remained in Dahlem. Starting in 2000, concrete plans were developed to move the collections back to the center of the city. In 2021, the Ethnologisches Museum and Museum für Asiatische Kunst were reopened in the new Humboldt Forum in the reconstructed Berlin City Palace ( German : Berliner Stadtschloss ) immediately south of the main Museum Island complex.

Beginning in January 2016, the Ethnologisches Museum began the process of dismantling its exhibitions in preparation for its move to the Humboldt Forum. The exhibitions in Dahlem were closed in January 2017. Until then, the permanent exhibitions displayed works from Africa, Mesoamerican archaeology, and South Asia. Highlights included the collections of painted Maya vases and drinking cups, the Lienzo Seler Coixtlahuaca II, Benin Bronzes, sculptures from Cameroon, and power figures from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The collections themselves encompass more than 500,000 from around the world. In addition, the museum holds more than 280,000 historical photographs, a substantial archive, more than 125,000 sound recordings, and 20,000 ethnographic films. The collection is organized according to geography as well as methodological approaches. The main divisions are Africa, Oceania, East-and North-Asia, South and Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Central Asia, American ethnology, American archaeology, and ethnomusicology. The museum also houses a specialized reference library of more than 140,000 volumes relating to ethnology, non-European art, and global art.

The new exhibitions of the Ethnological Museum in the Humboldt Forum were opened successively in 2021 and 2022 with a delay due to the Covid 19 pandemic.

At the Ethnologisches Museum in Berlin Dahlem, many objects in the collection made of organic materials such as wood, raffia, or feathers were treated with chemicals for conservation purposes. As a result, many of these objects are now contaminated and pose a serious health risk when handled by humans.

In 2021, the museum announced plans to return some of its holding of Nigerian artifacts, including a large collection of Benin Bronzes, to Nigeria. The Bronzes had been looted during the British Benin Expedition of 1897.

In 2022, a group of 23 artifacts from the collection, including precious jewelry and pottery, was returned indefinitely to Namibia. The items were taken between 1884 and 1915, when Namibia was part of the German Empire colony German South West Africa.

In 2021, the museum announced plans to return some of its holding of Nigerian artifacts, including a large collection of Benin Bronzes, to Nigeria. The Bronzes had been looted during the British Benin Expedition of 1897.

In 2022, a group of 23 artifacts from the collection, including precious jewelry and pottery, was returned indefinitely to Namibia. The items were taken between 1884 and 1915, when Namibia was part of the German Empire colony German South West Africa.

Throne of King Nsangu of Bamum ('Mandu Yenu')

Chokwe figure of a queen or queen mother

Tepukei (ocean-going outrigger canoe) from the Santa Cruz Islands collected by Dr Gerd Koch

The Melanesian room, with reconstructed houses

Figure of a bear from the Pacific Northwest Coast

Exhibit featuring artefacts from Mesoamerica

Monumental stone carving of a skull from Mesoamerica

A Chinese wooden sculpture depicting Guanyin, Song Dynasty, 12th century AD

Rishabhanatha with 23 additional Jinas, India, 12th century