Humboldt Forum

The Humboldt Forum occupies the rebuilt Berlin Palace on Schlossplatz, at the eastern end of Unter den Linden and across the Lustgarten from the Berlin Cathedral. It is not one museum but a shared building. Four institutions run their own exhibitions inside it, each with its own ticket rules and its own rules on photography: the Stiftung Humboldt Forum im Berliner Schloss, the Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz, the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and the Stadtmuseum Berlin. That division explains most of the practical confusion visitors run into here, and it is worth understanding before buying anything.

The ticketed core sits on the second and third floors: the Ethnologisches Museum and the Museum für Asiatische Kunst of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, around 20,000 exhibits across 16,000 square metres. Africa and Oceania are on the second floor, Asia on the third, with the Americas and a rotating set of six temporary exhibitions alongside.

The Forum publishes its own average visit times, which is unusual and makes planning here easier than at most museums. It gives roughly 90 minutes for the Ethnologisches Museum, roughly 90 minutes for the Museum für Asiatische Kunst, roughly 120 minutes for BERLIN GLOBAL and roughly 30 minutes for the Palace Cellar. Those numbers do not fit into one afternoon. A single nine-euro ticket covers the Ethnological Collections and Asian Art together, and the operator's own figures make that a three-hour visit.

Exhibitions open Wednesday-Monday 10:30-18:30; Tuesday is the regular closing day. Evening events usually begin at 19:00. The roof terrace opens Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday 10:30-18:30 and Friday until 20:00. Two to four hours covers one paid exhibition, free history displays and public spaces. The roof terrace uses a separate EUR 3 timed ticket. Scheduled maintenance, performances, worship, public events and dated closures can replace the ordinary schedule through an operator notice.

BERLIN GLOBAL and the Ethnological and Asian Art collections each use a EUR 9 exhibition ticket. Site-history displays, the Castle Cellars, Sculpture Hall and Video Panorama are free; the roof terrace costs EUR 3.

The Forum is at Schlossplatz. Use wheelchair-accessible Museumsinsel U5 station, Alexanderplatz S/U station, buses 100, 300 or N5 to Lustgarten, or bus 147 to Berliner Schloss. Use the named station, entrance or accessible route because a broad landmark pin can lead to a security perimeter, stairs, service gate or closed museum building.

Automated doors and lifts serve all public floors, including the roof terrace. Tactile guidance, Braille lift controls, accessible events, disabled parking and service-dog access are provided. Historic fabric, security screening, event barriers and institution-specific routes remain relevant even where the main public space is accessible.

The rules change floor by floor, because each institution in the building sets its own, and this is the detail visitors most often get wrong. Outdoors, in the Schlüter Courtyard, the Passage and the Spree terrace, photography and filming are permitted for commercial and non-commercial purposes alike, and tripods and flash may be used. Anything needing a ladder, lighting, reflectors or a crew, and any aerial shot, requires a permit applied for at least fourteen days in advance, for which the Foundation generally charges a fee.