Berlin's Museum Island: the five museums, the Pergamon closure and the tickets

What is on the island, and what is closed

Museum Island (Museumsinsel) is the group of museum buildings on the Spree island in central Berlin where the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (SMB), the state museums, show collections spanning several millennia: the Altes Museum, the Neues Museum, the Alte Nationalgalerie, the Bode-Museum and the Pergamonmuseum.[1] A sixth building, the James-Simon-Galerie, is the island's visitor centre rather than a museum with its own collection.[9] SMB says UNESCO recognised the ensemble as world cultural heritage in 1999, as "a unique ensemble of museum buildings illustrating the development of modern museum design over the course of more than a century".[1]

The planning fact that matters most is that one of the five, the Pergamonmuseum, was shut when XTOUR read SMB's pages on 9 October 2026. SMB's profile of the island says it is "completely closed to the public due to construction work".[1] The other four buildings list current permanent and special exhibitions on their SMB pages.[13][16][15][14]

The five buildings and what SMB shows in each

SMB dates the buildings in sequence: the Altes Museum opened in 1830, followed by the Neues Museum (1843 to 1855), the Alte Nationalgalerie (1867 to 1876), the Bode-Museum (1897 to 1904, first called the Kaiser Friedrich-Museum) and the Pergamonmuseum (1910 to 1930).[1]

• Altes Museum. Its permanent exhibition is "Ancient Worlds. Greeks, Etruscans and Romans".[14]
• Neues Museum. Designed by Friedrich August Stüler, left a war-damaged ruin, and restored from 2003 by David Chipperfield's office, which kept the scars of the war visible; it reopened in 2009. It brings together three SMB collections: Egyptian art and papyri, prehistory and early history, and classical antiquities.[11] SMB's visit page for the museum captions a photograph of the bust of Queen Nefertiti "in the room 'Nefertiti' (North Dome Hall)".[12]
• Alte Nationalgalerie. Its permanent exhibition is "Art of the 19th Century".[15]
• Bode-Museum. Three permanent exhibitions: sculpture and painting from the 13th to the 18th century, coins and medals, and late antique and Byzantine art.[16]
• Pergamonmuseum. Built to designs by Alfred Messel and executed by Ludwig Hoffmann, it houses the architectural ensembles of the Antikensammlung, the Vorderasiatisches Museum (Near Eastern antiquities) and the Museum für Islamische Kunst.[5]

The Pergamonmuseum: two published reopening dates

SMB's own pages do not agree on when the Pergamonmuseum reopens. The general FAQ, the museum's profile page and its refurbishment page all say it "will reopen on 4 June 2027".[6][5][4] SMB's two ticket pages, for all venues and for Museum Island, say it is closed "until its reopening on 4 July 2027".[3][2] A news item of 1 July 2026 says the museum will reopen "in June 2027" and that group tours can be booked for visits from 8 June 2027.[7] XTOUR's reading is that June is the date three pages and the group-tour booking share, but it reports both dates because SMB publishes both; check SMB before booking anything around the reopening.

The 2027 reopening is partial. According to SMB, the first construction phase covers the North Wing and the northern central building: the Hall of the Pergamon Altar and the Hellenistic Hall of the Antikensammlung, and the whole Museum für Islamische Kunst across two floors of the North Wing.[4] The South Wing, home of the Vorderasiatisches Museum with the Ishtar Gate and the Processional Way of Babylon, and of the Market Gate of Miletus, has been closed since 23 October 2023 and stays closed "until approximately 2037". From 2027, SMB says, a selection of Vorderasiatisches Museum objects, including the victory stele of the Assyrian king Esarhaddon, will be shown in the reopened North Wing as a preview.[5]

Until then, SMB shows significant artefacts from Pergamon with a 360-degree panorama by Yadegar Asisi in a separate exhibition building, Pergamonmuseum. Das Panorama, which it places in the direct vicinity of Museum Island.[1] That exhibition has run since 17 November 2018 "until further notice".[8] It is a different building from the Pergamonmuseum, and none of the SMB pages read describes a ticket for one as a ticket for the other.

How SMB tickets work

SMB's tickets page says its tickets can be bought online or at SMB ticket counters, up to four weeks in advance, and recommends booking online.[2] It describes three levels:

• Day ticket for one museum. SMB says day tickets are available at all its museums and admit at any time during opening hours on the ticket's date. Large special exhibitions may need a time-slot ticket instead, booked online or at a counter.[4][2]
• Museumsinsel-Ticket. One day, every SMB venue on its list, 24 euros on 9 October 2026, sold online and at all SMB ticket offices.[2] The Museum Island ticket page adds that it includes special exhibitions and "is worth it if you visit just two venues".[3] Its list is the Alte Nationalgalerie, Altes Museum, Bode-Museum, Friedrichswerdersche Kirche, Neues Museum, Pergamonmuseum. Das Panorama and PETRI Berlin.[3][2] SMB's FAQ files the Friedrichswerdersche Kirche and PETRI Berlin as "nearby" rather than on Museum Island, and SMB places Pergamonmuseum. Das Panorama "in the direct vicinity" of the island, so not every venue on the ticket is on the island itself.[1][4]
• Museum Pass Berlin. An SMB ticket for three days and more than 30 museums, including all SMB venues and many other Berlin museums.[2]

SMB's tickets page lists children and young people up to 18 among those admitted free, with a free ticket collected at the counter or booked online and shown with ID; the standard reduction for other eligible groups is 50 per cent.[2]

Two gaps XTOUR could not close from SMB's pages. The James-Simon-Galerie, which sells tickets for all the museums, is also hosting a special exhibition, "Genghis Khan and the World of the Mongols", from 21 October 2026 to 18 April 2027, but the James-Simon-Galerie is not on the Museumsinsel-Ticket's venue list.[3][10] SMB's general wording says the ticket admits to "all exhibitions on Museumsinsel Berlin", but none of the pages read names that exhibition, so whether the island ticket covers it is not settled by them.[2] And the ticket pages give no rule for the Pergamonmuseum once it reopens.

Entrances and house rules SMB states

The Neues Museum's visit page gives its visitor entrance as the James-Simon-Galerie on Bodestraße, and says the James-Simon-Galerie has been the main entrance for all groups visiting the Pergamonmuseum and the Neues Museum since July 2019.[12] SMB's profile of the James-Simon-Galerie describes ticket desks for all museums, information desks and checkrooms there.[9]

The rules below are the ones SMB publishes for all its museums:

• Groups of 10 or more must register in advance, at least two weeks ahead according to the FAQ; the museum regulations set a group size limit of 25.[17][4]
• Bags larger than 30 by 20 by 10 centimetres go to the cloakroom or a locker, and SMB says it cannot accept luggage.[17][4]
• Eating and drinking are not allowed in the exhibitions, except for feeding infants; laser pointers and selfie sticks are prohibited, and phone calls are not to be made in the galleries.[17][4]
• The FAQ says photography is generally permitted, that commercial use needs permission and that individual exhibitions may restrict it.[4]

SMB's FAQ says the museums are closed on Mondays and some also on Tuesdays, and points to each museum's own page for opening hours.[4] XTOUR does not state opening hours for Museum Island, and the ticket prices above are quoted from SMB's tickets pages as read on 9 October 2026.

Related pages

For other Berlin and Potsdam visits, see the Berlin Wall Foundation's sites, the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe and Sanssouci and the Potsdam palaces. Potsdam is a separate city, not part of Berlin. More on the city is on the Berlin page and on Germany.