Altes Nationalgalerie colonnade by the River Spree

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Alte Nationalgalerie

Museumsinsel & Alexanderplatz


The Greek temple–style Old National Gallery is a three-storey showcase of 19th-century European art. To get a sense of the period's virtuosity, pay special attention to the moody landscapes by Romantic heart-throb Caspar David Friedrich, the epic canvases by Franz Krüger and Adolf Menzel glorifying Prussia, the Gothic fantasies of Karl Friedrich Schinkel, and the sprinkling of French and German impressionists.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Museumsinsel & Alexanderplatz attractions

1. Museumsinsel

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Walk through ancient Babylon, meet an Egyptian queen, clamber up a Greek altar or be mesmerized by Monet's ethereal landscapes. Welcome to Museumsinsel …

2. Pergamonmuseum

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3. Neues Museum

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For over 60 years, not a soul was able to visit Berlin’s Neues Museum – in fact, it sat in ruins. But today it’s one of the city’s most celebrated…

4. Altes Museum

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A curtain of fluted columns gives way to the Pantheon-inspired rotunda of the grand neoclassical Old Museum, which harbours a prized antiquities…

5. Bode-Museum

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On the northern tip of Museumsinsel, this palatial edifice houses a comprehensive collection of European sculpture from the early Middle Ages to the 18th…

6. IM Pei Bau

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High-calibre temporary exhibits, curated by the Deutsches Historisches Museum, occupy this spectacular contemporary annexe designed by Chinese-American…

7. Berliner Dom

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8. DDR Museum

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This touchy-feely museum does an insightful and entertaining job of pulling back the iron curtain on daily life in socialist East Germany. You'll learn…