How much is an Altes Museum ticket and what can you see inside Schinkel's Rotunda?
The Altes Museum is the colonnaded temple front on the Lustgarten, facing the Berlin Cathedral, built by Karl Friedrich Schinkel between 1825 and 1830 as Prussia's first public museum. Inside is the Antikensammlung, the Greek, Etruscan and Roman collection, arranged around a domed Rotunda modelled on the Pantheon. This guide covers what admission costs at the door and online, the weekday closing time that catches people out, and the honest question of whether this is the Museum Island house you should give your one available afternoon to.
About This Experience
Am Lustgarten, 10178 Berlin, on Museum Island in Mitte. The entrance is up the colonnaded front steps facing the Lustgarten lawn and the Berlin Cathedral, which makes it the hardest building on the island to walk past by mistake.
U5 Museumsinsel is the closest station, a short walk across the Lustgarten. S-Bahn Friedrichstrasse or Hackescher Markt are 8 to 10 minutes away and U6 Friedrichstrasse is similar. Trams M1 and M12 stop at Am Kupfergraben, M4, M5 and M6 at Hackescher Markt.
Tuesday to Friday 10:00 to 17:00, Saturday and Sunday 10:00 to 18:00. Closed every Monday, closed 24 and 31 December. Sunday hours apply on public holidays including 3 October and 25 and 26 December, and 1 January runs 12:00 to 18:00.
A single ticket at the door is 14.00 euros, concession 7.00. The Museumsinsel day ticket is 24.00 euros, concession 12.00, and the 3 day Museumspass Berlin is 32.00 euros, concession 16.00. Under 18s go free. Berlin's Museumssonntag free first Sunday scheme ended with its final edition in December 2024.
Schinkel's neoclassical block on the Lustgarten, finished in 1830 as the first public museum in Prussia, gutted in the Second World War and reconstructed in the 1960s. The eighteen Ionic columns across the front are the reason people photograph it more than they enter it.
The 22 metre Rotunda under its oculus, the Praying Boy bronze of around 300 BC, the archaic Berlin Goddess of about 570 BC, the Enthroned Goddess from Taranto, the Amphora of the Berlin Painter and the Roman floor with the Hildesheim silver treasure.
Check Live Availability & Prices
No timed entry slot applies to the single ticket, so the date is the only choice you make, and tickets are sold up to four weeks ahead. Live prices below.
Which Altes Museum Ticket to Pick
There is one bookable product and it is straightforward: entry for the day at $16, covering the full Antikensammlung display across the Greek and Etruscan ground floor and the Roman upper floor, plus whatever temporary show is running. At present that is Founded on Antiquity, on the museum's own origins as Berlin's first, which runs to 10 January 2027. There is no timed slot to hit, so a ticket bought online is really a queue-skipping device and a fixed price rather than a reservation.
It suits a particular visitor, and it is worth being blunt about who. If classical antiquity interests you, this is a serious collection in a building that was designed around it, and 90 minutes to two hours here is well spent. If it does not, this is the Museum Island house to skip.
It is the quietest of them, the display is conventional, and a first-time visitor with one afternoon will get more out of the Neues Museum or the Alte Nationalgalerie. Nobody at the desk is going to tell you that.
What the ticket does not cover is the rest of the island. The door price is 14.00 euros, and if you intend to see more than this one house the 24.00 euro Museumsinsel day ticket or the 32.00 euro three day Museumspass is the cheaper route, the pass paying for itself at roughly two and a half single museums. Work out your realistic count first, and if you are weighing this against the alternatives, the other museums in Berlin worth your time are set out side by side there.
Altes Museum Tickets
One product, one decision: entry for the date you choose, collected without queueing at the counter.
from $16 Altes Museum Entrance Ticket
- Schinkel's 1830 rotunda
- Greek & Roman antiquities
- Quietest room on the island
What You'll See
The Rotunda is the point of the building. A 22 metre high domed drum modelled on the Pantheon in Rome, ringed with antique statues and lit through an oculus, it is the room Schinkel called the sanctuary of the museum, and he meant the whole visit to start by stopping there. Most people cut straight through it into the galleries without looking up at the coffered dome.
Coming out of it you meet the Praying Boy, a Greek bronze of a naked youth from Rhodes of around 300 BC, positioned exactly where Schinkel wanted visitors to encounter him.
The ground floor holds the Greek and Etruscan material, including the Berlin Goddess, an archaic grave statue of around 570 BC, the Enthroned Goddess from Taranto in terracotta and limestone from the 5th century BC, and the Amphora of the Berlin Painter, the Attic red figure vase that gave that anonymous painter his name. Upstairs is the Roman floor, with portrait heads of Caesar and Cleopatra and the Hildesheim silver treasure of Roman tableware. The upper rooms are visibly quieter than the Greek ground floor, which is a good reason to do them properly rather than at a trot.
How a Visit Flows
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09:55
Across the Lustgarten
Come up from U5 Museumsinsel and walk across the lawn to the colonnade. Ten minutes before opening is enough on a weekday, and the front steps are the best photograph of the building you will get.
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10:00
Bags first
Cloakroom and lockers are on the ground floor and large rucksacks are not allowed in the galleries, so deal with that before you go up rather than being turned back at a doorway.
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10:10
Stop in the Rotunda
Walk in, stand still and look up at the oculus and the coffered dome. Before the tour groups land you can usually have the room to yourself, which is when it works as Schinkel intended.
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10:30
The Greek floor
Out past the Praying Boy into the Greek and Etruscan rooms: the Berlin Goddess, the Enthroned Goddess from Taranto, the Amphora of the Berlin Painter. An hour here is comfortable.
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11:30
Upstairs to Rome
The Roman portrait heads, Caesar and Cleopatra among them, and the Hildesheim silver. Quieter than downstairs and the part most people cut short because they are running out of attention.
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12:15
Lunch on the lawn
The Lustgarten is free public space and works for a takeaway lunch between museums. If you are moving on, remember this house shuts at 17:00 on weekdays while the Neues Museum and Alte Nationalgalerie run to 18:00.
Know Before You Go
Not suitable for
- Visitors with one afternoon on Museum Island who are not specifically interested in classical antiquity
- Children wanting something hands-on, since this is statues, vases and portrait heads behind glass
- Anyone arriving after about 16:00 on a weekday, when a 17:00 close leaves too little time to be worth the price
What to bring
- Your ticket on your phone, ready to scan at the door
- A small bag only, since large rucksacks have to go downstairs before the galleries
- A takeaway lunch if you are museum-hopping, because the Lustgarten in front is the obvious place to eat it
- Comfortable shoes for the stone floors and the front steps, which are more of a climb than they look
Not allowed
- Flash photography anywhere in the collection
- Tripods of any size
- Large rucksacks in the galleries, which go to the cloakroom on the ground floor
Insider Tips
Six things regular visitors work out and first-timers do not.
- Tuesday or Wednesday at 10:00 is the quiet window, and you can often photograph the Rotunda empty before the first tour groups arrive.
- Walk into the Rotunda and stop. Almost everyone strides through it to the galleries and never looks up at the dome or the oculus.
- After the Bode-Museum this is the least crowded serious option on the island, so it is the one to switch to when the Neues Museum queue is long.
- If you hold a Museumsinsel day ticket, do this house before 17:00 rather than saving it for last, because on weekdays it shuts an hour before the Neues Museum and the Alte Nationalgalerie.
- The upper Roman rooms are quieter than the Greek ground floor, and that is where the Caesar and Cleopatra portraits and the Hildesheim silver are.
- Staying in Berlin more than a day makes the standalone ticket poor value; the 32.00 euro three day pass covers itself at about two and a half museums.
Where You're Headed
Altes Museum Tickets FAQ
How much are Altes Museum tickets?
A single ticket at the door is 14.00 euros, concession 7.00 euros, and under 18s go free. Booked ahead through our partner it is $16, which lets you walk past the counter queue. Concession is a flat 50 percent and covers schoolchildren, students, apprentices, volunteers, ALG I jobseekers and people with a disability degree of at least 50 percent.
What time does the Altes Museum open and close?
It opens at 10:00 every day it is open, closing at 17:00 Tuesday to Friday and 18:00 on Saturday and Sunday. It is closed every Monday. The weekday 17:00 close is the thing that catches people out, because the Neues Museum and the Alte Nationalgalerie a few steps away stay open until 18:00.
Is the Altes Museum the same as the Neues Museum?
No. They are two separate buildings on Museum Island with separate tickets. The Altes Museum holds the Greek, Etruscan and Roman collection in Schinkel's 1830 building on the Lustgarten. The Neues Museum, behind it, holds the Egyptian collection including Nefertiti, and it is the busier of the two by a wide margin.
What is the Rotunda in the Altes Museum?
A 22 metre high domed drum at the centre of the building, modelled on the Pantheon in Rome, ringed with antique statues and lit through an oculus in the dome. Schinkel called it the sanctuary of the museum and designed the whole visit to begin there. It is the single reason to go in even if antiquity is not your subject.
How long does it take to visit the Altes Museum?
90 minutes to two hours covers the permanent Greek, Etruscan and Roman display comfortably. An hour is enough if you only want the Rotunda, the Praying Boy and the headline pieces. It is a smaller commitment than the Neues Museum, which is part of why it works as a second stop rather than a first.
Is the Altes Museum included in the Berlin Museum Pass?
Yes. The 3 day Museumspass Berlin at 32.00 euros, concession 16.00 euros, includes it, as does the 24.00 euro Museumsinsel day ticket, concession 12.00, which covers the open island houses on a single day. Either beats buying singles once you are seeing more than one museum.
Who designed the Altes Museum and when was it built?
Karl Friedrich Schinkel, between 1825 and 1830, as Prussia's first public museum. The building was gutted in the Second World War and reconstructed in the 1960s, which is why the interior reads more plainly than the colonnaded front suggests. The Rotunda survives as the room the whole plan turns around.
Where is the Praying Boy statue in Berlin?
In the Altes Museum, placed to meet visitors coming out of the Rotunda, exactly as Schinkel intended. It is a Greek bronze of a naked youth from Rhodes of around 300 BC and one of the best known objects in the Antikensammlung. Do not go looking for it in the Neues Museum; people regularly do.
What Visitors Say
We went in mainly for the Rotunda and stayed two hours. Tuesday at ten, almost nobody there, and the Roman floor upstairs was completely empty.
Honestly, if Greek vases are not your thing this is not the one to pick on the island. Fine building, fine collection, but we enjoyed the Neues Museum far more the following day.
Arrived at half four on a Thursday thinking we had until six and got turned out at five. Do this one earlier in the day if you are doing several museums.