Is the Berlinische Galerie worth visiting and what does a ticket cost?
The Berlinische Galerie occupies a converted glass warehouse on Alte Jakobstrasse in Kreuzberg, a few minutes from Checkpoint Charlie but far enough off the tourist line that most visitors never reach it. It is the state museum of modern art, photography and architecture, and it collects one thing: art made in Berlin, roughly from 1880 to 1980, plus a heavy programme of contemporary shows. This guide covers the ticket price, the Tuesday closing day that trips people up, the monthly cheap day, and what is actually in the building.
About This Experience
Alte Jakobstrasse 124 to 128, Kreuzberg, 10969 Berlin, on a quiet block a short walk south of Checkpoint Charlie and around the corner from the Jüdisches Museum.
U6 to Kochstrasse and Checkpoint Charlie leaves you about a kilometre away, roughly 12 minutes on foot, and Hallesches Tor on U1 and U6 is about 1.2 km. Buses land closer: M29 to Waldeckpark or bus 248 to Jüdisches Museum are both around 400 m from the door.
Wednesday to Monday, 10:00 to 18:00. There is no regular late evening opening, which is the main practical difference from the Kulturforum houses across town, so do not plan an after-work visit here.
A day ticket is 12.00 euros, reduced 7.00 euros, and it covers the collection floor and the temporary exhibitions together with no add-on pricing. Entry is free for visitors under 18, for refugees and for members of the museum's association. On the first Wednesday of each month, Happy Wednesday puts everyone on the 7.00 euro rate. The three-day Museum Pass Berlin includes this museum.
A 1965 industrial hall with an 11 metre ceiling, built close to the Berlin Wall so the West Berlin senate could stockpile window glass against another blockade. Architect Jörg Fricke converted it, and it reopened in its present form in 2004 with nearly 4,000 square metres of exhibition space.
Otto Dix's 1926 portrait The Poet Iwar von Luecken, the Hannah Hoech estate and the Dada holdings around it, Grosz, Meidner and Jeanne Mammen from the Weimar years, and architecture drawings and models collected as a discipline in their own right.
Check Live Availability & Prices
One ticket covers the collection and every temporary show in the building. Live dates and prices are below.
Which Berlinische Galerie Ticket to Pick
There is one ticket and it is all-inclusive. At $14 online, or 12.00 euros at the door with a reduced rate of 7.00 euros, it opens the collection floor and whatever temporary exhibitions are running, with nothing sold separately. The bookable ticket shows 4.6 from 171 reviews.
That is a small sample by Berlin standards, and it is the honest measure of this place: well regarded by the people who make it there, and visited by far fewer of them than the museum deserves.
It suits anyone who wants Berlin's own art rather than a European survey. Everything here was made in or about the city, which gives the rooms a coherence that a general collection cannot match, and it gives you a version of Berlin between the wars that no history museum quite conveys. Photography and architecture are full collecting departments, not sidelines, so it also earns a place in a photography itinerary alongside the Museum für Fotografie.
Weekday mornings are close to empty, and it never gets Museum Island busy.
What it does not offer is old masters, antiquities or a late evening. Close at 18:00 every open day, closed all day Tuesday while most of Berlin closes on Monday, and there is no glass-hall landmark to photograph on the way in. If you want the big names of European painting, go elsewhere first and come here second, or compare it against the other modern art museums in Berlin before spending an afternoon.
Turn up on the first Wednesday of the month and everyone pays 7.00 euros with no proof needed. Berlin's old free-first-Sunday scheme is gone; the last edition ran on 1 December 2024.
Berlinische Galerie Entry Ticket
A single day ticket covering the Berlin collection floor and the temporary exhibition programme in the same building.
from $14 Berlinische Galerie Museum of Modern Art Ticket
- Berlin art from 1870 on
- Dada & Neue Sachlichkeit
- Converted Kreuzberg warehouse
What You'll See
The collection display is Art in Berlin 1880 to 1980: roughly 250 works spanning painting, prints, photography, architecture and archive material, all of it made in or about the city. Otto Dix's 1926 portrait The Poet Iwar von Luecken is the signature painting, and the museum cafe is named Cafe Dix after it. The Dada holdings are exceptional, built around Hannah Hoech, whose estate and archive the museum keeps, and the Weimar years are the strong suit: Grosz, Meidner, Jeanne Mammen and the Neue Sachlichkeit generation, with post-war and West Berlin painting carrying the story through to 1980.
Two departments set this museum apart from other modern collections. Architecture is collected as a discipline, with drawings and models including material from practices such as Nicholas Grimshaw and Partners, and photography is a full department rather than an afterthought. The temporary programme runs heavy and in parallel with the collection floor, with recent and upcoming names including Marc Brandenburg and Emilio Vedova, so the balance between historic hang and current show shifts through the year.
Check the current programme before you build an afternoon around one artist.
How a Visit Flows
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10:00
Arrive at opening
Doors open at 10:00 Wednesday to Monday. Get off the M29 bus at Waldeckpark or the 248 at Jüdisches Museum, both around 400 m away, rather than walking the kilometre from Kochstrasse.
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10:10
Stand in the entrance hall
Give the building a minute before the art. The volume of the old glass warehouse, ceiling at 11 metres, is obvious the moment you walk in and it explains why the shows here can be so large.
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10:20
The Berlin collection
Work the 1880 to 1980 display in order. Dada and Hannah Hoech, the Weimar painters, then the post-war and West Berlin rooms. The Dix portrait is the one to slow down for.
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11:30
Photography and architecture
Both are proper departments here. The architecture drawings and models are the part visitors least expect and most often mention afterwards.
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12:15
The temporary show
The exhibition programme runs alongside the collection and is included in the same ticket. Ninety minutes to two hours covers the whole building at a reasonable pace.
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13:00
Cafe Dix
Cake, coffee, salads and a changing hot menu, and the building, its event spaces and the cafe are all wheelchair accessible. This corner of Kreuzberg is thin on options, so it is worth using.
Know Before You Go
Not suitable for
- Tuesday visitors, since this museum closes Tuesdays while most of Berlin closes Mondays
- Anyone hoping for an evening visit, because there is no regular late opening and doors shut at 18:00
- Visitors after old masters or antiquities, which is not what this collection does
What to bring
- Concession proof if you are claiming the 7.00 euro reduced rate on a normal day
- A Museum Pass Berlin if you already hold one, since it covers this museum
- Ninety minutes to two hours of clear time for the collection plus one temporary show
- An appetite, because Cafe Dix is the best thing to eat within a few streets
Not allowed
- Large bags, cases and rucksacks carried through the galleries
- Food and drink outside the cafe
- Touching the works, or leaning on the architecture models and vitrines
Insider Tips
Six things worth knowing before you set out for Kreuzberg.
- Check the closing day twice. This museum shuts on Tuesdays while most of the city shuts on Mondays, and people lose an afternoon to that.
- The first Wednesday of the month is the cheap day: 7.00 euros for everyone, and quieter than the free evenings at the state museums.
- Take the bus rather than the U-Bahn. M29 to Waldeckpark or 248 to Jüdisches Museum drops you 400 m away, against a kilometre from Kochstrasse.
- Read the current programme first. Berlin's modern art houses are exhibition-led, and what is up decides whether the trip is worth an afternoon.
- The building is half the story: an 11 metre Cold War glass store rather than a purpose-built gallery, and you feel the volume immediately.
- Weekday mornings are near empty. If crowds are what put you off Museum Island, that is the argument for coming here instead.
Where You're Headed
Berlinische Galerie FAQ
How much does the Berlinische Galerie cost?
A day ticket is 12.00 euros at the door, reduced 7.00 euros, and it covers the collection and the temporary exhibitions together. Booked online, the entry ticket runs at $14. Visitors under 18, refugees and members of the museum's association enter free.
What day is the Berlinische Galerie closed?
Every Tuesday. It opens Wednesday to Monday, 10:00 to 18:00. That is the reverse of most Berlin museums, which close on Mondays, and it is the single most common way to waste a trip out to Kreuzberg.
Is the Berlinische Galerie free on any day?
Not free, but cheap once a month: Happy Wednesday on the first Wednesday of each month puts every visitor on the 7.00 euro reduced rate with no proof required. Under 18s are free at any time. Berlin's Museumssonntag free-first-Sunday scheme is discontinued, its last edition having run on 1 December 2024.
How do you get to the Berlinische Galerie by U-Bahn?
U6 to Kochstrasse and Checkpoint Charlie is the usual route, about a kilometre and roughly 12 minutes on foot, and Hallesches Tor on U1 and U6 is about 1.2 km. Buses get closer: M29 to Waldeckpark and bus 248 to Jüdisches Museum are both about 400 m from the entrance.
What is on show at the Berlinische Galerie?
The collection display is Art in Berlin 1880 to 1980, roughly 250 works covering painting, prints, photography, architecture and archive material, with Otto Dix, Hannah Hoech, George Grosz and Jeanne Mammen among the names. A heavy temporary programme runs alongside it, with recent and upcoming names including Marc Brandenburg and Emilio Vedova.
How long do you need at the Berlinische Galerie?
Ninety minutes to two hours covers the collection floor plus one temporary exhibition at a comfortable pace. It is a single large building rather than a campus, so there is no walking time to budget between wings.
Does the Museum Pass Berlin include the Berlinische Galerie?
Yes. The three-day Museum Pass Berlin includes this museum, so if you already hold one there is no need to buy a separate ticket at the desk.
What Visitors Say
Two hours on a Thursday morning and I shared the Weimar rooms with maybe six other people. The Dix portrait alone justified the trip out to Kreuzberg.
We turned up on a Tuesday. Closed. Everything else in Berlin shuts on Monday so it never occurred to us to check. Went back on the Wednesday and it was excellent.
I came for the photography and stayed for the architecture drawings, which I did not expect at all. The old glass warehouse gives the big rooms a scale you notice.