Humboldt Box

The Humboldt Box was a modern five-story building with glass panels standing 28 meters tall beside Museum Island at Schloßplatz. The structure contained exhibition spaces and viewing terraces overlooking the Lustgarten and Berlin Cathedral.

The structure opened in June 2011 as an information center for the planned Humboldt Forum and was demolished in February 2019. It was designed from the start as a temporary building to keep the public informed during the museum's construction phase.

The building displayed exhibitions from Berlin's Ethnological Museum and Museum of Asian Art, offering visitors a preview of what the future Humboldt Forum would present. People could see cultural collections that would later move to the permanent institution nearby.

Access to the building was straightforward from Schloßplatz, as it stood near other major cultural institutions in the area. The viewing terraces offered open sight lines to the surroundings without requiring special equipment.

The most distinctive feature was the turquoise exterior, which stood out sharply from the classical stone buildings on Museum Island. In its first 50 days after opening, the building attracted over 100,000 visitors eager to learn about the planned Humboldt Forum.

Location: Berlin

Location: Bezirk Mitte von Berlin

Official opening: June 29, 2011

Height: 28 m

GPS coordinates: 52.51770,13.40043

Latest update: December 8, 2025 19:53