Ethnological Museum Berlin

The Ethnological Museum Berlin is an ethnographic collection housing over 500,000 objects from cultures of Africa, Asia, the Americas, and Oceania, located within the Humboldt Forum in central Berlin. The displays spread across multiple floors and share the space with the Museum of Asian Art.

The collection traces back to the 17th-century Kunstkammer of Brandenburg-Prussian rulers and was formally established as the Royal Museum for Ethnology in 1886. Over the centuries it grew through collecting efforts and expeditions into one of Europe's largest ethnographic holdings.

The museum displays everyday objects and religious items from many cultures that connect to how people live today. You can see how different regions developed their own ways of making things and what those creations mean to their communities.

The museum is part of the Humboldt Forum in central Berlin and can be reached from different entrances of the complex. Plan to spend several hours exploring since the collections are spread across many rooms and floors.

Within the museum sits the Berlin Phonogram Archive, holding one of the world's oldest collections of sound recordings for ethnomusicology. This archive of recordings documents music traditions from many cultures and dates from a period when capturing sound was still quite rare.

Location: Bezirk Mitte von Berlin

Inception: 1886

Part of: Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Website: https://smb.museum/en/museums-institutions/ethnologisches-museum/home

GPS coordinates: 52.45667,13.29194

Latest update: December 7, 2025 20:23