Jewish Museum Berlin
History museum · Kreuzberg ·
Architecturally striking museum chronicles German-Jewish history and Holocaust.
Architecturally striking museum chronicles German-Jewish history and Holocaust.
"The museum is as much an architectural experience as it is a collection: the fusion of an 18th-century structure with Daniel Libeskind’s jagged contemporary addition creates a disquieting, intentionally disorienting path—slanting floors and jutting walls—into exhibitions that move from basic tenets of Judaism to underground, sparse displays documenting the Holocaust. When the modern part is quiet, the architecture amplifies the emotional weight—confused footfalls and sighs—making the space both perversely beautiful and profoundly affecting." - Liz Humphreys, Krystin Arneson
"A master class in museum design and how architecture can not only complement and enhance a collection but become part of it (the space is a fusion of an 18th-century building and a contemporary addition by Daniel Libeskind that slices against that original structure like a dagger scraping bone), Jewish Museum Berlin is as disquieting as it is perversely beautiful. Through that original structure (which is just as chilling in its own right, with contextual exhibits explaining basic tenets of Judaism in childlike simplest terms for Europeans who’ve never been tangentially exposed to the religion due to the practicing population’s annihilation and exile) visitors descend underground into Libeskind's order-less creation in which documents of the Holocaust and surrounding events are held. The floors slant, uneven, and the walls jut out at odd angles. Which way are you supposed to go? What horrors await you? When this part of the museum is silent, as it mostly is, all you can hear are confused footfalls and sighs." - Jennifer Ceaser
"ZH: Yes. And, uh, I actually went on a pilgrimage there to visit her at the museum which was an incredible experience."
"The architecturally striking Jewish Museum is the best place in Berlin to get an overview of German-Jewish relations and to understand the nature of the integration ofthe two cultures before the Holocaust’s horrors. Designed by Daniel Libeskind, the building is clad in polished silver metal and features severe angles and thin window slits that create a deliberately jarring impression. The interior is equally intriguing, especially the three long, intersecting corridors that lead to installations addressing aspects of the Holocaust: a garden of pillars meant to disorient; a windowless Holocaust Tower; and a space filled with thousands of grimacing iron masks that grind together as you walk on them. Across the street, the Jewish Academy (open to the public) has a related research center, library, and educational institution."
"The architecturally striking Jewish Museum is the best place in Berlin to get an overview of German-Jewish relations and to understand the nature of the integration ofthe two cultures before the Holocaust’s horrors. Designed by Daniel Libeskind, the building is clad in polished silver metal and features severe angles and thin window slits that create a deliberately jarring impression. The interior is equally intriguing, especially the three long, intersecting corridors that lead to installations addressing aspects of the Holocaust: a garden of pillars meant to disorient; a windowless Holocaust Tower; and a space filled with thousands of grimacing iron masks that grind together as you walk on them. Across the street, the Jewish Academy (open to the public) has a related research center, library, and educational institution."