The Best Museums

Financial prosperity, artistic flair, and academic curiosity have helped the Germans develop some of the finest museums anywhere.

Gemäldegalerie, Berlin: This is one of Europe's leading art museums, with a celebrated collection of works from the 13th to the 18th centuries. The cavalcade of major European masters ranges from Botticelli and Brueghel to Vermeer and Velásquez. Divided during the Cold War, the collection has been reunited in one home since 1998. And the lighting and the displays are better than ever.

Pergamon Museum, Berlin: Built in 1930 on an island in the Spree, this museum contains entirely reconstructed temples from ancient Assyria, Greece, Rome, and Sumer. And don't miss the sprawling exhibitions devoted to the ancient art of the Islamic world and the Far East either.

Zwinger, Dresden: A vast rectangular esplanade flanked with pavilions, heroic statues, formal gardens, and galleries, this museum was designed for Augustus the Strong (elector of Saxony and king of Poland) by his favorite architect, Pöppelmann (1662-1736). The destruction of the Zwinger (in the final days of World War II), one of Dresden's most beautiful buildings, was a great loss, though its postwar reconstruction was a triumph for the East German government. Among the treasures amassed inside are paintings, 18th-century Dresden porcelain, and an ornamental collection of antique weapons.

Deutsches Museum, Munich: Since 1925, this museum has been one of the most important showcases of science and technology in the world. Occupying an island in the Isar River, it features many hands-on and historical exhibits.

Alte Pinakothek, Munich: This massive and symmetrical building is one of the most visible in Munich, with a wraparound garden where urbanites like to walk during lunch hour. Inside is a staggering assortment of important paintings from every era, scattered over two sprawling floors of dignified splendor.

Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site, Dachau, near Munich: Heinrich Himmler first organized Dachau as a concentration camp for enemies of the Reich in 1933. An escaped inmate, Joseph Rovan, described it as "implacable, perverted, an organization that was totally murderous, a marvelous machine for the debasement and dehumanizing of man." Today, it's one of the most poignant museums in the world.

Stadtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich: Housed in the former villa of portrait painter Franz von Lenbach, this museum has a stunning and internationally renowned collection of modern art, including the Blaue Reiter ("Blue Rider") period, best represented by Kandinsky. It also has a rich collection of Gothic artwork.

Gutenberg Museum, Mainz: This museum is one of the most comprehensive tributes to printing and publishing anywhere in the world. The bulky presses on which Johannes Gutenberg used movable type (42 lines per page) and two of the earliest Bibles ever printed are the primary displays here. There's also a historical rundown on the science and technologies that have dominated the printing industry ever since.

Museum Ludwig, Cologne: This is the home of one of the world's largest collections of the works of Pablo Picasso, equaled only by the Picasso museums of Barcelona and Paris. The museum's collection was beefed up when Irene Ludwig, widow of the late German art patron, Peter Ludwig, donated 774 works of Picasso's to the museum.

Wallraf-Richartz Museum/Foundation Corboud, Cologne: The oldest museum in Cologne presents one of Germany's grandest collections of art, covering the 14th to the 19th centuries. The collection of Gothic works alone is one of the finest in Europe, and the galleries are a virtual encyclopedia of art, from Flemish old masters to the French Impressionists.

Kunsthalle, Hamburg: The leading art museum in northern Germany, the Kunsthalle is one of the most important in Europe, with some 3,000 paintings in its treasure trove, along with some 400 sculptures. Some of its rare treasures date from the 14th century, including works by Bertram, the leading German master of the time. One section of the gallery also displays modern works, including art by such artists as Andy Warhol, Joseph Beuys, and Picasso.

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