The Humboldt Forum is a museum dedicated to human history, art and culture, located in the Berlin Palace on the Museum Island in the historic centre of Berlin. It is named in honour of the Prussian scholars Wilhelm and Alexander von Humboldt. Considered the "German equivalent" of the British Museum, the Humboldt Forum houses the non-European collections of the Berlin State Museums, temporary exhibitions and public events. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it opened digitally on 16 December 2020 and became accessible to the general public on 20 July 2021.
View of the Humboldt Forum in the rebuilt Berlin Palace (2023)
North and east facades of Humboldt Forum.
A historical boat from the island of Luf in modern Papua New Guinea
A Cuauhcoatl
The Berlin Palace, formally the Royal Palace, adjacent to the Berlin Cathedral and the Museum Island in the Mitte area of Berlin, was the main residence of the House of Hohenzollern from 1443 to 1918. Expanded by order of King Frederick I of Prussia according to plans by Andreas Schlüter from 1689 to 1713, it was thereafter considered a major work of Prussian Baroque architecture. The royal palace was one of Berlin’s largest buildings and shaped the cityscape with its 60-meter-high (200 ft) dome.
The west and north façades of the reconstructed Berlin Palace. Completed in 2020, the palace now houses the Humboldt Forum museum.
The Berlin Palace (left) with the National Kaiser Wilhelm Monument to Wilhelm I (destroyed 1950), c. 1900
The Berlin Palace (letter A) on the Memhardt-Plan, 1652
The Renaissance residence (palace) in the 17th century (as painted by Abraham Begeyn)