Bode Museum

The Bode Museum occupies the narrow northern tip of Berlin's Museumsinsel beneath a commanding neo-Baroque dome, housing three distinct collections: sculpture from late antiquity to the Rococo, Byzantine art, and the Münzkabinett — one of the world's largest numismatic collections. Kaiser Wilhelm II inaugurated the building in 1904 as the Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum; architect Ernst von Ihne designed the facade so that its dome reads from the Spree like the prow of a ship emerging from the water. Heavily damaged in World War II, the building stood as a partial ruin in East Berlin for decades before a full restoration culminated in its reopening in 2006. Ongoing provenance research has since made the collection's own wartime and postwar history a live subject: many works disappeared after 1945 or passed through unclear chains of custody. At dusk the dome reflects in the Spree, and the colonnaded riverside walkway offers one of the quietest strolls on the island.