Humboldt Forum

The Humboldt Forum opposite Berlin Cathedral is Berlin's newest major museum, opened in 2020 inside the reconstructed outer shell of the Berlin City Palace blown up in 1950. Behind the Baroque facades of Andreas Schluter and a modernist eastern side lies a deliberately neutral interior that houses the Ethnological Museum and the Museum for Asian Art, with collections from Africa, Oceania, Asia and the Americas. The Forum stands at the centre of Germany's debate on colonial provenance and restitution, especially around the Benin Bronzes, gradually returned to Nigeria from 2022. The rooftop terrace offers an open view across Lustgarten, Spree and Museum Island and is freely accessible, as is the ground floor with its sculptural staircase.