Berlin
Humboldt Forum fully opened as a “place for debates”.
Numerous guests come to the ceremony for the last partial opening of the Humboldt Forum. photo
© Joerg Carstensen/dpa
Last year, the Humboldt Forum was opened in the first two stages. The cultural project is now fully accessible. The Benin bronzes, which are considered colonial loot, can also be seen.
With a ceremony on Friday, the Humboldt Forum in Berlin is now fully accessible in all exhibition areas. The 680 million euro project behind the controversial reconstructed palace facade was first opened digitally in 2020 and then last year in the first two stages.
“The house is standing, the roof is tight, but the work in and on the building begins now,” said Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth during the ceremony. “Now the Humboldt Forum, as a subject of debate, will become a place of debate.” The opening is an exciting and tense moment, said the Green politician. The Humboldt Forum should become a “house of critical and self-critical examination of the history of colonialism”.
In what is currently the most important cultural project in Germany, the Benin bronzes, which are considered colonial loot, can now also be seen. They are presented in the roughly 16,000 square meter east wing with around 20,000 other objects.
The building in the heart of Berlin, covering a total of around 40,000 square meters, is shared by two museums of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, the State of Berlin, the Humboldt University and the Humboldt Forum Foundation. Exhibits from Asia, Africa, America, Oceania and Berlin are on display.
Information on the history of the location Architecture of the Humboldt Forum City Museum on the Humboldt Forum Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation on the Humboldt Forum Humboldt Laboratory in the Humboldt Forum