On Berlin’s Museum Island, the Neues Museum tells two stories at once: the histories of the objects inside and the history of the building that displays them. Friedrich August Stüler designed the museum, which was constructed between 1843 and 1855. Its nineteenth-century rooms were conceived as part of a larger museum landscape, not as a neutral container. Architectural forms, decorated interiors and exhibition spaces were intended to guide visitors through collections that ranged across ancient cultures and periods.
The building suffered severe damage during the Second World War and remained closed for decades. Emergency protection work began in the 1980s, but a comprehensive restoration did not start until 2003. The project, led by the office of British architect David Chipperfield, repaired the structure while retaining visible traces of destruction where possible. Rather than reconstruct every room as if the war had never happened, the restoration made the building’s breaks and continuities part of the visitor’s experience.
