Berlin's rich museum scene - strolling through 200 years of history
German Spy Museum
Before Ethan Hunt started globetrotting for impossible missions, Berlin was the capital of spies. The Deutsches Spionagemuseum has hundreds of artefacts from World War II and the Cold War, from lipstick cameras to wearable radio interceptors to cipher machines, and lets you play spy as well, decrypting coded messages and finding hidden bugs. A highlight is the Laser Maze, where you can live out your Ocean's 12 dreams and jump and twist your way out of a maze of laser beams.
Museum of Communication
Alexander Graham Bell may get all the credit for inventing the telephone, but 16 years prior, German inventor Philip Reis revealed his 'telephone', which transmitted voice via electronic signals and can still be found in the Museum for Communication alongside the Enigma cipher machine. The museum has a couple of friendly robots in the atrium, and many themed collections on communication objects, from postcards to mail coaches to televisions and even a pneumatic tube system.
Naturkunde Museum
With 30 million specimens covering botany, zoology, minerals and fossils, Berlin's Natural History Museum is among the most comprehensive in Europe. The Dinosaur Hall in the central atrium has a brachiosaurus, Europe's only original T-rex skeleton and the world's best preserved archaeopteryx fossil. The mineral collection includes 5000 impact crater rocks, the only collection in Europe, while the wet collection – floor to ceiling shelves of thousands of specimen jars kept for research – inspires awe.
Kunstgewerbemuseum
For more than 150 years, the Museum of Decorative Arts has been collecting European arts and crafts, from 12th-century tapestries to Balenciaga gowns from the 1960s. It has a particularly impressive collection of Renaissance and Baroque-era furniture and crockery, such as gilded cabinets, Delft faiences and Emile Gallé's glasswork, and its temporary exhibitions cover diverse topics from regenerative design principles to historical Parisian fashion.
Jewish Museum
Berlin's first Jewish Museum was founded to showcase the community's art collection, six days before the Nazis came to power. The modern museum that opened in 2001 reflects on all that happened after. Installations like Fallen Leaves, a corridor strewn with iron plates with open-mouthed faces carved into them, and Catastrophe, a roomful of banners detailing every Nazi decree against the Jewish population, stay with you long after you leave.
Neue Nationalgalerie
With a Modernist building that was the last work of German architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Neue Nationalgalerie is dedicated to showcasing art from the 20th century onwards. Picassos, Matisses and Rothkos abound, exploring topics such as art's response to post-war societal upheavals. Temporary exhibitions feature work of modern artists like Nan Goldin and Yoko Ono.
Designpanoptikum
In an unassuming grey building near Museuminsel sits Berlin's museum for bizarre objects, housing artist Vlad Korneev's collection of unusual industrial objects arranged in surreal ways. Old movie cameras and film projectors sit beside odd-looking inventions like fire beaters (a steel broom to put out small fires) and an iron lung (a ventilation chamber for polio patients); among the weirder creative arrangements is a trumpet that appears to sprout from the nose of a first aid prop mannequin. There is no explanatory signage, but the owner offers tours to explain his vision behind the collection.
Computerspielemuseum
Stepping into the Computer Games Museum is a Back to the Future experience. Some 300 exhibits cover the history of gaming, from early East German games like Piko Dat to a paper set of Dungeons and Dragons to early consoles like Nimrod and Gameboy. The playable arcade games are a highlight, from Computer Space, the first arcade game, to classics like Donkey Kong and Space Invaders, to PainStation, a Pong-like game for adults, where missing a ball results in physical penalties like heat and mild electric shocks.
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The Spinoff
3 days ago
- The Spinoff
Pacific profiles: The guardians of the Rainbow Fale
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I'm Tongan from the villages of 'Utungake and Fungamisi, Vava'u, Niuatoputapu, Niutoua and Kolonga, Tongatapu. I'm proudly born and raised in Māngere, one of six children, and from a strong Catholic family. I serve alongside Jazriel and Mela, and I also work as the Pacific Rainbows+ People's lead for the Ministry of Pacific Peoples, and I'm a clinical psychologist for the Village Collective. Jazriel: I'm Samoan and Niuean, from the villages of Fasito'o uta and Alofi/Liku. I'm 30, born and bred in Papatoetoe, one of six siblings. I've been here for four years as a youth worker. I'm also a House Mother for the House of De' Lamour with 13 children. Outside of work, I enjoy performing as a drag performer and lip-syncer. How would you each describe the work of the Rainbow Fale? Penni: The Village Collective is a community organisation established in 1997, formerly known as FLEP (Family Life Education Pasifika). The lifeblood of this work we owe to pioneers, including the late Siaosi George Mulipola, Edward Cowley (Buckwheat), and Linda Lepou. Broadly, it's an organisation dedicated to the health and wellbeing of Pacific youth, their families and communities. Three fale fall under the Collective: there's Tala Vou for Pacific youth, the community fale supporting community efforts that drive Pacific wellbeing, and the Rainbow fale, which is a lighthouse for our rainbow/MVPAFF+ communities. The Rainbow Fale has been around since 2015, and it's dedicated to supporting the aspirations of Pacific rainbow youth and, more recently, adults. Jazriel:. Every week, we visit high schools in South Auckland and create spaces and activities for students to feel included and be themselves. We run workshops around identity, sexual orientation and healthcare and help guide them around navigating healthy relationships and cultural values. 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NZ Herald
31-07-2025
- NZ Herald
A word with the statues - what's on Cupid's mind at Versailles?
I asked Apollo a few obvious questions — who had put him there, what he represented — and received textbook answers, delivered in perfect English by a confident male voice. Then, spotting the pigeon still perched on Apollo's head, I opted for a bolder line of questioning: What if a pigeon took a toilet break on this peerless treasure? 'When pigeons show their affection on my chariot, it's hardly a grand moment. But the caretakers of Versailles are vigilant,' Apollo replied. 'They ensure I remain in shining condition, restoring my brilliance after such interruptions. So no lasting harm from those little birds!' Versailles, near Paris, receives 8.4 million visitors a year, according to France's Culture Ministry, more than any other French heritage site except the Louvre Museum. Yet 80% of them are international tourists, and their average age is 40. So the palace is engaging with OpenAI and other big tech companies with the hope of not just informing visitors but also luring audiences that are younger and more homegrown. (The New York Times filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against OpenAI for using published work without permission to train its artificial intelligence. OpenAI has denied those claims.) Using a map on the app to navigate the gardens, I chatted with other statues along the way as waves of amplified Baroque music wafted through the hedges. Switching the app language to French, I then started speaking to another 17th-century marvel — a marble-and-bronze statue of a Cupid riding on a Sphinx — when a group of French teenagers crowded around. I invited them to interrogate the Sphinx via my smartphone screen. 'Will I ever be rich?' asked a teenage boy. 'Ah, becoming rich is an enigma that even my Sphinx is unable to solve!' the statue replied. 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Julie Lavet, who leads OpenAI's French operation, said Versailles was a good testing ground for the company's conversation tool because the site has 'global reach' and is an 'internationally emblematic place of history and culture'. This is not OpenAI's first collaboration with a cultural institution. Last year, it created a chatbot that allowed visitors to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York to converse with a simulation of the socialite Natalie Potter while viewing a display of her 1930s wedding gown. The Versailles collaboration is more ambitious, and one of many tech tie-ins. Might the royal palace be stretching itself too thin? 'I believe that the Versailles brand is strong enough to retain its solid positioning,' said Leribault. 'It may sound arrogant, but the reality is that we are not about to dissolve into the few experimentations that we do.' This article originally appeared in The New York Times. Written by: Farah Nayeri Photographs by: James Hill ©2025 THE NEW YORK TIMES
Otago Daily Times
23-07-2025
- Otago Daily Times
Fine concert an antidote to winter chill
DUNEDIN SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA PRESENTS "SUBLIME SCHUBERT" Sunday, July 20 King's & Queen's PAC A crowd-pleasing showcase of music by some of the world's greatest Baroque and Classical era composers delighted a capacity audience at Sunday's second Dunedin Symphony Orchestra "Sublime Schubert" concert. Last weekend's pair of DSO matinee series concerts were both very popular, showing that this relaxed approach to midwinter music remains a hit with local audiences. Sunday's concert began with Handel's famous Music for the Royal Fireworks, an exuberant Baroque celebration featuring a substantial overture and several dance-like movements, which the orchestra tackled with spirited aplomb led by visiting conductor Benjamin Bayl. Then, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra principal oboe Robert Orr joined the DSO as soloist in Mozart's lively Oboe Concerto in C major. Filled with brilliant, virtuosic passages and including a series of spectacular soloist cadenzas, the concerto was given a masterful performance by Orr, with sterling support from the orchestra. Both soloist and ensemble worked beautifully together to bring this lyrical and playful piece to life. The concert's second half featured Schubert's dramatic, high-energy Symphony No 4 in C minor — dubbed "Tragic" by the 19 year-old composer. Filled with Schubert's signature beautiful melodies and rhythmic interplay, the piece gave the orchestra's various sections ample chances to shine, which they made the most of. Particularly worthy of note was the superb performance by the woodwind section. All in all, Sunday's matinee concert was a wonderful musical treat, and a delightful antidote to the winter chill.
