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Description [EN]
The Ethnological Museum of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin is housed in the Humboldt Forum in the reconstructed Berlin Palace. Its holdings comprise around half a million ethnographic and archaeological objects from Africa, the Americas, Asia and Australia, as well as numerous audio, visual, film and written records. The collection is internationally regarded as particularly extensive and scientifically significant.
Its roots go back to former royal cabinets of curiosity; over centuries objects reached Berlin through trade relations and expeditions. In the 19th century the holdings were systematically ordered and gradually developed into an independent ethnological collection. Items from collecting activities of that period also include objects from famous voyages of discovery and diplomatic gifts, among them a feather cloak from Hawaii and exhibits from James Cook’s collection.
From the late 19th century a dedicated museum building for ethnology existed; collecting policies and modes of presentation shifted from cabinets of curiosity to systematic ethnographic documentation. Lack of space in the 20th century led to the relocation of large parts of the holdings to Dahlem; presentation for a broader public was developed in parallel. Wartime storage, seizures and the division of Germany had a considerable impact on ownership and accessibility. After reunification most parts could be brought together again, while some thousands of objects remain unresolved.
Today large parts of the collection remain in Dahlem as a research campus, while central pieces are shown in the Humboldt Forum. In addition to regionally organized collections, the museum also houses the ethnomusicology department with the Berlin Phonogramm-Archiv and a specialist research library. Provenance questions and restitution agreements, for example with Nigeria, are now part of the institution’s work. Notes on chemical conservation treatments of organic objects indicate that some items may be contaminated and potentially hazardous to handle.