Part of the Shore Excursion from the cruise. Great place to see real landmarks and touch history…read more 30 minutes to see almost everything but I'll guarantee the things you see will stay in your memory for a long time. A must see for anyone interested in history.

Ian's knowledge of all things WWII is pretty terrifying and he guided us to the Allied Museum…read morearound Christmas time. Apparently, most people don't view this as a holiday activity as the place was deserted. Ideal for Ian to get his war knowledge on. The complex has a watchtower, piece of the Berlin Wall, a British plane and even the original Checkpoint Charlie station. However, the real treasure lies inside. Located in an old American movie theater, the museum documents the roles of the Western Allies in Berlin between 1945 and 1994 with extensive displays and changing special exhibits. The focus is on the Berlin Airlift and the Cold War and the American perspective is a bit different from many museums in Berlin. Best of all - the place is free! If you can make it all the way out here, it is well worth the trip.

Anyone visiting Berlin MUST visit this spectacular museum…read more Currently (08/25/22) it is the only museum on Museum Island that does not require reservations ahead of time. Masking protocol is mandatory and photography is allowed. For a mere €10, this is an unbelievable bargain. As I walked through this art-filled palace, I was continuously awestruck by the beauty of paintings and statuary. At each turn, I came face-to-face with handiwork of Masters now gone. A reverential silence in each of the galleries causes one to feel the emotions of each piece. From marble to wood to gold to jewels to paint, each medium speaks to the soul.

To be honest, this museum was much more appealing from the outside than the inside. The building…read moreitself is gorgeous. The items inside...pretty boring. Given the option between this museum and one with modern art, or a science and history museum, I'd go with modern art and science. The cafe there is nice, so that was a plus.

I really enjoyed the museum. I can't believe I passed by this museum so many times in the past and…read moredidn't stop to visit. The Palace of tears is a former boarder crossing point that was created 1961-1989. It's definitely worth visiting. Pro The exhibit does a great job in having the audience engage in history. Pro it gives you an interesting perspective on what German people endured during the Cold War when attempting to cross the border between east and west. I see why it's called (Palace of tears) because I can only imagine how devastating it would be to see so many people having to say good bye to their love ones under such stressful and restraining conditions. I appreciated the personal stories that were shared and documented. I thought they did an excellent job in translating history. When you walk through the check point, then you get to personally experience what so many individuals and families experienced when crossing the border. In addition, they have some nice maps and souvenirs to purchase at the end of your visit.

A really great museum that focuses on the border between east & west, and how people moved between…read morethem. The museum was free and all signs had an English translation. We easily spent over an hour in here reading up on things. Really heart breaking was the interrogation room and the stacks of belongings that were abandoned at the station. Definitely worth a stop to remind yourself of how easily history can repeat itself.

TL;DR - A museum which does justice to an important part of history - and it's free…read more This museum is outstanding. First of all, it's telling an important story about those who were brave enough to stand up for what they believed in despite enormous adversity. Secondly, it does this in a very thorough, meaningful but accessible way through a mixture of facts and timelines and individual accounts. Putting a face to so many stories really brings everything to life. Secondly, there's the location itself. Finding out about the history of the buildings you're in and knowing what happened there makes everything seem all the more relevant. But what impressed me most was the atmosphere. School group after school group was being led around and having all the exhibits explained to them in great detail and they all listened attentively, gripped by the stories. My favourite exhibit was of the Roma boxer who turned up to a fight with his hair bleached blond and covered in powder to mock the Nazi racial ideal. A far braver man than I would ever be. This museum is free. It's brilliantly put together. It tells a hugely important story and it tells it exceptionally well. Visit this museum - everyone visiting Berlin should see it.

I've never been inside the museum itself, because it was closed for renovation and/or filming…read moreand/or some sort of protest when I visited more than a decade ago, but I did visit its famous courtyard, which left a very deep impression on me despite the facts that it was broad daylight and that there were a bunch of police idling around, ostensibly to keep a group of demonstrators with a NIE WIEDER ("NEVER AGAIN") banner away from the building itself. (The police outnumbered the protesters.) The courtyard is historically significant because it was the location of the 1944 executions by firing squad of resistance figures who attempted to assassinate Nazi leaders Adolf Hitler, Heinrich Himmler (head of the SS), and Hermann Göring (head of the German air force and president of the German legislature). The plot failed to kill any of its three main targets (though it did kill three other Nazis), and while Claus von Stauffenberg and Werner von Haeften, the two men most responsible for setting the bomb, escaped successfully back to Berlin and began putting into place the carefully planned coup plan that resulted in the immediate arrest of many Nazi leaders, word that Hitler had survived reached the area, and some members of the resistance were afraid to continue the plot, while others demanded it commence. After a time, General Friedrich Fromm, commander of the Reserve Army (whose mobilization against Nazi leadership was necessary for the plot to succeed in wresting power from Hitler), got cold feet. He was part of the plot, but in order to save his own skin, he turned on his co-conspirators and hastily convened a kangaroo court, which found four conspirators guilty, and they were killed by firing squad on the spot in the courtyard. (Fromm's murderous cowardice didn't help him; he was quickly arrested and executed himself.) In all, almost 5,000 individuals were executed for participating in the plot, even though many had nothing to do with it. Seven thousand people were arrested, and many who weren't actually executed died either by Allied bombing or by suicide, including well known General Erwin Rommel, whose suicide the Nazis hid and who received a state funeral even though Hitler threatened to imprison his wife and family if he (Rommel) did not kill himself. It is not known exactly where in the courtyard the execution occurred, but there's a spot on a wall near where it likely occurred that is commemorated by plaque and a large peg on which a memorial wreath is normally present. When I visited, the wreath was red and orange, but I've seen in photos that green wreaths are laid as well. There's at least one poem etched into the tiles of the courtyard, and then there's its most striking inhabitant, a statue of a totally nude man, supposedly in the spot where the conspirators stood when they were killed by firing squad. Wherever you stand in the courtyard, you're aware of the statue's presence, and it can be unnerving in the most effective of ways that art can be unnerving. It is a heavy heavy place. In general, most of the official monuments in Germany to the horrors of what occurred because of Nazi rule are done well. There's no sugar-coating of what occurred. Some might find the title of the plaque ("Here died for Germany," followed by the names of the killed) very uncomfortable, as the motivations for the plot and those who joined it weren't necessarily the moral evil of Nazism or the Holocaust but rather for Germany's continued survival as a nation state without further bloodshed in a war that was, by summer 1944, already long lost. To be sure, nationalism drove many of the plotters, but it's difficult to argue that the plot itself wasn't daringly brave. Success might have meant hundreds of thousands of lives saved, but failure meant certain arrest, torture, and death. I'd love to visit the museum's indoor displays. The area around the Bendlerblock (the building in which the memorial sits) is where most of Berlin's foreign embassies are. This was true during World War II as well, and while there are more embassies now than then, many that are nearby, including the Japanese embassy, were in the exact same spot in 1944. (Interestingly, the street on which the Japanese embassy sits has been renamed Hiroshimastraße, in memory of the first Japanese city on which the United States dropped a nuclear bomb at the tail end of World War II.)

Sitting on the northern edge of the Lustgarten the Altes Museum is one of three main buildings…read morefacing this square on Museumsinsel (Museum Island), the other two are the Berliner Dom and the Humboldt Forum. Built in 1830, commissioned by King Friedrich Wilhelm IV, and designed by Prussian architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel, it was the first museum on the island and was meant to house and display the royal collections. Its layout exemplifies a Classical western architectural style with a front facade (and interior) lined with ionic columns, and a main rotunda with lacunaria squares (ie. coffers) set into in the domed ceiling. Through the years multiple renovations have occurred most notably during the era post WWII when much of the island was damaged by air raids though the appearance has mostly remained the same. The main focus of the displays inside are selected classical western sculpture, jewelry, and household objects of Etruscan, Greek, Roman origin, starting chronologically from the 10th century BCE, including the largest collection of Etruscan art outside of Italy. Their coin collection is also significant. Arriving on a first Sunday in the fall, admissions free though there was a short 5 minute line to enter. Though it was the last hour the museum was open, the number of visitors was still pretty significant. The total museum can be viewed in about 1 hour, maybe 1.5 hours if you go slower. I appreciated that most of the descriptions were in German and English. Entry starts on the ground/1st floor, ends on the 2nd floor. Tickets must be picked up at the ticket counter at the front right side of the building. Normal tickets are €12 for adults or €6 discounted for seniors, students, disabled patrons. There are a number of different passes available via the Museum island pass €24/12, Berlin Museum pass €32/16, Welcomecard €varies. Cafes, giftshop, lockers and coat check, bathrooms are available.

If you're bored and you can't seem to find anything else to do in the area, this might be a decent…read moreplace to go. I think there are plenty of other places available and open to you that would strike your fancy much better than this place. This place is weak. It has the same 60 statues over and over again and none of them require much interest other than their age. You're watched like a hawk for the entire duration of your walk through the museum with 2 to 3 people as watchmen or "guards" in each room. (I don't know that originally stolen goods are being ironically guarded, need to be...) It is a boring museum withoutmuch to show besides the age of the pieces there. Some pieces looked like they were also removed from their original resting places violently, with little respect for the care of the age of the pieces. I would not spend the $12 over again to come and see this museum.

What I admire about Helmut Newton's work is that it always remained provocative and sexual but…read morenever pornographic or exploitative. His perspective on gender roles and the essence of beauty is to this day stunning and imaginative. The museum, dedicated to his life and work, is a great testament to his brilliant career and persona.

The signs on the street list these two things separately:…read more * The Museum of Photography and * The Helmut Newton Museum Follow the signs however, and you'll wind up in the exact same place. They are one and the same and, between the two, The Helmut Newton Museum is the better descriptor. Helmut Newton (RIP) was born in Berlin and left the country at age 18. When he died, a portion of his estate was given over to the creation of this museum. By his own description, Helmut Newton was a hired gun photographer. He was not an art photographer though his fashion and celebrity portraits were most certainly artistic. He was most known for highly sexualized portraits of amazonian models and celebrities in various states of undress and often with a bondage-theme. His portraits are immediately recognizable; what he did he did incredibly well. This museum trades almost exclusively in everything Helmut with seemingly little too silly to display. A replica of his office was probably cutting edge at one time but now it looks dusty and dated. Mannequins, wearing the clothes he wore at various events and shoots, are silly. All of his cameras? Yawn. And the work for which he is not known (collages, landscapes) ought not even be on display; it's not representative of his best work nor is it notable. The Helmut Newton Museum misses an opportunity to become an actual photography museum by focusing so exclusively on the work of Helmut Newton. Though there are things here worth seeing I had the impression that, were I to return, I'd be seeing mostly the same things. For this reason, it seems worth seeing once, either to familiarize one's self with the work of Helmut Newton or to enjoy it again and see some additional things worthy of your time. * For those not familiar with Helmut Newton, focus on the photos of fashion models and celebrities, most taken for publications like Vogue and Vanity Fair. This was his bread and butter and the work for which he became famous. * Also worth seeing: a) a jumpy film featuring Mr. Newton discussing how he likes his fashion models to pose (arms away from the body) and b) the large crop of condolence letters sent from the fashion elite to Helmut's widow upon his death * Lots of provocative photos of fully naked or partially naked women. The Helmut Newton Museum is not a place for prudes.