Permanent exhibition
PETRI Berlin
Under the motto “Discover Archaeology”, the exhibition areas at PETRI Berlin offer information, interaction and insights behind the scenes of archaeology. On their tour of the museum, visitors follow the path of a find from excavation to exhibition.
An interactive wall and a large media table at the beginning of the tour show which artefacts lie in the soil of our metropolis and where the beginnings of the city can be found. Upon entering the basement, visitors are directly immersed in the underground history of the city: they find themselves in the middle of the walls of Cölln’s medieval Latin school and look down on the foundations of past St Peter’s churches. Tactile models of the buildings, artefacts, audio and video recordings provide tangible and audible impressions of the history of the site and its exploration.
As a special feature, there is a separate area in the basement where some of the dead were reburied whose original burial took place between 1150 and 1717 in the cemetery of St Peter’s Church. These “first Berliners” are commemorated in the so-called Ossarium. The latest archaeological research findings are also presented.
The next stop is the finds cleaning area on the first floor. This floor houses the real workshops and storerooms of the Landesdenkmalamt (State Monuments Office) and the Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte (Museum of Prehistory and Early History). On weekdays, visitors can look over the shoulders of the employees through glass windows. In the exhibition areas in front, interactive stations explain the activities that are important in the course of an excavation and for which a great deal of dexterity is required.
The tour then leads to the restoration area with a view of the workshops. Exhibition stations show which work processes are necessary to preserve certain materials.
The corridor to the third and fourth floors takes visitors to the museum’s storage areas. The collection artefacts and collection history of the Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte are exhibited here.
At the end of the tour, the spacious loggia on the fifth floor offers a view of Berlin’s centre. As part of workshops and events, current topics relating to research into the city’s history are presented, discussed and exhibited on this last floor of the building. Temporary exhibition elements are used to develop and display content in a participatory manner as part of school projects.
A finds game designed for children begins in the basement amidst the old walls, where they become archaeologists themselves. In a stylised excavation landscape, they can discover their own finds visually, haptically and acoustically and then look after them throughout the visit. The finds have to be digitally cleaned and (analogue) x-rayed, assembled, inventoried and documented. A new task awaits them on each floor. The originals can be viewed in the exhibition and serve as support.
Archaeological finds from the entire Berlin city area are on display. In addition, the study collection of the Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte has moved into the PETRI. This is the core collection of finds from prehistory and early history, from the Palaeolithic period to Heinrich Schliemann’s collection of Trojan antiquities and modern artefacts. A display shelf connecting the upper floors shows the diversity and variety of the finds.
A permanent exhibition of the Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte – Staatliche Museen zu Berlin in cooperation with the Landesdenkmalamt Berlin
Offers and events
Organizer
Venue
Address / Getting there
Visitor entrance
Gertraudenstraße 8
10178 Berlin
wheelchair accessible
U-Bahn U2 (Spittelmarkt)
S-Bahn S1, S2, S25, S26 (Friedrichstraße); S3, S5, S7, S9 (Alexanderplatz)
Bus 248, 200 (Fischerinsel, Spittelmarkt)
Opening hours
Sun 10:00 - 18:00
Mon closed
Tue 09:00 - 17:00
Wed 09:00 - 17:00
Thu 09:00 - 17:00
Fri 09:00 - 17:00
Sat 10:00 - 18:00
Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte
Petri Berlin