01.10.2010
Ägyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung
As of 1 October 2010 new visitor rules apply to the National Museums in Berlin, with children and young adults up to age 18 now enjoying free admission. The new rule should not only ease the financial burden of a museum visit on families, but also encourage teenagers to visit the museums more regularly in their spare time. On top of free admission, a diverse range of educational events are on offer free of charge.
Michael Eissenhauer, Director General of the National Museums in Berlin had the following to say about the changes: 'Each year around 340,000 pupils visit the National Museums in trips organized by their school! And of these visitor groups, significantly more than a third take advantage of our free support services on offer from our various museum education departments. Our hope is that children and teenagers will also visit the museums on their own accord outside school hours in their free time.'
Free admission will also be granted to all people receiving welfare payments, as before. This includes recipients of unemployment benefit II (ALG II), income support, basic security benefits for job-seekers and payments made to recognized asylum seekers. Students, people currently in their year of national service or alternative national service, the severely disabled (with at least 50 percent impairment of earning capacity) and job-seekers receiving unemployment benefit I (ALG I) continue to enjoy concessions of 50 percent, as before.
The National Museums' Jahreskarte (year pass) is still available for €40 (concessions: €20) and grants admission to all permanent exhibitions. The Jahreskarte PLUS, granting admission to all permanent and temporary exhibitions, is purchasable for €80 (concessions: €40).
The broad spectrum of the National Museums' many collections and the work needed to maintain them result in considerable maintenance costs that can no longer be met by the Foundation of Prussian Cultural Heritage alone. Additional funds must be raised for the public to continue to be able to appreciate art and culture in future and for us to maintain the collections to the appropriate, high standards. For this reason, the Foundation of Prussian Cultural Heritage's board of trustees have decided to rescind free admission for the last four hours on each Thursday, as of 1 October 2010.
As the follow-on organization of the Royal Museums, founded by Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia, the National Museums in Berlin falls under the auspices of the Foundation of Prussian Cultural Heritage, as do the Berlin State Library, the Geheimes Staatsarchiv (or Secret State Archive), the Ibero-American Institute and the Staatliche Institut für Musikforschung (or State Institute of Music Studies) and its Music Instrument Museum. As a museum association funded by the federal German government and all federal states, the National Museums in Berlin sees itself as a nationwide state institution that embodies Germany's thriving cultural federalism.
The National Museums' many collections are on show in five separate locations: Berlin-Mitte, Berlin-Tiergarten, Berlin-Charlottenburg, Berlin-Dahlem and Berlin-Köpenick.