26.06.2024
Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte
The construction of “PETRI Berlin. Discover Archaeology”, the archaeological venue and visitors centre for the German capital’s archaeological heritage, has been completed! Before the exhibition is installed, the Landesdenkmalamt Berlin and the Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte (Museum of Prehistory and Early History) – Staatliche Museen zu Berlin invite the public to visit the new building between the Gertraudenbrücke and Mühlendamm in Berlin-Mitte on Saturday, 29 June 2024, 12 – 5 pm.
From 2007 to 2009 and again in 2015, the Petriplatz in Berlin’s historic centre was the site of extensive excavations that contributed to our understanding of the city’s origins. Next to traces of settlements dating from the founding of Berlin/Cölln and the remains of a Latin school’s foundations, archaeologists also dug up remains of the Petrikirche, a church remodelled and rebuilt many times. The church was the nucleus of the city of Cölln. The mention of Symeon, the parish priest, in 1237 is considered the first confirmed reference to the twin cities of Berlin/Cölln.
The archaeological venue and visitors centre, PETRI Berlin. Discover Archaeology, was built on the foundations of the Latin school by a resolution from the City of Berlin to expand awareness of the capital’s unique archaeological heritage and of Berlin’s historical depth.
The restoration workshop of the Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte, as well as the museum’s storage area, will also move to PETRI Berlin, making processes and work that were formerly conducted behind closed doors visible to the public in their authentic locations for the first time. The route through the space is rich in interdisciplinary discoveries that feature the individual steps of archaeological work, making them accessible in a new way – from the discovery of objects in the ground to restoration research, leading up to the exhibition of the findings.
During the excavation of the Petrikirche’s former churchyard, 3787 graves were dug up and analysed. They contained the remains of residents buried here from the beginning of the settlement until 1717. They will be returned to the original burial site in the adjacent ossuary on 29 June 2024 during a private ceremony on the lower level of PETRI Berlin. What was undertaken before the excavation began – a collective service involving representatives of the congregation and the excavation team – will now conclude by returning the bones to their original place of rest.
PETRI Berlin welcomes the public to its Open House at noon on 29 June 2024. The team leads various tours through PETRI Berlin while the building is still empty, revealing what will occur across its five stories in just a few months. Visitors are also invited to explore the ossuary and the entire building independently. Tours of the archaeological sites in PETRI Berlin’s immediate neighbourhood take place in parallel, offering newly discovered insights into the traces of Berlin’s formative years. Afterwards, the spacious loggia on the fifth floor invites visitors to relax and enjoy the view spanning from the Altes Stadthaus across the Fischerinsel, all the way to the Spittelmarkt.