Around Town - Top 10 Berlin - page 85

Dahlem Museums
These four museums in
south Berlin, dedicated to foreign
cultures and peoples, feature
one of Germany's best ethno-
cultural collections. The Ethno-
logical Museum holds around
one million items from around
the world, especially artistic
and cult objects from Africa,
as well as exhibits from
North-American Indians. Full-
scale wooden huts and boats
from the island populations of
the South Pacific as well as a
large collection of ceramic
and stone sculptures from
the Mayas, Aztecs and Incas
are particularly impressive.
The Museum für Ostasiati-
sche Kunst, focusing on 1,000
years of Far-Eastern culture, dis-
plays mainly objects in porcelain
and lacquer from Korea, China
and Japan. The shiny green jade
exhibits from ancient China are
just as amazing. d Lansstr. 8 (Muse-
um Europäischer Kulturen: Im Winkel 6-8)
• 10am-6pm Tue-Fri, 11am-6pm Sat, Sun
• (030) 830 11 • Admission charge

Schloss Klein-Glienicke
One of the most beautiful
Hohenzollern palaces in Berlin,
this romantic castle with its
extensive park was built by
Schinkel in 1824-60 as a
summer residence for Prince
Carl of Prussia. The land-
scape garden, designed by
Peter Joseph Lenné, hides
many secrets - for example
pavilions called “Große”
and “Kleine Neugierde”
(large and small curiosity),
a garden house and a tea-
house, a casino right on the
water (a former apartment
for guests) as well as the
Orangerie (a greenhouse).
d Königstr. 36 • mid-May-mid-
Oct: 10am-5pm Sat, Sun • (030) 805 30
41 • Admission charge

Exhibit in a
Dahlem Museum

Gedenkstätte Haus der
Wannsee-Konferenz
It is hard to believe that some-
thing as abhorrent as the Holo-
caust could have been planned at
this elegant villa
in a picturesque
spot on Wann-
see. Built in
1914-15 by Paul
Baumgarten in
the style of a
small Neo-
Baroque palace
for the busi-
nessman Ernst
Marlier, it was
here that the Nazi elite, among
them the infamous Adolf Eich-
mann, met on 20 January 1942
to discuss the details of the
mass extermination of Jews. An
exhibition at the memorial docu-
ments both the conference and
its consequences as well as the
history of the villa. d Am Großen
Wannsee 56-58
• 10am-6pm daily • (030) 805 00 10
• Free admission

Pfaueninsel
Visitors are enchanted by the
romantic palace ruins and the
eponymous peacocks that run
around here. The Wannsee island,
which can only be reached by
ferry, is one of the most charming
spots for a walk in Berlin (see
also p70). d Pfaueninselchaussee
• 10am-1pm & 1:30-5pm daily
• (030) 80 58 68 30 • Admission charge

Neo-Baroque
Gedenkstätte Haus

Gryffin at Schloss Klein-Glienicke

Dahlem Museums: www.smb.spk-berlin.de/ort/d.html

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