1. Skip to content
  2. Skip to main menu
  3. Skip to more DW sites

ARTS.21 series: My Treasure

March 18, 2007

Museums in Germany see over 100 million visitors a year. For our ARTS.21 series 12 international museum fans show us their personal treasure in the German capital: a painting, a sculpture, an object or a building.

"My Treasure" is a collaboration between DW-TV and the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation. Join us now on our exclusive guided tour!

Episode 1: A Museum without Walls

New National Gallery, BerlinImage: AP

Star architect David Chipperfield explains the magic of Berlin’s temple for 20th-century art, which was designed by legendary Bauhaus architect Mies van der Rohe.

Episode 2: Monk by the Sea

Caspar David Friedrich, «Monk by the Sea»Image: picture-alliance / akg-images

Bin Chuen Choi, an artist from Hongkong, muses on why Caspar David Friedrich‘s «Monk by the Sea», an icon of German romanticism, is so universally understandable.

Episode 3: Madame de Polignac's Moody Harpsichord

Madame de Polignac's harpsichord

Usually museum visitors are warned to not touch the exhibits. But at Berlin’s Musical Instruments Museum Mitzi Meyerson has permission to play her favourite harpsichord.

Episode 4: Plum Blossoms in Moonlight

«Plum Blossoms in Moonlight», Museum of East AsianImage: DW-TV

The American composer Maurice Weddington finds inspiration in Berlin’s Museum of East Asian Art. He shows us an ancient Chinese masterpiece by Chen Lu that is over nine meters long.

Episode 5: The Odyssey of an African Throne

Royal throne, Ethnological MuseumImage: DW-TV

At the Ethnological Museum German-African designer Mark Kwami marvels at the royal throne from Cameroon, which was given to Kaiser Wilhelm the Second as a birthday present.

Episode 6: The Miracle of the Fountain of Youth

"The Fountain of Youth", Lucas CranachImage: DW

For the German-Egyptian filmmaker Samír Nasr Berlin's Gemäldegalerie is a treasure-trove full of surprises. His particular treasure is "The Fountain of Youth" by Lucas Cranach the Elder.

Episode 7: In the House of the God Ptah

Family tableau from the time of the pharaohs, Egyptian MuseumImage: DW-TV

A restorer shows us a family tableau from the time of the pharaohs. And she takes her own family along on this trip to Berlin's Egyptian Museum.

Episode 8: The Baroque Wedding Dress

Wedding dress in Berlin's Museum of Decorative ArtsImage: DW-TV

What did brides wear in the 18th century? A Korean fashion designer takes us to Berlin's Museum of Decorative Arts to tell us all about courtly customs and sumptuous bridal wear.

Episode 9: Apollo, Daphne and Hyacinthus

Apollo and Daphne in Berlin's Bode-Museum

Japanese dancer Yui Kawaguchi showa us the statues of ancient Greek Gods at Berlin’s Bode Museum and reflects on the unhappy love affair of Apollo, Daphne and Hyacinthus.

Episode 10: Joseph Beuys' Fat Sculpture

«Unschlitt/Tallow»
by Joseph Beuys
Hamburger Bahnhof, BerlinImage: DW-TV

Thomas Schnalke, a medical historian at Berlin's Charité hospital, explains a key work by Joseph Beuys at Berlin’s Hamburger Bahnhof museum for contemporary art.

Episode 11: Battle between Gods and Giants

The Pergamon Altar in BerlinImage: DW-TV

Yasar Özbek from the Turkish embassy takes us to Berlin's Museum Island, to show us the world famous Pergamon altar.

Episode 12: The Original Score of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony

Ludwig van Beethoven's Ninth Symphony in Berlin's State LibraryImage: AP

The original manuscript of Ludwig van Beethoven's Ninth Symphony only rarely leaves the safe at Berlin's State Library, but conductor Marek Janowski is allowed to study it whenever he likes.

Skip next section Explore more