After five years of nomadism and temporary projects, the Berlin 'Museum of Capitalism' will open a permanent exhibition for the first time on Friday at its permanent location in Berlin-Kreuzberg.
Bronze sculpture Karl Marx (sitting) and Friedrich Engels in BerlinImage: picture-alliance/dpa/Markus C. Hur
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Capitalism finally enters the museum in the 200th year of Karl Marx's birth. In the 150-square-meter interactive show at Köpenicker Straße 172 in Berlin-Kreuzberg, visitors can experience and try out how the economy and society function in capitalism, as the exhibition organisers announced on Tuesday.
Book cover of 'Capital - A Critique of Political Economy'Image: Otto-Meisner
"We have finally created a place where we deal with all the issues surrounding capitalism in an accessible way," explained co-organizer Sylwia Rafinska.
The first temporary exhibition of the 'Museum of Capitalism' opened in 2014 as part of the Berlin Art and Culture Festival "48h Neukölln". Since then, the exhibition organisers have repeatedly presented their project in changing rooms. According to her, the now permanent museum is the first 'Museum of Capitalism' in the world.
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In addition to the renowned Museum Island, Germany's capital has about 200 other museum attractions, packed with treasures from the whimsical to the enlightening.
10 offbeat museums in Berlin
In addition to the renowned Museum Island, Germany's capital has about 200 other museum attractions, packed with treasures from the whimsical to the enlightening.
Image: picture-alliance/W. Steinberg
Sugar Museum
The permanent exhibition "It's All Sugar!" traces the development of the white gold as a coveted trade good with a wide variety of uses – among them as material for a model of one of Berlin's landmarks. The exhibits from the original Sugar Museum opened in 1904 have been moved to the Museum of Technology in Berlin's Kreuzberg district.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Lipstick Museum
A deluxe gold-plated, diamond-and-black-sapphire-encrusted lipstick tube in art deco style from 1925 is just one of the highlights of René Koch's sumptuous collection. By prior arrangement, the Berlin make-up artist shows guests around his private museum in the Wilmersdorf district, and on request, he'll even give individual make-up tips.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/E. Wabitsch
Gay Museum
A comic by artist Ross Johnston has Superman and Robin kissing. For men who love men, women who love women and, for that matter, everyone else, the Gay Museum in Berlin's Tiergarten district is an eye-opener of a special kind. It offers public tours free of charge.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/K.-D. Gabbert
Gründerzeit Museum
This is what the parlor of a well-to-do German family looked like between 1870 and 1900. Fourteen living rooms fully furnished in Gründerzeit style may be admired in a manor house in Berlin's Mahlsdorf district. An extra-special exhibit is the interior of the Mulackritze, one of Berlin's most famous pubs in the “Golden Twenties”.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/S. Stache
Animal Anatomical Theatre
At one time, medical students dissected animal cadavers here. Now, the theatre is part of Berlin's oldest and most significant academic buildings. The neo-classical hall was designed by architect Carl Gotthard Langhans in the 18th century, contemporaneously with the Brandenburg Gate. It's accessible to the public as part of the Berlin Museum of Medical History at the Charité University Hospital.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Hannibal
Computer Games Museum
The Computer Games Museum was the first of its kind in the world when it opened in Berlin's Friedrichshain district in 2011. It's just as fascinating to the analogue as the digital generation. It guides visitors easily through the high-speed development of gaming from the legendary Pong to Gameboy and to the next level of the very latest 3D games.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/S. Pilick
Berlin Underworlds Museum
A city model embodies the megalomania of Adolf Hitler's plans for reshaping Berlin. The vast dome in the middle was to be the Hall of the People, with seating for over 150,000 spectators. The exhibition “Myth of Germania – Vision and Crime” is open to the public in the museum of the Berliner Unterwelten Society at the Gesundbrunnen city rail station.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/O. Mehlis
German-Russian Museum
Germany's unconditional surrender was ratified for the Red Army On May 8th/9th in a former officers' mess hall in the Berlin district of Karlshorst, ending the Second World War in Europe. During the days of East Germany, this was a museum commemorating that event. Since German reunification, the museum, under its new name, has focused on German-Russian relations.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/B. Pedersen
Bröhan-Museum
The art patron Karl H. Bröhan donated his private collection of 16,000 individual works to the city of Berlin. This special museum opposite Charlottenburg Palace displays objects from the art nouveau, art deco and Berlin Secession schools. The coffee and tea service by Josef Hoffmann created something of a furor as an expression of avant-garde design in 1910.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/S. Stache
Gaslight open-air museum
Berlin still has more than its share of gently shimmering gaslights. They line Sophie-Charlotten-Strasse, the side streets off Kurfürstendamm and the Chamissoplatz, among others. The Gaslight Culture Society devotes its efforts to preserving the historical streetlights and offers night-time tours. A collection of gaslights from around Europe has been installed at one end of Tiergarten Park.