The Must-See Museums in Munich

Museum Brandhorst only opened its doors in 2009, but has already become an established part of the Munich art museum trail. Rather than packing the hyper-modern building full of exhibits, the museum has wide open galleries and vast white walls. Its permanent exhibitions include works by modern art icons such as Damien Hirst, Joseph Beuys, and Andy Warhol, including his “Marilyn” portrait. Make the most of €1 entry on Sundays, and avoid Mondays when the museum is closed.

Munich’s most famous museum also claims the title of the largest science and technology museum in the world. Each year, 1.5 million people come to discover its 28,000 exhibited objects on everything from amateur radio to nanotechnology. Though you can’t always count on English translations for many of the displays and captions, most exhibitions have strong visual elements, and there’s a host of interactive presentations such as the lightening show and stereotypical wacky scientists with foaming test tubes. Accept that you’ll only be able to cover a fraction of it, and decide which of the 35 sections you’d like to see before you visit.

This grand museum on Maximilianstraße was Germany’s first ethnology museum. Its collection of over 200,000 objects is spread over a daunting 4,500 square meters (48,438 square feet), and includes the world’s oldest kayak and a great collection of Buddhist statues. To make it a bit easier to navigate, it’s divided by geography and even plays the music of that region softly in the background. The Asia sections are particularly popular with visitors. Tickets are only €5, or €1 on Sundays. Children under 15 can visit free of charge.

Despite covering over 5,000 years with its collection, this museum prides itself on presenting its ancient relics in an easily digestible way – quality over quantity. The building is worth seeing in itself; set below ground with bare concrete walls, large halls, and even custom neon lights, it manages to be modern and interesting, yet match its contents perfectly. If your German is good, you can go along to one of their regular lecture on ancient Egyptian culture. If not, do not fret, the museum also provides tours in English on their multimedia guide.

This museum is a reminder of a past that Munich all too often tries to sweep under the carpet. More than a collection of Nazi documents, it focuses on the history of anti-semitism, racism, and other forms of racial prejudice. Its blank white walls and hushed library-like atmosphere mirror the seriousness of its content. It’s almost entirely text-based exhibits to the extent that reading stools are provided to save your legs – make sure you take one, you’re bound to spend longer here than you intended.