State Museum of Prehistory Halle

A bronze disc with gold inlays, around 3,600 years old: the Nebra sky disc shows the oldest known concrete depiction of astronomical phenomena. The original is kept in Halle, at the State Museum of Prehistory. Around the disc, the museum tells some 450,000 years of human history between the Harz mountains and the Elbe in eleven sections. With more than 15 million finds in its holdings, it is one of the most important archaeological museums in Central Europe.

History: a temple for prehistory

The collection goes back to an antiquarian society founded in Naumburg in 1819, which soon moved its finds to Halle. For the new provincial museum, Wilhelm Kreis designed a massive building modelled on the Porta Nigra in Trier. Built between 1911 and 1913, it was the first museum building in Germany dedicated to prehistory, though it did not open until 9 October 1918. Paul Thiersch decorated the staircase with large murals. After extensive renovation the museum reopened on 23 May 2008 with a new permanent exhibition, and the sky disc has been on permanent display ever since.

The sky disc

Looters dug up the disc with metal detectors on the Mittelberg hill near Nebra in summer 1999 and sold it. It passed through the hands of several dealers until Basel police, working with investigators from Saxony-Anhalt, seized it in February 2002. Since then it has belonged to the museum's treasury, together with the two swords, two axes, a chisel and fragments of spiral arm rings found with it. The disc shows the sun, moon and stars, golden horizon arcs and a boat sailing across the ocean of the sky. In June 2013 it was added to UNESCO's Memory of the World register. The find site, with its observation tower and the Arche Nebra visitor centre, is about an hour's drive away.

What to see

• Nebra sky disc: It is displayed in a darkened room, with the other finds from the hoard right next to it.
• Eulau family graves: Three of four multiple burials from the late 3rd millennium BC are on display; DNA analysis identified the world's oldest securely documented nuclear family here.
• Hornhausen horseman stone: A 7th-century stone slab showing a horseman in a silhouette-like style.
• "The Shaman" special exhibition: Until 7 February 2027, 900 m² are devoted to the roughly 9,000-year-old burial from Bad Dürrenberg and the origins of shamanism.

Opening hours and tickets (as of October 2026)

• Tuesday to Friday: 09:00–17:00; Saturday, Sunday and public holidays: 10:00–18:00.
• Monday: pre-booked groups only; closed on 24 and 31 December.
• Admission: €12, reduced €9, children aged 6 to 18 €3, under 6 free. Family ticket €26 (two adults with children), audio guide €3. Prices are valid until 7 February 2027 and cover both the permanent and the special exhibition.

Tickets can be booked online in advance. At the ticket desk, German Girocard debit cards are accepted for amounts from €5.

Getting there and accessibility

The museum is at Richard-Wagner-Straße 9, just north of Halle's city centre. All exhibition areas are step-free, with level access via the side entrance. There are three disabled parking spaces on Mozartstraße at the back of the building, and coaches can stop right in front of the museum.

Tripto tip

Allow two to three hours if you also want to see the special exhibition. Rather than heading straight for the sky disc, follow the route from the Stone Age onwards: that way you will understand how new bronze and gold were in this region 3,600 years ago. At the entrance, look for the inscription "Unserer Vorzeit" ("To our prehistory") above the portal. The €3 audio guide adds background to the key finds.