Museum Barberini

You don't have to go to Paris to see Monet: Museum Barberini on Potsdam's Alter Markt holds 38 paintings by Claude Monet, more than any other museum outside the French capital. Add Renoir, Caillebotte, Signac, Sisley, Morisot and Pissarro, and you have one of the finest Impressionist collections in Germany. The museum only opened in 2017, but by May 2019 it had already welcomed more than a million visitors.

History: a Roman palace, built twice

The original Barberini Palace was built in the 1770s, modelled on Palazzo Barberini in Rome. It was destroyed except for parts of the façade in the air raid on Potsdam on 14 April 1945, and the ruin was cleared in 1948. The site stayed empty for decades until software entrepreneur and patron Hasso Plattner rebuilt the palace from 2013 to give Potsdam an art museum. Only the façades were reconstructed; inside are 17 modern galleries on three floors. It opened on 20 January 2017, with Angela Merkel and Bill Gates among the guests.

What to see

• Impressionism – Hasso Plattner Collection: Since 2020 more than 100 French Impressionist and Post-Impressionist works on permanent display, arranged by themes and places the painters visited together.
• Monet's "Grainstack": Part of the famous 1890–91 series, bought by Plattner at auction in New York in 2019. In October 2022 climate activists threw mashed potatoes at it; the glass prevented any damage.
• Other key works: Monet's "Water Lilies" and "Palazzo Contarini", Caillebotte's "The Bridge at Argenteuil and the Seine" and Signac's Saint-Tropez harbour.
• Special exhibitions: Three a year with international loans. From 7 November 2026 to 21 February 2027: "The Impressionists. Monet, Morisot, Renoir and Their Network".

Opening hours and tickets (as of October 2026)

Open Monday and Wednesday to Sunday, 10:00–19:00, closed Tuesdays, last tickets at 18:15. Closed 2–6 November 2026 for installation. Tickets cost €16 on weekdays and €18 at weekends and on holidays, €10 after 17:30, reduced €10. Under-18s get in free, and under-25s on Thursdays from 14:00. There is no discount for pensioners. Everyone needs a timed ticket, even free ones, and bags and coats must be checked at the free cloakroom.

Getting there

Humboldtstraße 5–6, Alter Markt. Trams 91, 92, 93, 96 and 99 and several buses stop at "Alter Markt/Landtag".

Tripto tip

Download the free Barberini app before you go, as there are no loan devices; it has audio tours in English and German. Allow two to three hours and come on a weekday morning if you can.