Accessibility

The Pei Building at the Deutsches Historisches Museum has step-free access. All exhibition galleries and visitor areas can be accessed at ground level or by wheelchair-accessible lifts.

Admission to temporary exhibitions cost € 8 (concessions € 4). Admission for children and minors up to 18 years of age is free.

Please present the appropriate ID if one of the following applies, entitling you to a concession: severely handicapped; school children; people on apprenticeship schemes over 18, participants in the Federal Voluntary Service (Bundesfreiwilligendienst); college students; the unemployed; holders of the Berlin Pass. Admission is free for persons accompanying severely disabled persons (with category B disability card).

For some people with impairments, navigating the booking system for online tickets may require assistance.

You can buy tickets to the museum at the admissions desks on the ground floor of the Pei Building.

As we currently do not have a member of staff proficient in German Sign Language, all important information about the museum is available in print.

The admissions desk in the Pei Building is 110 cm high. It unfortunately does not offer full communication access to wheelchair users. The cloakroom and lockers (at different heights) are located in the basement and are free to use.

Bags, backpacks, coats, and jackets may not be worn on your back or carried on your arm. Please leave them in the cloakroom, which is staffed at all times. Exceptions can be made for small bags or backpacks that contain important medicines needed during your visit.

The museum buildings are not fitted with a hearing loop system. Portable neck loops are available for hire at the audio-guide desk at the entrances to the temporary exhibitions. You will need to switch your hearing aid to the ‘T’ position.

The audio guides for the temporary exhibitions in the Pei Building provide information on select objects, in some cases with audio descriptions in German and English.

Earphones or inductive neck loops that can be linked to hearing aids when switched to the ‘T’ position are available for hire with the audio guides.

Audio guides for the temporary exhibitions cost € 3 per person. Please note that audio guides only work in the exhibitions they are intended for.

The toilets in the Pei Building can be found in the basement beside the cloakroom.

The accessible toilets are located in the basement of the Pei Building and have a manoeuvring space of 90 cm x 70 cm to the left and right of the toilet and a turning space of 150 cm x 150 cm in front of the WC and sink. The toilet seat is set at a height of 54 cm from the ground.

Drop-down handrails are installed in all stalls on both sides of the WC, the sinks are wheelchair-accessible, and mirrors can be used from either a standing or seated position. Each stall is equipped with an emergency pull-cord alarm at a height of 50 cm.

A baby-changing facility is available in the accessible toilet in the basement of the Pei Building.

In the temporary exhibition “Citizenships: France, Poland, Germany since 1789”, all exhibition texts and information on the inclusive communication stations are available in Braille with phonetic abbreviations.

Renovation work is currently underway. For the latest information on building work at the museum, please click here.

The museum café is located in the Zeughaus. To access the café, please use the outside entrance facing the river Spree.

On 16 February 2017, the Deutsches Historisches Museum was evaluated by Reisen für Alle, an accredited, federally funded authority in Germany for accessibility testing. We were subsequently awarded an “Accessibility Confirmed” certificate. The certificate is valid until March 2024.

For more information on the testing authority and the different categories it covers, please see www.reisen-fuer-alle.de (German only).

All films and video clips in the temporary exhibitions are subtitled in German and English. Transcripts of audio clips are generally available at the audio stations.

All doors and entrances have a clear width of at least 90 cm. One exception is the door to the bathrooms in the basement of the Pei Building, which measures 85 cm. Each entrance to the museum has a revolving door as well as an automatic door that can be opened by pressing a push button.

Glass doors are generally clearly marked with warning signs.

The clear width of the entrance to the Pei Building is 110 cm and offers step-free access. The door opens automatically.

Our inclusive temporary exhibitions include videos in German Sign Language of the content on gallery labels and feature inclusive communication stations.

The nearest bus stop is Staatsoper. Situated 260 metres away from the entrance to the Pei Building (museum entrance), the stop is serviced by the bus routes 100, 245, and 300.

The nearest overground and underground (S-Bahn and U-Bahn) stations are: Museumsinsel (approx. 200 metres), Hackescher Markt (approx. 800 metres), Hausvogteiplatz (approx. 800 metres), Französische Straße (approx. 800 metres), and Friedrichstraße (approx. 900 metres).

You can see a map of the local area here.

You can find information on all wheelchair-accessible stations and public transport routes in Berlin at www.bvg.de.

By visiting the website www.bvg.de you can view public-transport connections in Berlin by selecting “no step-free access”, “partial step-free access”, and “complete step-free access”.

Visit www.brokenlifts.org for information on lifts that are currently out of service on public transport in Berlin and Brandenburg.

If you are arriving by car, please see the section on “Parking”.

The words “Deutsches Historisches Museum” are displayed on the outer wall beside the entrance to the Pei Building.

You can find hand-sanitizer dispensers at the entrance to each exhibition, inside the galleries, and in all bathrooms. Disinfectant hand wipes are available for use before touching interactive touchscreens and inclusive communication stations. The number of visitors admitted to the galleries at any one time is limited and monitored by stewarding staff. We recommend that you wear a medical mask while in the building.

The inclusive communication stations in our temporary exhibitions are fully wheelchair-accessible and provide visitors with the opportunity to experience the exhibits and key themes of the exhibition using two or more senses. You will find objects and models that can be handled and touched. The stations also include sound recordings, and sometimes even things that you can smell.

All information at these stations is available in multiple languages and formats ensuring equality of access – German, English, Braille, Plain German, and German Sign Language.

All stations are connected via a tactile paving system and have a special holder for walking sticks and white canes.

All exhibition texts in the Deutsches Historisches Museum are offered in German and English. In inclusive temporary exhibitions, texts are also available in Braille, in Plain German, and as videos in German Sign Language.

The exhibition texts in inclusive temporary exhibitions are available in large print. A font size of at least 14 pt is used for all object labels.

The Pei Building offers step-free access at ground level. All galleries, exhibition spaces, and public facilities are either at ground level or can be reached by a wheelchair-accessible lift.

Emergency calls in the museum’s lifts are not relayed visually but by sound only. Alternatively, all floors can also be reached by stairs. The operating panels in the elevators have tactile symbols. Floors are announced in both German and English in all elevators that serve more than two floors.

In the Pei Building, the dimensions of the lift to the temporary exhibition spaces on levels -1, 0, 1, and 2 measures 180 cm x 180 cm. The buttons for operating the lift are arranged on a vertical panel positioned at a height of 88 cm to 92 cm.

Corridors and public spaces are brightly lit. However, the lighting in the galleries and exhibition spaces must be lower in order to protect the exhibits.

Please let our staff know if you need to bring a bag or drink with you into the exhibitions for any prescribed medicines. You will be given a special wristband at the cloakroom to show that your bag is “essential”.

Wheelchairs, walking frames, portable stools, and buggies for younger children are available for visitors to borrow during their time at the museum. Just ask staff at the information desks in the exhibition hall.

Routes through the building are usually clearly indicated, if not, a sign nearby will point you in the right direction. If you need any further assistance, our staff will be happy to help you.

For more details, please go to the heading “Tactile Paving”.

Public parking spaces are available across the road from the Pei Building in front of the Palais am Festungsgraben, just 100 metres from the main entrance. The two designated parking spaces for people with disabilities are currently not available due to building work.

The underground car park at Bebelplatz and the City Quartier Dom Aquarée both offer numerous parking spaces but are further away from the museum entrance.

If you intend to travel to the museum by public transport, please see the section “Getting to the Museum”.

Our temporary exhibitions are inclusive: all information is available in Plain German at the inclusive communication stations. These texts have been formulated specially for the target audience and are not simply translations of the standard texts.

Service (or assistance) dogs are welcome in all areas of the museum.

All stairs in the museum buildings have handrails. The leading edges of the treads are not marked, however, and there is no visual or tactile contrast on individual steps.

Films in the temporary exhibitions are subtitled in German and English.

A tactile paving system in the Pei Building shows you the way to the admissions desk, the escalator, the audio-guide desk, the bathrooms and cloakroom, as well as the entrances to the exhibitions.

Inclusive temporary exhibitions in the Pei Building feature a tactile tiling system providing directional cues that lead to room texts, inclusive communication stations and seating. Before entering the exhibition, a tactile floor plan is on display to guide you.

The pathways around the outer perimeter of the museum are mostly demarcated in a visually contrasting colour or with tactile borders. The main entrance has been designed with strong visual contrasts and can also be identified through the change in floor tiling.

The individual steps of the stairs in the museum are not clearly marked and do not have visual or tactile contrasts.

Low lighting is often necessary in the exhibitions to protect the collection objects. Exhibition texts are printed in contrasting colours.

Gallery labels can generally be seen and read from a sitting position. Many of the display cabinets in the temporary exhibitions and all of the inclusive communication stations are fully wheelchair accessible, with enough space for a wheelchair to fit below them.

The admissions desks were unfortunately not designed to also accommodate wheelchair users. Visitors who need to be seated while communicating with admissions staff can do so at the desk in the Zeughaus. The museum café has a number of wheelchair-accessible tables.