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Accessibility at the Jewish Museum Berlin

Information Regarding Directions to the Museum, Visiting, Special Offers, and Contact Information

Do you want to know if the Jewish Museum Berlin is accessible and to what degree, including its spaces and the exhibitions on display? On this page, you can find all of this important information about accessibility. If some of your questions remain unanswered, you can find our contact information below.

Getting Here

The Jewish Museum Berlin is located in the Kreuzberg district. You can travel to the museum using public transportation or by car.

Address

Jewish Museum Berlin
Lindenstr. 9–14
10969 Berlin
Google Maps

Arriving by Bus and Train

You can reach the museum with the U1, U3, and U6 train lines, as well as the 248, M29, and M41 bus lines. The following stations are located near the Jewish Museum Berlin:

All train stations are equipped with elevators. The Jewish Museum bus stop (bus line 248) in the direction of Alexanderplatz has been moved temporarily due to construction. Because there are trees along the door area, entering and exiting the bus is not fully accessible.

VBB Bus & Train Assistance Service

If you require assistance traveling to the museum, we recommend the free-of-charge VBB Bus & Train Assistance Service (German only) of the Berlin-Brandenburg Transport Association.

Information on broken elevators

The website BrokenLifts provides information on out-of-service elevators at stations in Berlin's local public transit network.
More information at BrokenLifts (German only)

Arriving by Car

If you arrive by car and have a disabled parking permit, you can use one of two parking spaces located close to the museum. Please place your permit behind the windshield where it is visible. Before visiting, send a brief email to our Visitorsʼ Services (besucherservice@jmberlin.de) to check if the parking spaces are available.

Visiting Our Exhibitions

The core exhibition Jewish Life in Germany: Past and Present shows Jewish life in Germany from its beginnings to the present. A historically organized circuit is supplemented by thematic rooms on Jewish religion and culture. Along with objects from our collection, stations and exhibition items invite visitors to participate, touch, and listen.

You can also visit our temporary exhibitions and attend our wide-ranging events. Current and upcoming exhibitions are listed on our website on the Current Exhibitions page.

A model of a synagogue, palpating hands.

The New Synagogue Hanover model invites you to touch it; Jewish Museum Berlin, photo: Yves Sucksdorff

Reduced-Price Tickets

Our core exhibition, ANOHA, as well as other exhibition areas can be visited free of charge, with the exception of temporary exhibitions.

Reduced-price tickets for temporary exhibitions cost 3 € for severely disabled museum visitors. You can receive the reduced price by presenting a disability ID at the ticket counter showing a disability level of at least 50 percent. If your disability ID entitles you to have an accompanying person with you, that person can enter free of charge. All other information on ticket prices can be found on the Planning Your Visit page.

Core Exhibition: Participation

The two floors of the core exhibition offer up their contents with many playful twists:

  • At the station Your Name in Hebrew, you can transliterate your name into the Hebrew alphabet and put it down on paper yourself.
  • In the room Prayer and Practice, you'll find five views on kosher eating on a shelf with kosher foods.
  • The messiah quiz will help you find out if you have the potential to be a messiah.
  • A photo booth allows you to transform your face into a painting.
  • Emigration games modeled on historical examples demonstrate the difficult paths to emigration that many took during the era of National Socialism.
  • Test your strength at the High Striker station.
  • In the Hall of Fame, you can stamp a coin for yourself as a souvenir.
Core Exhibition: Touch

But the sense of touch gets plenty of stimulation as well. Tactile models of paintings invite visitors to engage with the works by touch. When visitors touch the reproduction of the heart in the sculpture L’amitié au coeur by Étienne-Maurice Falconet, it tells a story of theft, destruction, and re-emergence.

In order to gain an understanding of the sheer number of anti-Jewish laws passed by the National Socialists, you can feel your way along successive panels of fabric printed with laws, walking their lengths and counting.

A besamim container exudes the smell of the spices traditionally used in the Havdalah ceremony that closes Shabbat. You can hold it in your hands and smell it.

Core Exhibition: Listening

Many stations also use sound to convey their contents. In the Sound Room you can explore the wide variety of Jewish musical styles and sounds by standing under sound domes, touching sound tubes, or sitting in sound booths. Listen in on what makes Shabbat different from any other day. Listen to Holocaust survivors telling about their liberation.

Core Exhibition: Multiple Visits

The core exhibition fills two stories and 3,800 square meters. Since the exhibition is very large, we recommend that you select a few topics or a single era to explore during your visit. The JMB App can help you to find a suitable route.

Tailored Progamming

The Jewish Museum Berlin regularly offers tours and other programs tailored to the diverse needs of visitors with disabilities. You can find all our accessible events and bookable options on the Tours page. You can also view all other events on our Calender.

Information for Visitors with Mobility Restrictions

All public areas of the Jewish Museum Berlin are accessible to visitors with mobility restrictions. More information here about accessing different areas , the locations of seating, and what barriers exist inside and outside the museum.

Outdoor Areas and Entrance Area

If you must cross Lindenstraße, there is a smooth street crossing to the side of the Libeskind building. Some of the museum exterior retains its historical facade, making the group entrance and the museum garden not accessible.

The entrance area, museum café, and the Glass Courtyard have sufficient seating if you would like to rest.

Borrowing a Wheelchair

You can borrow a wheelchair from the coat check if needed. Please reserve it in advance by contacting besucherservice@jmberlin.de! In this way, you can be sure that a wheelchair is available for you during your visit.

Exhibition and Event Spaces

All of the exhibition and event rooms are accessible using any common wheelchair model via ramps or elevators. The same is true for the café. There is an elevator near almost every staircase. Only the stairs to the bathrooms in the basement of the old building do not have an elevator. Accessible bathrooms are available on the ground floor.

The Axes in the basement of the Libeskind building have a gradient of between 2.65 percent (to the stairs) and 3.9 percent (to the Holocaust Tower). They slope to the side by max. 1.9 percent. Unfortunately, the spaces between the steles in the Garden of Exile are too narrow for wheelchairs.

Seating is provided at regular intervals in the core exhibition.

In a wheelchair, you can roll under most of the glass cases, and the interactive exhibits are designed to be used while seated.

Most of the doors can be opened by pressing a button. Only the doors to the Garden of Exile and the Holocaust Tower in the basement of the Libeskind building must be opened by hand. Do you need assistance opening a door? Ask one of our hosts wearing black clothing and a colorfully patterned scarf.

Accessible Bathrooms

The museum has two accessible bathrooms labeled with a pictogram of a wheelchair. One is located on the ground floor of the historical building next to the stairs; the other is in the basement of the new building. The doors can be opened by pressing a button, the bathrooms are suitable for large wheelchairs, and the buttons are 1.25 meters from the ground. A bell can be rung in case of emergency.

W. Michael Blumenthal Academy

The terrace in front of the academy building is paved. If you are in a self-propelled wheelchair, the path to the entrance is not accessible. In the W. Michael Blumenthal Academy building, all public spaces are accessible.

Information for Visitors Who are Hard of Hearing or Deaf

The Weimar room and the room on anti-Semitism have induction loops integrated into the floor. For the best sound quality, switch the setting of your hearing aid while in these rooms.

Nearly all of the audiovisual materials in the core exhibition have German and English subtitles. Some videos in German Sign Language are available in the sound booths in the Sound Room.

Our JMB App offers introductions to all exhibition rooms in German Sign Languageand all audio content features read-along texts. Videos come with subtitles in your language. You can download the JMB App free of charge in the Google Play Store or Apple App Store.

The picture features screenshots of the new app showing texts, exhibition images and objects.

All audio content in the JMB App is also available in a textual version or transcript; Jewish Museum Berlin, graphic: Verena Blöchl, NOUS

Information for Visitors with Blindness or Limited Vision

If you have a limited vision or are blind and you are planning to visit the museum, the following information is relevant to you:

  • The Jewish Museum Berlin does not have a tactile floor path.
  • Support dogs such as guide dogs for the blind are of course welcome.
  • If your disability ID entitles you to have an accompanying person with you, that person can enter free of charge.
  • The three elevators (each near a staircase) are labeled with raised letters and numbers.
Core Exhibition

Twelve tactile models provide information about the building architecture, signage, and layout. The first tactile model is located in the basement of the Libeskind Building. In the JMB App, you can listen to audio legends, which provide additional information as you touch the twelve tactile models. You can download the JMB App free of charge in the Google Play Store or Apple App Store.

In the core exhibition, you will find many objects and stations that you can experience via touch and hearing: inspect a tactile model of a portrait of Albertine Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, listen to Jewish music in the Sound Room, or hold the heart of the sculpture L’amitié au coeur by Étienne-Maurice Falconet in your hands and listen as it tells you its story.

Accessible Bathrooms

There are two accessible bathrooms in the Jewish Museum Berlin. One is located at the rear of the entry area in the old building at the base of the stairs to the upper floor, while the other is in the basement of the Libeskind building. The doors of the bathrooms are marked visually with a wheelchair symbol. To open them, press the button next to the door. These bathrooms also are equipped with an emergency button.

Evacuation Procedures for Visitors with Disabilities

In case of fire or other dangerous situations, you must leave the Jewish Museum Berlin immediately through the marked exits. Do not go to the coat room. Follow the instructions of the service personnel, who are responsible for bringing visitors to safety.
If you cannot leave the museum on your own, the service personnel will bring you to a secure area. Wait for the trained personnel who will bring you safely to the meeting places outside of the museum.

Contact Information

Do you need more information on accessibility for your visit to the museum? Contact our visitorsʼ services staff, who will help you.

Contact

T +49 (0)30 259 93 549 or +49 (0)30 259 93 434
besucherservice@jmberlin.de

If you have a question while you are at the Jewish Museum Berlin, come to our infocounter or talk to one of our hosts. You can recognize our hosts by their colorfully patterned scarves and black clothing.

Your Feedback

Is this site missing information that would be relevant to your visit to the Jewish Museum? Do you have an idea for how you could better experience the exhibitions? Are some parts of this website difficult for you to use? Send us your feedback on accessibility using our feedback form!

Ein Modell einer Synagoge, das Hände abtasten.

Accessibility at the Jewish Museum Berlin: An overview

General Information
Accessibility at the Jewish Museum Berlin: Directions, visiting the museum, audience-specific
Simple English: Information about the Jewish Museum Berlin and its website in Simple English
Accessibility Statement: Information on areas in which accessibility is still lacking, options for giving feedback, and the arbitration service
Tours & Workshops
JMB App: Including audio tours, German plain language, German Sign Language, optimized for screen readers, features touching instructions for tactile paintings, and audio texts for reading along
Access Program Tour by appointment and with fixed dates

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