HAMBURGER BAHNHOF - MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART

This former train station, built in 1846, is now a major national museum of contemporary art in the European landscape. Designed by the architect Friedrich Neuhaus, it is now the only neoclassical railway station in Berlin - the others having been destroyed. After its closure in 1884, it began to host various exhibitions. In the 1920s, the area around the Hamburger Bahnhof (Hamburg's railway station) had the most hotels and the most tourists. In an economically booming Berlin, this station was a symbol of the brewing that was taking place in Berlin. Then comes the Second World War and the bombings. In 1945, the station was closed, only to go up in smoke in 1959. Only the entrance was left, but the miracle of reunification and above all the millions invested in a few years made it possible to rebuild the station, which was reopened with great fanfare in 1997 and dedicated to contemporary art.

It can be seen from afar, as it is permanently illuminated by a fluorescent installation on its façade. Many temporary exhibitions are organised there, but the permanent exhibition of the Marx collection can also be visited. The permanent exhibition of the Marx Collection is divided into three parts: in the central hall of the museum-station are works by Bruce Naumann and Anselm Kiefer. On the left you can admire the pop art section of the Marx Collection, with numerous paintings by Andy Warhol (including the famous gigantic portrait of Mao Zedong) and Keith Haring. The west wing of the museum, located behind the König bookshop, is divided into a sculpture section dominated by the monumental works of Joseph Beuys and the deliberately kitschy works of Jeff Koons, and a second section devoted to the eccentric New York artist Matthew Barney and his famous Cremaster video series. The museum is completed by the Rieckhallen, which are located behind the station itself and where you can discover objects used in various exhibitions and completely crazy artists such as Paul McCarthy. A modern annex has recently been added to the building. Beyond the museum, there is also a bookshop with a wide variety of books (in German and English), some of which are directly related to the collections on display, and a restaurant with a beautiful terrace along the canal. It's a living museum, whose animation... is worthy of a railway station!