Skip to main content

Museum Island, Modernist Buildings, Palaces and Parks in Berlin

Only selected buildings are included on the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites: they are of exceptional universal value, they have significance for the whole of humanity.

Three historical ensembles in Berlin are of great supra-regional importance according to UNESCO and have therefore been given a place on the list. In 1991, UNESCO inscribed the palaces and parks of Potsdam and Berlin, in 1999 the Museum Island Berlin with its five outstanding museum buildings, and in 2008 the Berlin Modernist Housing Estates on the World Heritage List.

The Berlin Modernist Housing Estates reflect their era's ideals of modern living with air and light. Every three years, they are the focus of attention when the large, cross-city festival on building culture and modernist ideas, the Triennale der Moderne, is celebrated in Berlin, Dessau and Weimar.