The Humboldt Forum will open in late 2020 …

The name “Humboldt” proves to be versatile. From a lunar crater to an intercity express train, a clinic and a sailing ship, all sorts of things bear Humboldt’s name. In Berlin too, where the brothers Wilhelm and Alexander were born, they were adopted as patrons in many places. Not far from the Humboldt-Universität, the Humboldt Forum in the Berlin Palace now joins the ranks of these institutions, inscribing itself with the names of both scholars. A name entails responsibility. But what is behind it all?

The Humboldt Forum in the world and the world in the Humboldt Forum is a befitting motto for an institution that should truly be inclusive of all while appreciating the diversities of human cultures.

The scaffolding has been removed from the Palace’s new old facades on the Lustgarten to reveal a gleaming “quince yellow”. Perhaps an appropriate term for the colour, because how many of us can honestly remember what a quince looks (or tastes) like?

Palace and piazza: two essential features of any urban public space. Franco Stella explains the ideas on which the architecture of the Humboldt Forum is based.

On 18 June 2019, the door of Tresor techno club became the first object destined for the Berlin Exhibition to move to the Humboldt Forum. This marks the beginning of the work installing this exhibition on the first floor of the Humboldt Forum. A joint project by Kulturprojekte Berlin and Stadtmuseum Berlin, the exhibition focuses on Berlin’s network of relationships with the world at large.

Wilhelm von Humboldt’s creation of a classical setting as a space for new ideas.

The Humboldt Forum is there to be experienced – and not just indoors. There will be discoveries to be made in the outside areas, too. The newly designed riverbank of the Spree on the eastern side of the Palace is just one example.

In addition to numerous exhibition spaces and event venues, the Humboldt Forum will also offer areas for relaxation and indulging the senses. One of them is the restaurant on the Palace roof.

To build a baroque palace anew—that is an art in itself. Above all for the façade and its sculptures, classical craftsmanship is needed, coupled with modern technology. And, of course, people who are passionate about their work.

Wilhelm and Alexander von Humboldt are the Humboldt Forum’s nominal patrons. They are admired as scholars and scientists throughout the world. The Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin was founded by Wilhelm and today the university is one of the partners in the Humboldt Forum. For new arrivals in Berlin like Syrian journalist Abdol Rahman Omaren, the university is a point of reference and a comforting haven.