About the Brandenburg Museum

The Brandenburg Museum for Future, Present and Past is the place to discover, explore and discuss cultures and identities in Brandenburg. It shows us that the present can be seen in various ways and the future is yet to be written. From the museum’s central location in Potsdam, we can move outwards into Brandenburg, view the state from new perspectives and understand how local culture and global developments intertwine. Having only been established in its current form in 1990, Brandenburg is a young state steeped in more than 1,000 years of history. Who ruled here over whom? Who claimed their rights? Who rebelled? How did (and do) people cope with flooding – and drought? What happened when work – or workers – were scarce? Who wanted to leave and who wanted to come? How did people once make ends meet and how might they live here in the future? Questions about the future, observations of the present and experiences from the past come together at the Brandenburg Museum, allowing us to understand how the state has changed and might be shaped today.

The focus at the Brandenburg Museum is on the people of Brandenburg and their many ways of life. It therefore makes sense that the museum takes itself to all corners of the state and tries out new analogue formats and digital approaches, including augmented and virtual reality, to convey Brandenburg’s culture and history as they have never been seen before. To this end, the museum cooperates with cultural bodies throughout the state. This involves far more than simply exhibiting items from the extensive museum collections in many different places – the Brandenburg Museum connects, debates, experiments, plays an active role and helps to shape what is happening.

The Brandenburg Museum is a place for anyone interested in gaining new perspectives on the supposedly familiar: anyone who wants to get to know Brandenburg, anyone who has a lot to tell about the past and anyone who seeks a future here.

In 2003, the Brandenburg Museum was founded as the ‘House of Brandenburg-Prussian History (HBPG)’ and, from 2018, underwent a multi-year innovation process to modernise its structure and technology and realign its content. Since spring 2022, the museum has been fully reopened with a new, modular overview presentation, innovative digital offerings, artistic interventions and participatory formats.