Museum Five Continents

The Museum Fünf Kontinente (Museum Five Continents) on Munich's Maximilianstrasse is the oldest ethnological museum in Germany. It was founded in 1862 on the initiative of King Maximilian II of Bavaria, who wanted to develop the city into a scientific center. The foundation for its holdings had already been laid by the so-called Transatlantic Collections of the House of Wittelsbach, which came from research expeditions to Brazil, the South Seas, and Russian America beginning in the early 19th century. After a brief stay in the Hofgarten arcades, the museum moved to its current location in 1926. The monumental building, originally constructed as the Bavarian National Museum, impresses with its architecture, shaped by English influences, with long arcades and historic frescoes inside.

The collection includes more than 160,000 works of art and everyday and ritual objects from around the world, as well as an extensive photo archive and specialist library. In its permanent and changing exhibitions, you experience the cultural diversity of the five continents. Highlights include the African holdings, with court bronzes from Benin, power figures from the Congo region, and contemporary works by artists from the diaspora. The collections from North America, including the oldest surviving kayak in the world, and from South America, with Inca ceramics and textiles, are also of great importance. Other focal points include Islamic art from the Middle East, Buddhist treasures from East Asia, and sacred objects from Oceania.

Beyond its museum displays, scientific research plays a central role. The museum conducts intensive provenance research to make the origins of its objects transparent, especially those from colonial contexts. The inventory books up to 1959 have been digitized and are publicly accessible. In addition, the public reference library, with more than 100,000 volumes, invites you to explore the subject in greater depth. The museum sees itself as a place of dialogue that presents the similarities and differences among the world's cultures in a global context.