Berlin Jewish Museum

Daniel Libeskind – Jewish Museum of Berlin, Germany, 1989-1998

The Jewish Museum of Berlin (in German Jüdisches Museum Berlin) is the largest Jewish museum in Europe, located in Berlin. In two buildings, one of which is an extension specially designed by the architect Daniel Libeskind, a permanent collection and several temporary exhibitions tell two millennia of Jewish history in Germany.

The building that houses the museum differs considerably from the usual typology of museums: it does not respond to any criterion of functionality since the guideline followed for the realization of the project was to tell the story of the Jews, in particular of the Jews in Germany. The building itself can be considered a work of art, because it mixes architecture and sculpture.

Libeskind has baptized his project between the lines (between the lines) and in the points where the two lines intersect empty areas, or voids, which cross the entire museum.

The building seen from above has the shape of a zig-zag line and for this reason it has been nicknamed blitz, which in German means lightning. The shape of the building resembles a decomposed and unstructured David star. The building is entirely covered with zinc plates and the facades are crossed by very thin and elongated windows, more like tears or wounds than real windows, arranged randomly.