MACHmit! Museum for Children

The MACHmit! Museum for Children in the Elias Church

From the outside, it is still a church: The Protestant Elias Church on Senefelderstraße in Prenzlauer Berg was de-consecrated and, after three years of renovation, converted into a children’s museum; the regional church granted the building a 75-year hereditary building right. The church tower clock, altar area, and organ have remained. It all began in 1992 as a project of the Netzwerk Spiel/Kultur association, and the first exhibition, called Seifenladen (Soap Shop), ran in 1993 at the district office on Fröbelstraße. After stints on Ibsenstraße and a retail space on Schievelbeiner Straße, the non-profit GmbH that still operates the museum was founded in 2000. The nearest stations are Eberswalder Straße and Prenzlauer Allee.

Climbing Shelf, Worktables, and Art Bang

Inside, 1,200 square meters of exhibition space are available on two floors, and in the middle stands the seven-meter-high climbing shelf, for which architect Klaus Bock was awarded. The exhibits are displayed without glass or barriers; at the worktables, children can get creative with changing activities. Until the end of May 2027, the “Kunstknall” (Art Bang) exhibition on “Women Power in Art” is running, featuring ceramics, photos, paintings, videos, and textile installations by female artists from Berlin and around the world, including clay heads by Uta Eckerlin and textile art by Nike Hinsberg. The museum is aimed at children between two and twelve years old, and the themes are linked to the curriculum for grades one to six. Parents can wait in the museum café with cookies and cocoa. Admission costs 9.00 Euros; a family of up to five people pays 34.00 Euros.