Puppentheater-Museum Berlin

Located in Neukölln, at Karl-Marx-Straße 135, the Berlin Puppet Theatre Museum houses one of the most fascinating collections on the history of puppet theatre in the city. Hand puppets, marionettes, rod puppets, and shadow theatre figures from Europe, Asia, and Africa make this small museum one of Berlin's most curious cultural venues.

The Berlin Puppet Theatre Museum: Where Marionettes Tell Stories

Puppets from Four Centuries, Under One Roof in Neukölln

Initially founded in 1986 as the “Mobile Puppet Theatre Museum,” the Berlin Puppet Theatre Museum moved to its current location in Neukölln in 1995. Since then, it has been one of the city’s most whimsical and atmospheric museums. The museum houses a collection of almost 4,000 puppets, assembled by its founder Nikolaus Hein, who passed away in 2018. Anyone who believed puppets were just for children’s rooms will be proven wrong here.

The collection includes theatre puppets of all playing techniques from various cultural regions of Europe, Africa, and Asia, including hand puppets, rod puppets, marionettes, shadow theatre figures, metamorphoses, flat figures, and special trick figures. Extraordinary objects can also be discovered, such as Ludwig Erhard as a rod puppet by puppet maker Jürgen Fettig. One of the thematic focuses is also the history of puppet theatre in Berlin itself.

Museum and Stage at the Same Time

The Berlin Puppet Theatre Museum is not only an exhibition venue but also an active performance space. Annually changing exhibitions convey various themes, supplemented by target-group-oriented guided tours, puppet theatre performances, storytelling, readings, and workshops for children and adults. Furthermore, visitors can try out some of the figures themselves. There is also a puppet theatre archive with specialist literature, play scripts, and documents spanning four centuries, vividly illustrated with photos, posters, paintings, graphics, and engravings.

The current program showcases the full range of the house: In December 2025, for example, a Faust performance in the “Teatro en una Maleta” format is scheduled, followed by Puppet Lab Workshops. As a stage and meeting place for international artists, the Berlin Puppet Theatre Museum makes an important contribution to culture, education, and social cohesion in Neukölln. Those looking for curious museums in Berlin will also find a place here that, despite years of funding difficulties, continues to operate, largely thanks to volunteer work. Admission is kept low at 2.50 Euros for children and 3 Euros for adults, with puppet theatre performances costing 5 Euros per person.