7 Locations
Berlin is full of peculiar museums, quirky collections that go far beyond the famous Museumsinsel. From the Currywurst and Ramones to the Stasi and things that never worked, peculiar museums tell the city's stories in surprising, offbeat ways.
This overview gathers Berlin locations counted among the peculiar museums, from tiny themed collections to strange and specialist houses. Some focus on food, music and pop culture, others on history, oddities and the wonderfully unusual.
Browse the places below to find the best peculiar museums in Berlin, compare exhibitions and opening hours, and plan your visit.
In Wilmersdorf, in the Bavarian Quarter, star make-up artist René Koch runs the world's only museum dedicated to lipstick. The private collection in his salon apartment ranges from the Baroque period to the present day, transforming a cosmetic classic into a piece of cultural history.
The first Gutenberg Bible was printed on hemp paper, van Gogh painted of course with hemp oil colours and even plastic sandals can now be made from refined hemp oil.
The Ramones Museum in Neukölln is the world's first and only museum dedicated to the New York punk band, housed in the Bar 19:77 on Weserstraße. Anyone who takes punk seriously cannot miss this collection of over 1,000 original exhibits. The museum is currently moving again, with a new location imminent.
You'll get in a romantic mood when walking amongst 90 historic gas lanterns from all over Europe in the Gas Light Open Air Museum.
The letter "U" from a U-Bahn station, the "le" from Alexanderplatz or the famous "Zierfische" logo of the now Geschlossen aquaristics shop at Frankfurter Tor: Barbara Dechant and Anja Schulze have saved letters from the Berlin public since 2005.
Salt and pepper shakers in the shape of a woman's bust, trainers with the portrait of Obama or a rubber duck that needs to be strangled stand here side by side with design classics like the Panton Chair, the record player "SK 61" by Braun or the Frankfurt Kitchen - the world's first built-in kitchen.
Permanently closed since December 2018.