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An interactive wall and a large media table at the start of the tour show what artefacts lie buried beneath our metropolis and where the city’s origins can be found. Upon entering the basement, visitors are immersed in the city’s underground history: surrounded by the walls of Cölln’s medieval Latin school, they gaze at the foundations of St. Peter’s Church. Tactile building models, finds, audio and video contributions convey impressions of the history of the place and its exploration in a way that can be felt and heard.
A special feature of the basement is a separate area where some of the dead who were originally buried in the cemetery of St. Peter’s Church between 1150 and 1717 have been reburied. These ‘first Berliners’ are commemorated in the so-called ossuary. The latest archaeological research findings are also presented.
See-through workshops bring archaeology to life
The next stop is the artefact cleaning room on the first floor. This floor houses the actual workshops and storage rooms of the State Office for the Preservation of Historical Monuments and the Museum of Prehistory and Early History. On weekdays, visitors can watch the staff at work through glass windows. In the exhibition areas in front of them, interactive stations explain the activities that are important in the course of an excavation and require a great deal of tact and sensitivity.
The tour then continues to the restoration area with a view into the workshops. Exhibition stations show the work processes necessary to preserve certain materials.
On the third and fourth floors, visitors reach the museum’s storage areas. Here, the collection objects and history of the Museum of Prehistory and Early History are on display.
Archaeology as part of urban development
At the end of the tour, the spacious loggia on the fifth floor offers a view of Berlin’s city centre. Workshops and events on this top floor of the building present, discuss and exhibit current topics related to research into the city’s history. Temporary exhibition elements are used to develop and display content in a participatory manner as part of school projects.
The interactive PETRI game
In the basement, surrounded by ancient walls, children can take part in a treasure hunt designed especially for them, in which they become archaeologists themselves. In a stylised excavation landscape, they can discover their own finds visually, haptically and acoustically and then look after them throughout their visit. The finds must be digitally cleaned and (analogously) X-rayed, assembled, inventoried and documented. A new task awaits them on each floor. The originals can be viewed in the exhibition and serve as support.
The finds
Archaeological finds from across Berlin are on display. In addition, the study collection of the Museum of Prehistory and Early History has moved into PETRI. This is the core collection of prehistoric and early historical finds from the Palaeolithic Age, including Heinrich Schliemann’s collection of Trojan antiquities and modern objects. A display shelf connecting the upper floors shows the diversity and variety of the finds.
A permanent exhibition of the Museum of Prehistory and Early History – Berlin State Museums in cooperation with the Berlin State Office for the Preservation of Historical Monuments.