Jewish Museum Berlin

The Jewish Museum Berlin sits on Lindenstraße in the Kreuzberg district, in a zinc-clad building designed by Daniel Libeskind whose jagged, zigzagging floor plan and slashed window openings are themselves part of the museum's message before a single artifact is viewed. Visitors enter through an underground passage connecting to a historic Baroque building, then choose between three intersecting axes: the Axis of Exile leading to the outdoor Garden of Exile, a grid of 49 tilted concrete columns planted with olive willows that induces a deliberate sense of disorientation underfoot; the Axis of the Holocaust, ending in the stark, unheated concrete void of the Holocaust Tower, lit only by a single slit of daylight; and the Axis of Continuity, leading up to the main permanent exhibition covering 2,000 years of Jewish life in Germany through objects, family histories, and interactive displays. A thorough visit takes 2 to 3 hours, and first-time visitors are encouraged to walk the Garden of Exile and Holocaust Tower slowly and in silence before engaging with the main historical exhibition upstairs. Weekday mornings are calmest; school groups tend to visit on weekday afternoons. The building's sharp external angles, best viewed from Lindenstraße looking across at the zinc facade, photograph most dramatically in the low light of early morning or late afternoon.