Who hasn’t wished they could slip into a painting from the past, meet the people in it and find out how they lived back then? With “Inside the painting! A journey through time for children”, the Deutsches Historisches Museum is breaking new ground and showing its first children’s exhibition from 2 June 2024 to 19 January 2025. With this new exhibition format, the DHM invites young museum visitors of primary school age and their families to explore one of the four famous Augsburg monthly paintings from the 16th century. Like in a pop-up book, they can immerse themselves in the world of early modern life. The people depicted in the painting become narrative figures and give visitors access to four thematic areas: People, play, trade and nature.
Image above: Werkstattbesuch des Kinderbeirats „Kluge Zauberdrachen“ © Deutsches Historisches Museum, Foto: David von Becker
Just in time for International Children’s Day, the DHM will open its doors on 1 and 2 June 2024 for an admission-free opening weekend: on Saturday from 1 to 6 pm and on Berlin Museum Sunday from 10 am to 6 pm, museum guests will have the opportunity to visit the new children’s exhibition in the Pei Building. The opening will be accompanied by a colourful programme of hands-on and creative activities for children and families.
In this inclusive and largely barrier-free exhibition, children can explore the visible and invisible in a playful and exploratory way. Did life really look the same at that time? The aim is to introduce visitors to a precise and critical examination of pictorial representations. The monthly painting “January – February – March” at the centre of the exhibition is one of four paintings in the “Augsburg Monthly Paintings” cycle of the seasons. They are among the most important works of art in the collection of the Deutsches Historisches Museum. The museum’s conservators are currently working intensively on the four paintings. The monthly painting at the centre of the exhibition will have been fully restored by the time of the opening and will be presented in a new frame for the first time. A spacious workshop room, an important part of the children’s exhibition, provides an insight into the restoration work processes and also offers space for the visitors’ own creative ideas. The exhibition offers a variety of educational formats and opens up playful approaches to history through original objects and hands-on stations. The experience gained from this will be incorporated into the planned exhibition area for children and families within the DHM’s new permanent exhibition.
WHEN?
Exhibition dates:
Sunday, 2 June 2024 to Sunday, 19 January 2025
Opening hours:
Pei-Bau:
Daily 10 am – 6 pm
Thurs 10am-8pm (until 31 May 2024)
WHERE?
Deutsches Historisches Museum
Unter den Linden 2
10117 Berlin
COST?
Admission €5.00, reduced admission €3.50,
Free admission up to 18 years
