The Ethnological Museum Berlin, founded in 1873, is one of the most important of its kind internationally. The collections house around 500,000 ethnographic, archaeological and cultural-historical objects from Africa, Asia, America and Oceania. Around 500,000 media (ethnographic photographs, films, sound documents) and around 200,000 pages of written documents complement these collections. The Ethnological Museum deals critically with the legacy and consequences of colonialism and with the European role and perspective. Reflection on its own points of view, partnerships with representatives of communities of origin in Africa, Asia, Oceania and Americas should open up Eurocentric perspectives, without denying the given European references and historic entanglements.
The Ethnological Museum is committed to the traditional tasks of collecting, preserving, researching and communicating, but fills them with new content. Questions about cultural heritage and responsibilities, interpretation and mediation sovereignty (multiple perspectives, change of perspectives and polyphony) as well as participatory approaches to curating, researching and mediating are in the foreground. The "Collaborative Museum" project, initiated in 2023, develops and tests international collaborative measures and formats that further strengthen contemporary and futureoriented working methods in all areas of the museum. The exhibitions of the Ethnological Museum are presented in the Humboldt Forum
