Berlin museum approaches ethnological collection in new ways

A Berlin museum opens fully to the public this week with a very modern take on the display of cultural items from around the world and the debate over demands for some of them to be returned to their homelands.
The east wing of the Humboldt Forum contains items from the city’s Ethnological Museum and the Museum for Asian Art. It will display some 20,000 objects, among them dozens of Benin Bronzes that were stolen in Africa during colonial times — as well as an exhibit explaining to visitors how most of them are soon to return to Nigeria.
The east wing opened Thursday with a preview for reporters and will be open to the public starting Saturday. The west wing of the museum — located in the heart of of the German capital, next to the neoclassical Museum Island complex — opened in 2021. It also contains items from the two collections.
The objects on display offer a survey of the world’s cultures and have been chosen to place a new emphasis on the importance of art from Africa, Oceania, Asia and the Americas.
During the development of the exhibition, German curators worked closely together with teams from countries and regions where many of the objects originated.