Hamburger Bahnhof, a short walk from Berlin's central station (Hauptbahnhof), is the former terminus of the Berlin-Hamburg railway, opened in December 1846. Converted into a contemporary art museum in 1996, it has been called "Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart" since late 2022 and belongs, together with the [Neue Nationalgalerie](/fr/attractions/neue-nationalgalerie), to the Nationalgalerie of the Berlin State Museums. It shows its contemporary art collection, works by Joseph Beuys and major temporary exhibitions, in the hall of the old station and in the neighbouring Rieckhallen. It is open Tuesday to Sunday (late opening on Thursday until 20:00) and closed on Monday; a ticket costs €16 (reduced €8), free for under-18s. Allow 2 to 3 hours for the visit.
Highlights
The old station
Friedrich Neuhaus's building, with its two towers and arched entrance, is one of the few 19th-century terminus stations in Berlin still standing. Rail traffic stopped as early as 1884 for lack of space; the building became a transport and construction museum in the early 20th century, was damaged in 1943 and was then renovated by Josef Paul Kleihues for the opening of the contemporary art museum on 3 November 1996.
A station turned museum
This engraving shows the terminus around 1850, when trains from Hamburg pulled in under the arches. After the war the building stood abandoned for decades in the border zone between East and West Berlin, until the West Berlin Senate took control of it in 1984.
The Rieckhallen
Behind the station, these former warehouses, redesigned by the architects Kuehn Malvezzi, bring the exhibition space to more than 10,000 m². Threatened with demolition, they were bought by the State of Berlin in November 2022, while the federal government bought the station building: the museum has carried its current name since that purchase. Their entrance is not yet wheelchair accessible.
The collection
Since 12 June 2026, "Tausendmal Berlin" (A Thousand Times Berlin) has shown more than 70 works by more than 50 artists on the Berlin art scene since 1989 in the west wing, including Katharina Grosse, Mona Hatoum, Thomas Struth and Danh Vo. A selection of works by Joseph Beuys from the Nationalgalerie collection has been on display since April 2024.
The October 2026 exhibitions
The retrospective "Ryuichi Sakamoto. seeing sound, hearing time" fills about 1,500 m² of the Rieckhallen until 20 June 2027. Also on show are "Shilpa Gupta. What Still Holds" until 3 January 2027, Lina Lapelytė's commission "We Make Years Out of Hours" until 10 January 2027 and the group exhibition "[ materialistin ]. Matter of Care, Care of Matter" until 14 March 2027.
The façade at dusk
Late in the day, the light installation on the façade bathes the windows of the main hall, above the entrance arches, in green and blue. The clearest view is from the garden on the Invalidenstraße side.
Opening hours and tickets
Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday 10:00 to 18:00, Thursday 10:00 to 20:00, Saturday and Sunday 11:00 to 18:00, closed on Monday; from 1 December 2026, open Tuesday to Sunday 10:00 to 18:00. The ticket, covering the collection and temporary exhibitions, costs €16 (reduced €8); free for under-18s and for the companion of a person with a severe disability. The Museumspass Berlin (€32, reduced €16) gives access to the city's museums for 3 days. Tickets at the desk or online, released 28 days in advance.
Infos pratiques
Tips
Buy your ticket online to skip the queue at the desk (prices checked in October 2026). The Museumssonntag, free entry on the first Sunday of the month, has not existed since December 2024. For the museum's 30th anniversary, a celebration weekend is planned from 13 to 15 November 2026. Afterwards, the [Reichstag](/fr/attractions/reichstag-berlin) is about fifteen minutes' walk south across the Spree, and the [Berlin Wall Memorial](/fr/attractions/memorial-du-mur-de-berlin) about twenty minutes east along Invalidenstraße.
How to get there
Invalidenstraße 50, 10557 Berlin. S-Bahn, U-Bahn (line U5), tram and bus: Hauptbahnhof stop, then about 5 minutes on foot east along Invalidenstraße from the station's north exit.
Opening hours
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