Museum Fünf Kontinente

Current exhibitions

About the museum

The museum's roots go back to the Wittelsbach family's Kunstkammer (cabinet of curiosities), which collected objects from distant regions of the world as early as the 16th century. In 1862 the explorer Moritz Wagner was appointed the first curator of the Ethnographic Collection, and in 1868 the Ethnographic Museum opened to the public in the arcades by the Hofgarten. This makes it one of the oldest museums of its kind in Germany.

Since 1926 the museum has been housed in the grand building at Maximilianstraße 42, which Eduard Riedel built between 1859 and 1865, originally for the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum. In 1917 the Ethnographic Collection became the Museum für Völkerkunde (Museum of Ethnology); since 2014 it has been called Museum Fünf Kontinente (Museum of Five Continents).

The holdings include objects from five centuries, along with some considerably older archaeological pieces, and today grow mainly through contemporary art. The museum openly confronts its own history, shaped not only by scientific curiosity but also by colonial appropriation, and carries out its own provenance research.

Permanent exhibitions are devoted to regions including Southwest Asia and North Africa, Oceania, Myanmar, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Central and South America; there is also a Buddha hall and a show on the Japan painter Wilhelm Heine. The North America section is set to reopen in spring 2027.

Highlights

• Buddha hall with sculptures from Asia
• Art and everyday culture from Oceania
• Myanmar collection with pagoda models and Nat figures
• Japan memories of the painter Wilhelm Heine
• Historic museum building by Eduard Riedel on Maximilianstraße

Permanent exhibitions

• Ozeanien – Inselwelten im Pazifik – Art and cultural artifacts from the islands of the Pacific.
• Myanmar – Von Pagoden, Longyis und Nat-Geistern – Religious art and everyday culture from Myanmar.
• Subsahara-Afrika – Lebendige Traditionen, kreative Gegenwart – Historic objects and contemporary art from Sub-Saharan Africa.

Founded

1862

Operated by

Freistaat Bayern

Director

Uta Werlich

Admission & discounts

Free admission for groups including teachers accompanying school classes, ICOM members, journalists and holders of the Bayerische Ehrenamtskarte (Bavarian volunteer card). Tickets at the ticket desk or online.

Accessibility

• Wheelchair accessible
• Elevator
• Accessible restroom
• Accessible parking
• Service dogs welcome
• Tactile models & exhibits: no information
• Sign language tours: no information
• Easy-to-read materials: no information
• Audio description: no information

Step-free entrance via Knöbelstraße (ring the bell); the main entrance on Maximilianstraße has seven steps. Elevators to all three exhibition floors, loaner wheelchairs and rollators with advance notice, induction loop in the lecture hall. Please register assistance dogs in advance; staff assistance available by arrangement over the phone.

Kids & families

Great for kids & families

• Family tours & workshops
• Activity booklet, scavenger hunt or kids’ audio guide
• Kids’ birthday parties

Creative workshops for children (some from age 6 with an accompanying adult) according to the calendar; free activity booklet for all permanent exhibitions at the ticket desk. Children's birthday parties (120 or 150 minutes, up to 12 children) via the MPZ. Free admission under 18.

Getting there & parking

Accessible entrance via Knöbelstraße (call ahead).

Amenities & dining

• Café
• Museum shop

Café Vista in the foyer with organic products and a changing lunch menu (Tue–Sun 9:30–17:30). Museum shop and public specialist library on site.

Events & venue rental

• Spaces for rent
• Corporate events

Up to 200 guests.

Event hall for up to 200 people with equipment for lectures and symposia, foyer for receptions; guided tours can be booked as an accompanying program.

Plan your visit