Übersee-Museum

Current exhibitions

About the museum

The museum grew out of several Bremen society and association collections on natural history and ethnography, which were merged into municipal collections from 1878 onward. In 1887 the zoologist Hugo Schauinsland became their director. After the Northwest German Trade and Industry Exhibition of 1890, whose country pavilions with goods, animals and plants from around the world drew large crowds, a dedicated museum building went up on Bahnhofsplatz. It opened on January 15, 1896, as the Städtisches Museum für Natur-, Völker- und Handelskunde (Municipal Museum of Natural History, Ethnology and Trade).

Schauinsland shaped the museum for more than four decades with his guiding idea of showing the whole world under one roof. Lifelike stagings and dioramas depicting people, animals and plants of distant regions in their environments became its hallmark. Bremen merchants and citizens were key backers of its development.

During World War II, bombs badly damaged the building in 1943; the first areas reopened in 1949. Following a renovation from 1976 to 1979, the museum presented itself with a new concept focused on economic and ecological connections.

Since 1999 the museum has been a foundation under public law. That same year the open storage facility “Übermaxx” opened in the neighboring building, the first of its kind in Europe. From 2001 onward, the permanent exhibitions on Asia, Africa and the Americas as well as the exhibition “Erleben, was die Welt bewegt” were redesigned; in 2025 “Der blaue Kontinent” on the island world of the Pacific was added. The collection comprises around 1.2 million objects, and the exhibition “Spurensuche” examines the colonial origins of many holdings.

Highlights

• Large dioramas with taxidermy animals, including in the Africa exhibition
• Oceania exhibition “Der blaue Kontinent” with a rock island from Palau and outrigger canoes from Samoa
• Open storage facility “Übermaxx” holding a large share of the roughly 1.2 million collection objects
• 17th-century minke whale skeleton in the foyer
• Exhibition “Spurensuche” on the colonial history of the collections

Permanent exhibitions

• Der blaue Kontinent – Inseln im Pazifik – Oceania exhibition opened in 2025 on seafaring, identity, climate change, colonial history and biodiversity of the Pacific islands, developed with partners from the region.
• Karibu Afrika – Africa from several perspectives: from everyday life in Nairobi to savanna dioramas and natural resources to the origins of humankind, complemented by contemporary art.
• Asien – A journey from the religions of Asia along the Silk Road to Shanghai, with theater figures, rainforest and mangrove stagings and a Japanese garden at the end.

Founded

1887

Operated by

Stiftung Übersee-Museum Bremen (Stiftung öffentlichen Rechts)

Director

Prof. Dr. Wiebke Ahrndt

Admission & discounts

The standard ticket covers permanent and special exhibitions. Members of the friends' association free. Group guided tour (60 min.) during opening hours €65 plus admission, outside opening hours €120; children's birthday party flat rate €98, kindergarten groups flat rate €45.

Accessibility

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

Accessible entrance to the right of the main entrance (also leading to the restaurant), with four public accessible parking spaces there. All exhibitions are wheelchair-accessible; wheelchair-accessible restrooms in the main building and in the Übermaxx open storage facility. Website with information in Easy Language (Leichte Sprache).

Kids & families

Great for kids & families

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

Media guide also in a children's version, digital scavenger hunts for the permanent exhibitions via the Actionbound app. Programs such as the monthly "Wissensreise für Kinder" (autumn to spring) and flashlight tours. Children's birthday parties (1.5 hours, up to 10 children plus 2 accompanying adults) for all age groups.

Getting there & parking

Amenities & dining

• Café
• Restaurant
• Museum shop
• Wi-Fi

Restaurant Café Übersee (also open in the evening after the museum closes, terrace facing Bahnhofsplatz) and Afrika Café on the second floor of the exhibition; picnics brought from home allowed in the museum. Pets not allowed.

Events & venue rental

• Spaces for rent
• Private parties
• Corporate events

Up to 120 guests.

Diorama (up to 60 people), Forum with lobby (up to 120 people in theater seating), foyer with the minke whale (outside opening hours only) and exhibition areas such as Oceania; catering and conference technology on request.

Plan your visit