Germanisches Nationalmuseum

The Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg is Germany’s largest museum of cultural history, housing approximately 1.3 million objects. Its collections span from prehistoric artifacts to contemporary art, offering a comprehensive overview of German art and culture. The museum is housed in a late medieval Carthusian monastery, featuring a cloister, church, and monastic apartments. Notable exhibits include the Behaim Globe and works by Albrecht Dürer. Visitors can also explore the museum’s library, archives, and museum shop. The museum is open Tuesday to Sunday, with extended hours on Wednesday, and is closed on Mondays.

Planning your visit

The Germanisches Nationalmuseum is the largest museum of cultural history in the German-speaking world, holding around 1.3 million objects, and it occupies a late medieval Carthusian monastery in Nuremberg with its cloister and church absorbed into the galleries. The collections run from prehistory to the present across art, furniture, instruments, arms, scientific instruments, folk art and everyday objects.

Two things stand out. The Behaim Globe, made in Nuremberg in 1492, is the oldest surviving terrestrial globe in the world — completed before news of Columbus's landfall returned, so the Americas are absent entirely. And the Dürer holdings are substantial, appropriate in the city where he was born and worked.

The approach to the museum runs along the Way of Human Rights, a row of white concrete pillars each inscribed with an article of the Universal Declaration in a different language — a deliberate statement in a city that hosted the Nazi rallies and later the trials.

Bookable options include day tickets and specialised tours, including sneaker-focused tours examining the museum's design and material culture collections through contemporary objects — an unusual entry point that works better than it sounds. Current availability is shown below.