Academy of Arts

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  Academy of Arts at Pariser Platz

• Academy of Arts at Hanseatenweg in Berlin-Tiergarten

The Academy of Arts is the oldest and most prestigious cultural institution in Germany. Its tasks are to promote contemporary artistic positions and to safeguard cultural heritage.

The Academy was founded as the Prussian Academy of Arts in 1696 by King Frederick I as an academic institution and an intellectual forum for the exchange of ideas amongst artists and scholars. The original building, a private residence from 1734, became the home of Count Arnim-Boitzenburg in 1858. Acquired by the Prussian treasury in 1902 it was converted into the Academy of Arts from 1904 to 1906 by architect Ernst von Ihne. Its prestigious members have included Wolfgang von Goethe, Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy and Bertolt Brecht and Max Liebermann headed the institution in the 1920s when the Academy developed its Literature section.

Events at the Academy of Arts

In 1993 the East Berlin and the West Berlin branch merged into one all-German Academy of Arts. The institution hosts a diverse range of events such as exhibitions, concerts, readings, theatre and dance performances, film screenings and radio drama presentations, conferences, symposia, panel discussions and colloquia. On behalf of the City of Berlin, the Academy awards the Berlin Art Prize and a range of other awards.

One Academy, Several Locations

The Academy of Arts spreads its activities and tasks over several locations in Berlin. The prestigious new building on Pariser Platz is home to the President's Office, the Program Office, the sections and the Communications Department. The former West Berlin headquarters on Hanseatenweg in Berlin-Tiergarten is home to the administration, the Junge Akademie, the editorial staff of "Sinn und Form" and the Studio for Electroacoustic Music. There are also other archives and reading rooms, for example the Baukunstarchiv in Charlottenburg, the Walter Benjamin Archive on Luisenstraße in Mitte, and the central reading room on Robert-Koch-Platz in Mitte.

Information

• Address:
  Pariser Platz 4
  10117 Berlin
  City map
• Phone: [phone]
• Internet: www.adk.de
• Opening Hours: Pariser Platz: Monday to Sunday 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Exhibitions: different opening hours depending on the exhibition
• Admission Fee:
  Different fees depending on the event