© dpa
Museums in Berlin
Berlin's top museums with adresses, informations, opening hours and public transport. more
The Hemp Museum situated in Berlin’s Nikolaiviertel – south of Alexanderplatz is the only museum of its kind in Germany and the fourth in the world after similar museums in Italy, Switzerland and Amsterdam in the Netherlands. Here is 250sq m of exhibition space devoted exclusively to the agricultural, manufacturing and industrial as well as legal aspects of the use of hemp.
The aim of the exhibition is to do justice to the mind-boggling amount of facets as well as facts and figures associated with this diverse botanical treasure and its application. Starting from the plant and its cultivation, the products and the industry revolving around its utilisation from insulation material, to textile and paper manufacturing, cosmetics and pharmaceutical applications are all explored.
Hemp has been cultivated as a crop for over 10,000 years, providing ropes and fabric in the Middle Ages and cellulose transformed into paper for the Gutenberg printing press in Germany. The significance of the plant is vast and spans continents worldwide. A whole section is devoted to the legal side of the (THC-…?) Aiming to clarify the complexities of present legislation relating to the consumption of cannabis as a drug it pays particular attention to detangling the legal complexities revolving around its use. Famous and colourful cannabis users such as Berliner Kabarett artist Wolfgang Neuss are given their say. The actual plant is also exhibited for those interested to find out about its botanical characteristics.
A Lesecafé (Reading Cafè) doubles as an artists’ gallery. A small shop with more literature on the subject and a video gallery are also available.