A Forum for All

The Humboldt Forum wants to be an inclusive forum for culture and science and live equal cultural participation. All those involved are currently working on making the programme accessible to as many visitors as possible.

Public Elevators and Freight Elevators

The public areas tend to have automated doors that can usually be opened with a button. Elevators and staff-operated freight elevators provide access to all non-ground level public areas. The roof terrace can only be reached via an elevator. The controls in the elevators are usually lower than 90 to 100 cm. The elevators have voice announcements. Freight elevators are installed in the palace cellar, in the Video Panorama and in the passage leading from the special exhibition area to the Portal 3 museum shop. There is an alternative route via ramps to each of the freight elevators.

Parking Spaces

There are 22 disabled parking spaces on the south side. No registration is required.

Tactile Floor Guidance System

A tactile and visual high-contrast floor guidance system inside the building connects to tactile strips in front of portal 3 and in the Passage. It links to the central service points such as the cash register in the foyer, the function room area, the ground floor cloakroom, and wheelchair-accessible toilets and elevators. The guidance system leads via the stairwell to the workrooms on the 1st floor and to all entrances to the permanent and special exhibition areas on the 1st to 3rd floors. Tactile exhibits, traces of the history of the site, seating, and toilets in the workrooms and in the permanent and temporary exhibition areas on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd floors can be found tactilely with the help of the floor guidance system.

Tactile Maps

To provide guidance, permanently installed tactile floor plans are available for each of the exhibition areas: one in the entrance area to the Berlin Global exhibit, one in the entrance area of ​​the workrooms, one in the stairwell for the After Nature exhibit, and floor plans in the intro spaces on the 2nd and 3rd floors.

Tactile Markings on the Handrails

Controls in the elevators as well as stair handrails in the central areas are identified with tactile and Braille lettering, with floor level information and direction indicators being provided on the handrails. Mezzanines and offset levels are labeled 1.5 for clarity.

Safety Markings on Glass Doors and Step Edges

Glass doors and some fixed glazing in traffic areas have contrasting safety markings at knee and eye level that extend across the entire width of the glass. Tactile protection has also been provided for main doors. Overhead obstruction protection is provided in the ground floor stairwell. Step-edge markings are provided virtually throughout the public areas.

If you have any questions, the Humboldt Forum staff will be happy to help.

In the exhibitions on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd floors, visitors have the opportunity to take a tour of tactile and olfactory stations. These are connected by a tactile floor guidance system. The tactile or two-sense stations are aimed at all visitors and provide at a minimum two-sense communication of low-threshhold content. Accessible with a wheelchair (height clearance >67 cm, depth clearance normally >90 cm), they are uniformly structured to make it easier to find individual elements.

The Humboldt Forum app and the media guide additionally offer audio descriptions, videos in German sign language, with plain-language audios coming soon.
The media guide covers the permanent and temporary exhibitions as well as the History of the Site (HotS) exhibits. Specifically, it offers the following options:

• Audio descriptions (currently available for HotS tours and tracks, Humboldt Lab)
• Sign-language videos (currently available for HotS tours and tracks, Humboldt Lab, Ethnological Collections, and Museum für Asiatische Kunst)
• Text versions of all audios in the media guide for the hearing-impaired
• Plain-language texts are being prepared for recordings in multiple languages (Arabic, Chinese, German, German Sign Language, English, French, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Russian, Spanish, Turkish)
• Offered languages can be changed at any time (no fixed tracks)

The media guide is available as a web app and can be accessed on your own device in and outside the Humboldt Forum. This allows you to use your own presets. In the Humboldt Forum, visitors can use the web app on rental devices.
Accessible events and educational programs are offered in the Humboldt Forum.

The Humboldt Forum is served by bus routes 100, 300, and N5 (Lustgarten stop), as well as 147 (Berliner Schloss stop). The nearest U-Bahn station, Museumsinsel, and U- and S-Bahn station Alexanderplatz are wheelchair accessible. Disabled parking spaces are available and service dogs are welcome inside the building.

This site is under construction. The Digital Accessibility Statement includes contact information in case you have any questions or feedback regarding accessibility.