Stiftung Humboldt Forum im Berliner Schloss

The foundation is the construction client, owner and operator of the Humboldt Forum. The foundation carries out cultural events, research projects and educational work, maintains a permanent exhibition on the history of the site and coordinates the interests of all actors in the Humboldt Forum.

The Humboldt Forum is a place of respectful exchange and equality for all individuals in their diversity.
The Humboldt Forum Foundation aims to represent and promote diversity within its programme, ensuring freedom of opinion, art, and science, and facilitating exchange based on mutual respect.

The Humboldt Forum Foundation evolves as a place of diversity, knowledge dissemination, and critical reflection, constantly seeking to navigate the tension between freedom of expression and art and other affected human rights. In our interactions with both our employees and audience as well as our partners, we continuously strive to find the best ways to ensure freedom of opinion, art, and science within their legally protected boundaries and to defend the inviolability of human dignity.

Our task

At the center of our attention are the visitors who can attend analogue events, exhibitions, or educational offerings at the Humboldt Forum, surf through the collections digitally, or participate in live-streamed discourses. We act as hosts for all individuals who wish to enjoy the new center of Berlin over a coffee or after-work gathering in the Schlüter Courtyard. Additionally, we are responsible for the safe operation of the building, the maintenance of the premises, as well as monument care and conservation of the Palace Cellar.

 

A historical statue on its way to the Sculpture Hall at the Humboldt Forum, February 2019.
© SHF / David von Becker
Cultural Programme

In addition to the construction of the Humboldt Forum, the foundation prepares the cultural operations of the Humboldt Forum. Even before the opening, she organized temporary exhibitions and numerous cross-genre events on the Humboldt Forum’s topics troughout Berlin.

History of the Site

Presenting all facets of the site’s turbulent history — extending from the Middle Ages to the present day — is one of the foundation’s core responsibilities. Since early 2014, curators have been developing permanent exhibition spaces presenting a wide range of historical aspects with by putting on display unique exhibits. Furthermore, collecting the history of the site and curating events, as well as publications and educational offers are core tasks.

Part of the signage system in the Palace of the Republic, 1970s.
© Pictograms: Klaus Wittkugel / © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2020 / Carrier system: Peter Rockel / © Stiftung Humboldt Forum im Berliner Schloss, Digital reproduction: Jester Blank GbR

Organisation

Die Stiftung Humboldt Forum im Berliner Schloss wurde 2009 auf Beschluss des Bundestages von der Bundesregierung gegründet. Gefördert wird sie durch die Beauftragte der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien sowie durch das Bundesministerium des Innern und für Heimat. Sie ist eine rechtsfähige Stiftung des bürgerlichen Rechts.

Executive Board

The Foundation is headed by the general director and chief executive officer Prof. Dr. Hartmut Dorgerloh, the chief construction officer Hans-Dieter Hegner, and the chief administrative officer, Christine Rieffel-Braune. The Executive Board reports to the Foundation Council.

 

Hartmut Dorgerloh

Director and Chief Executive Officer

The art historian, curator of monuments and cultural manager Prof. Dr. Hartmut Dorgerloh is general director and chief executive officer of the Stiftung Humboldt Forum im Berliner Schloss. After senior roles in the Ministerium für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kultur in the state of Brandenburg and as the founding director of the Haus der Brandenburgisch-Preußischen Geschichte in Potsdam, he was general director of the Stiftung Preußische Schlösser und Gärten Berlin-Brandenburg from 2002 to 2018. Since 2004 he has lectured as an honorary professor at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.

Hans-Dieter Hegner

Chief Construction Officer

Hans-Dieter Hegner was appointed chief construction officer at the start of 2016. With his background as a civil engineer, he previously headed a division at the Federal Ministry of Building focussing on civil engineering, sustainable construction, construction research, and various other construction-related matters.

Christine Rieffel-Braune

Chief Administrative Officer

The lawyer Christine Rieffel-Braune has been appointed to the board of the Stiftung Humboldt Forum im Berliner Schloss as of January 2021. After studying law in Osnabrück and Leiden, she gained over 25 years of experience in the administrative field. After holding various management positions in the science administration of the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) in Berlin-Buch, she became part of the board of the v. Bodelschwinghsche Stiftungen Bethel and was responsible for human resources, legal affairs and real estate from 2015 to 2020.

Team

The Foundation’s team looks after the construction, operation and the cultural programme of the Humboldt Forum.

The Foundation's 10th anniversary, 2019.
© SHF / David von Becker

International Network

In the the programmatic direction of the Humboldt Forum the foundation is supported by a team of international experts and a program advisory board. The foundation is also expanding its partnership with the Goethe-Institut.

© Stiftung Humboldt Forum im Berliner Schloss / Photo: David von Becker

Foundation Council

The Executive Board reports to the Foundation Council, the foundation’s highest decision-making body. The Foundation Council consists of representatives of the German Bundestag, the Federal Government, the State of Berlin, the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, Kulturprojekte Berlin GmbH and the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.

 

Contact

Funding

The Stiftung Humboldt Forum im Berliner Schloss is funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media as well as the Federal Ministry of the Interior, Building and Community based on a decision of the German Bundestag.

Stiftung Humboldt Forum im Berliner Schloss (SHF)
Bundesbeauftragte für Kultur und Medien (BKM)
Bundesministerium für Wohnen, Stadtentwicklung und Bauwesen

Other Stakeholders