Workshops

Every Saturday afternoon the Drop-In format Colorful Palaces takes place in the Workshops. Everyone from the age of 3 onwards can participate – alone, with friends or with the entire family. The Drop-Ins invite you to get creative and learn more about the History of the Site or the Humboldt Brothers. The MeetUp Make it and take it! invites everyone aged 16 onwards to tinker and design together with a laser cutte, 3D printer, cutting plotter, sewing and embroidery machine.

Every October, as part of the European Code Week, the Workshops become a hands-on festival for people of all ages. Coding stations, maker space activities and creative workshops with digital media invite you to try out programming, tinkering and hacking.

Workshops, symposia and other educational activities regularly take place in multiple inclusively-designed seminar rooms. The biannual brochure Mitten drin (available only in German) provides an overview of the bookable workshops for daycare groups and school classes, as well as advanced training for educators, teachers and mediators. The newsletter Bildung und Vermittlung provides further information about current educational projects (click here to sign up).

Bored of being quiet and still? There is a Play Den in the Workshops for children of all ages to climb and have fun. If this is too much action for you and you’d rather prefer a quieter space, check out the Drawing Station and the interactive Feedback Wall right beside the play area.

Towards the back of the Workshops you will find a Playing Corner, equipped with various card and board games. A fluffy surprise awaits you there!

A separate room has been set up for children in the Gallery above, with colourful cushions and kid-friendly furniture. The workshop Eagle, Lion, Crown takes place here, in which children create their own plaster casts. Outisde workshop hours, this space can freely be used by visitors as a retreat to rest and relax.

Whether it’s an exhibition catalogue, a children’s book, a comic book, a picture book or a non-fiction book: rummage and browse through the Research Area – and you will surely find something that piques your interest! The bookshelves towards the back of the Workshops offer literature covering a wide range of topics in different languages. Read about colonialism and racism, Humboldt Brothers or the history of the Humboldt Forum and its exhibitions, and strike up a conversation with fellow visitors. There is also a Flashback object from the History of the Site with an audio station here.

The Object Salon is a meeting place, a storytelling forum and a participatory format that takes place several times a year in the Workshops. People from all over Berlin come together to tell each other personal stories about items from their homes. The display cabinet in the entrance area exhibits these belongings. Over the past few years, groups from the history project “Anno Erzählt”, SOS Kinderdorf Berlin, Stadtteilzentrum Kreativhaus, Hoffnungstaler Stiftung Lobetal, Fröbel-Kindergarten Schatzinsel and Lebenshilfe Berlin have been involved in this project.

No more place to sit in the library? Come and study in the Workshops! 15 individual workstations with table lamps, power sockets and Wi-Fi are available on the gallery upstairs. They can be used freely during the opening hours of the Workshops, without any prior registration or reservation. The upper gallery is accessible via a staircase in the entrance area and via an elevator located towards the rear end of the Workshops. Just drop by!