Pinakothek der Moderne
Four national collections — fine art, architecture, design, and works on paper — share one building organized around a central domed rotunda.
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Stephan Braunfels's 22,000-square-meter building, opened in 2002, consolidates collections previously scattered across the Haus der Kunst and Lenbachhaus. You get the national modern art collection, Munich TU's architecture museum, the Neue Sammlung for design and applied arts, and a dedicated works-on-paper collection in a single visit. The basement adds a permanent jewelry show from the Danner Foundation.
What to look for
- Central domed rotunda connecting all four wings — the structural logic of the whole building made visible
- First-floor art galleries lit by computer-controlled lamps calibrated for near-shadowless illumination against grey floors and white walls
- Danner Jewelry Collection in the basement: permanent loans of contemporary pieces from over 100 international goldsmiths, open since 2004
Located in central Munich's Kunstareal (museum quarter); the rectilinear concrete-and-glass facade is marked by high columns supporting a canopied roof.
Pinakothek der Moderne is one of 37 sights worth the detour in Munich, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Munich pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Munich
- Allianz ArenaThe world's first stadium with a full color-changing exterior — 75,000 seats wrapped in inflated ETFE plastic panels that can change color across the entire facade.
- Deutsches Museum125,000 objects across 50 fields of science and technology — all on a former coal island in the Isar.
- Nymphenburg PalaceAt 632 metres across, this Baroque summer palace is wider than Versailles — and it started as a birth announcement.
- Alte PinakothekThe gallery that taught Europe how to build a museum — then filled it with five centuries of Old Masters.
- FrauenkircheThe twin towers top out at just over 98 meters — Munich caps the entire city at 99 m, so nothing can overtake them on the skyline.
- Englischer GartenA Massachusetts-born American Loyalist, fleeing Britain after the Revolution, drew up plans for what became one of the world's largest urban parks.