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Picture Cellar
7/2/2025 – 3/25/2026

Guided Tour

In the middle of the political “Tauwetter-Periode” (thaw period), the master students of the German Akademie der Künste celebrate carnival in the coal cellar in 1957 and 1958. The resulting murals can be viewed as part of the eventful history of the institution and building.

Abstract murals in a cellar depict naked women and men in tailcoats
Picture Cellar, in the foreground mural by Harald Metzkes and Manfred Böttcher
© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2018 / Photo: Andreas [FranzXaver] Süß
  • Location:Pariser Platz
  • Date:7/2/2025 – 3/25/2026
  • Time:5 PM
  • Price:EUR 7.50 (Reduced: EUR 5)
  • Languages: German
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  • Guided tours every Wednesday at 5 pm

    For a maximum of 14 visitors

    Entrance not wheelchair accessible

    Special guided tours in English, for students and for blind and visually impaired visitors with registration: kunstwelten@adk.de

Tickets:

The works by the master students Manfred Böttcher, Harald Metzkes, Ernst Schroeder and Horst Zickelbein are unique testimonies to a youthful post-war awakening. In an exhibition initiated by Fritz Cremer, the works of the carnival painters provided the occasion for the climax of a cultural-political campaign against the Akademie in the GDR. As if in a burning glass, the murals reflect the controversial discussion between East and West and the need for a differentiated interpretation of German-German history in a European context.

The Picture Cellar was only made public in 2018. Besides the exhibition halls and the Brandenburg Gate, the murals are the only original remnants of the historic Pariser Platz. Interview films, audio documents and a publication in German and English provide insights into the disputes of the time.

Access to the Picture Cellar is only possible on a guided tour.

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