For one Sunday, we are bringing back free entry to the museum! On December 7, 2025, admission to the SMU will be free for all visitors between 2 and 6 PM!
There will be free guided tours of Burning Down the Patriarchy at 2:30 PM and A Heart that Beats at 4 PM, both in German spoken language.
On December 6, 1985, the Association Verein der Freundinnen und Freunde des Schwulen Museums in Berlin e.V. was founded. Shortly thereafter, a museum library and archive were established in the premises of the General Homosexual Working Group (AHA) on Friedrichstraße. The first exhibition, Igitt – 90 Years of Homopresse, took place here in 1986.
In 1988, the museum moved to Mehringdamm 61, where more than 130 exhibitions have been held and where the archive and collection were relocated. Over the years, the Schwules Museum has developed into an institution that is in demand both nationally and internationally. Since 2011, the Schwules Museum has been supported by institutional funding from the Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Europe.
In spring 2013, the museum moved to the building at Lützowstrasse 73 in Berlin-Tiergarten. The ground floor now houses four exhibition rooms and a café. The air-conditioned basement houses the museum’s unique archive and collection. Since then, the museum has also expanded its thematic focus: the Schwules Museum is increasingly becoming a place that provides information about the diversity of sexual identities and gender concepts.
Today, the SMU is an internationally renowned center of excellence for research, preservation, and presentation of queer culture and history and sexual and gender diversity, as well as a sought-after partner for museums and universities, cultural institutions, artists, and activists from around the world. Its archive, with over 1.5 million documents, objects, and works of art, is one of the most important queer cultural collections worldwide. With currently 16 full-time and over 80 volunteer staff members, we have become a diverse, multifaceted, and reliable queer institution in Berlin over the past 40 years.
We want to celebrate all this and much more with you – we look forward to seeing you!
Image: Yasmin Künze