Berlin: 2024 will be a year full of highlights

Berlin, January 2024 Sport - Memory - Art. Berlin offers travel inspiration for the whole year: there are many events in the capital in 2024 that make a trip to the German capital worthwhile. For example, Berlin will host the UEFA Euro 2024 in the summer, and in autumn the world will once again look to Berlin when the fall of the Berlin Wall is commemorated for the 35th time. A multitude of anniversaries, art and cultural events will make the city a centre of attraction for national and international guests this year too.

Four weeks of football fever - and the finals in Berlin

The undisputed highlight of the 2024 sporting year is the UEFA Euro 2024 European Football Championship taking place from 14 June to 14 July. Under the motto "United by Football - United in the Heart of Europe", 24 nations will play to win the title, which is awarded every four years. There are a total of ten venues throughout Germany. Among them, Berlin bears a special significance: In addition to three group matches and one round of 16 and one quarter-final, the Olympic Stadium will also be the venue for the finals. The world is well aware that Berlin is not only a place to watch football, but also a place to celebrate, at least since the 2006 Summer World Cup. At UEFA Euro 2024, there will of course again be a Fan-Fest on the Straße des 17. Juni, and the Brandenburg Gate will be transformed into the largest football goal in the world. Berlin rolls out the green carpet for football fans, Berliners and guests from all over the world, and the Brandenburg Gate becomes the largest football goal in the world.

35 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall - Berlin writes world history

The fall of the Berlin Wall on 9 November 1989 was certainly one of the most significant events in recent history. It ended the division of Berlin - and the whole world - into East and West, and the decades-long Cold War could come to an end. At the same time, the fall of the Wall was also the starting point for reunification just under a year later. Berlin will celebrate the 35th anniversary of the fall of the Wall in 2024. A whole series of events and ceremonies with high-ranking international guests are planned to mark the anniversary in an appropriate manner. Further information

A tip: From 17 May 2024 to 16 February 2025, the Humboldt Forum will host the exhibition "Hin und Weg. The Palace of the Republic is the Present". Where the Humboldt Forum stands today was once the "People's Palace" of the GDR, a political centre and place of representation, but also of entertainment. The tasks, functions, impact and, of course, memories are brought to life on 1,400 square metres at the authentic site: in objects, but also in workshops, events and personal discussions, including the movie "Die Spur der Steine".

Distinguished painters in Berlin museums

One of the cultural highlights of the year is the exhibition "Caspar David Friedrich - Infinite Landscapes" from 19 April to 4 August in the Alte Nationalgalerie. The show in Berlin includes about 60 paintings and 50 drawings by Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840), the most eminent painter of German Romanticism. It is part of a series of thematically independent exhibitions on the 250th birth anniversary of the artist, together with the Hamburger Kunsthalle and the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden.

Another outstanding exhibition awaits visitors from 17 July to 3 November in the Gemäldegalerie. It shows around 70 works by the Dutch artist Frans Hals (1582/83-1666), one of the greatest portrait painters of all time. The exhibition was previously shown at the National Gallery in London and the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

And for those who have not yet had the opportunity to see the major exhibitions dedicated to the Norwegian artist Edvard Munch: The Berlinische Galerie is presenting "Magic of the North: Edvard Munch in Berlin" until 22 January 2024, focusing on Munch's time in Berlin. The Museum Barberini in Potsdam is focussing on "Munch. Lebenslandschaft" until 1 April 2024 focuses on Munch's landscapes and his engagement with nature. visitBerlin, in cooperation with both museums, is offering a discounted combined ticket for the two exhibitions.
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150 years and it is still one of the most popular styles today: Impressionism. From 27 September 2024 to 26 January 2025, the Alte Nationalgalerie is showing the small but top-class exhibition "Monet and the Impressionist City" with a focus on the subject of the city. On display are three paintings by Claude Monet and 17 other Impressionist cityscapes.

The top exhibition of the year at Berlin's Neue Nationalgalerie is "Andy Warhol. Velvet Rage and Beauty". Until 6 October 2024, it will be showing more than two hundred and fifty works by Andy Warhol, one of the most famous and most discussed artists of the 20th century.

Arts and cultural events of the year 2024

And of course, cultural events are also taking place this year, some of which have been a tradition for decades. In February, the city will be all about fashion during Berlin Fashion Week (5 to 8 February) and will once again be the centre of the film world during the 74th Berlinale (15 to 24 February). At the Carnival of Cultures (17 to 20 May), Berlin can be experienced with all its creative influences from all over the world. From culinary delights and arts and crafts to music and live performances, the capital is international, cosmopolitan and diverse. At the  Fête de la Musique on 21 June, the whole of Berlin will be dedicated to music. Amateurs and professionals make music all over the city, at over 200 locations, always free of charge. The great festival of music was invented in Paris in 1982, came to Berlin in 1995 and is now celebrated in over 500 cities worldwide. And of course Christopher Street Day on 27 July is not to be missed. Every year, the march and the big closing party around the Victory Column send out a cheerful signal in favour of the rights of the LQBTQ+ community. Up to one million people are expected to attend the CSD in Berlin again in 2024. 

From transmediale (31 January to 4 February) and Gallery Weekend (26-28 April) to the Long Night of Science (22 June), Long Night of Museums (24 August) and Open Monument Day (9-10 September) - many Berlin events attract countless guests year after year. The autumn highlight for contemporary art: Berlin Art Week (11-15 September 2024) brings together the key players in Berlin's art scene.

What else awaits art and culture enthusiasts in Berlin 2024 - the top exhibitions 2024

These are Berlin's exhibition highlights: The collection "Banksy – a vandal turned idol" takes visitors into the world of the world-famous British street art idol Banksy until 29 February. König Galerie is showing neo-expressionism by the painter Hödicke in its new Berlin branch in the historic  Telegraphenamt until 27 January. If you want to escape the Berlin winter for a while, you can immerse yourself in the colourful world of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo until 7 April or in the immersive exhibition experience of Dalís until 21 April. In the double show Metzkes & Sohn at the  Sandau & Leo Gallery in Berlin-Mitte, visitors can experience the unmistakable art of Harald Metzkes, one of the most important post-war painters in East Germany, and his son, sculptor Robert Metzkes, until 9 March. From 27 January to 22 May, the Berlin photography institution C/O Berlin is dedicating a retrospective to the Viennese scandal feminist  Valie Export; from September, "Berlin - The 90s", a city in upheaval, can be seen there.

From 26 January to 28 April, an audiovisual exhibition on Josephine Baker at the Neue Nationalgalerie will allow visitors to experience the artist's great expressive power and strategy for success. From February, Kraftwerk Berlin, with its gigantic cathedral-like space, will provide the perfect stage for Christopher Bauder's latest Gesamtkunstwerk: the audiovisual light installation "Vektor". And in the Museum of Prints and Drawings, modern masterpieces by Beckmann, Dix, Grosz, Heckel, Kirchner, Kandinsky, Kollwitz, Matisse, Munch and Picasso are on display.

Other highlights include the abstract metal sculptures by Hans Uhlmann in the Berlinische Galerie from mid-February to mid-May. Naama Tsabar's interactive works will be on display at the Hamburger Bahnhof from March and Marianna Simnett´s football views from May. Pop, punk and provocation characterise the images of photographer Daniel Josefsohn, whose photos shaped the image of Berlin around 2000. From September, the Jewish Museum Berlin will be showing an exhibition of his sometimes provocative, sometimes poetic photos. An overview of all top exhibitions here

A year of new beginnings and anniversaries

New year - new luck for Berlin, as there are many new heads in the German capital's cultural scene: from the 2023/24 season, Joana Mallwitz will be the new Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Konzerthausorchester Berlin. Berlin also has or is expecting new directors at many other institutions, such as the Berlinale, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Neue and Alte Nationalgalerie, Hamburger Bahnhof, Gropius Bau, KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Stadtmuseum, Sophiensäle, Berliner Theatertreffen and Gallery Weekend.

Berlin is looking forward to these anniversaries:

- 55 years of the Berlin TV Tower: on the anniversary day, which coincides with the Day of German Unity on 3 October 2024, visitors can look forward to a special birthday programme for the Berlin icon.

- 20 years of the Festival of Lights: The light art festival is one of the most famous in the world.

- 30 years of city partnerships with Tokyo, Jakarta, Beijing and Buenos Aires

- 50th Berlin Marathon: Every autumn, the event attracts around 45,000 runners, handbikers and inline skaters from 120 nations on a tour through the city centre.

- 100 years ofNefertiti in Berlin: The jewel of Berlin's art collections: Nefertiti's head was presented to the public for the first time in Berlin in 1924. Today she is world-famous and perhaps the most beautiful woman in Berlin.

- 100 years of the S-Bahn: A programme is planned for Berliners, families, technology enthusiasts and visitors to the city.

- 100 years of IFA: The latest inventions in communications technology and the show programme in the IFA Summer Garden once again make the event in Berlin so popular on its 100th anniversary.

More of the highlights in the visitBerlin events calendar

One of the best and easiest ways to get an overview of Berlin's huge range of events is to check out visitBerlin's events calendar. Those interested can search and sort the events there by date, district and type of event. The editorial team at visitBerlin also shares daily tips on particularly special highlights.