free admissionin GermanThursday 28 June 2007 | 18:30As part of the exhibition “Angkor – Sacred Heritage of Cambodia”

Gropius Bau

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Naga in der Glaubenswelt der Kambodschaner

Naga in der Religious World of the Cambodians

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Located in the centre of Berlin, the Gropius Bau is a lively place for encounters with art and each other. As an internationally renowned exhibition centre, it offers space for major exhibitions and performances by contemporary artists.

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There are currently no exhibitions on view at Gropius Bau.

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Gropius Bau 2026

Events

Exhibitions & Projects

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Our newsletters keep you updated on current and upcoming exhibitions and events. Learn more about our kids programme and plan your next visit.

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We’re Looking Forward to Welcoming You Again in March!

Gropius Bau is currently closed for exhibition preparations. Our restaurant Beba and our bookstore will reopen on 4 March, before we kick off our spring programme, featuring a performance by <a href="${link:{uuid:{16d14ae2-9463-45b4-91de-95a846c0f377},repository:{website},path:{/bfs-de/gropius-bau/programm/2026/veranstaltungen/leila-hekmat}}}">Leila Hekmat</a>, the <a href="${link:{uuid:{fd3f9e70-97e8-46fb-b639-fc701f8d4039},repository:{website},path:{/bfs-de/gropius-bau/programm/baubau/veranstaltungen/baubau-play-day-pop-up-26}}}">big pop-up</a> of our play space BAUBAU and the opening of our <a href="${link:{uuid:{baa82be9-6411-41e5-806b-4889004c8459},repository:{website},path:{/bfs-de/gropius-bau/programm/2026/ausstellungen/peter-hujar-liz-deschenes}}}">Peter Hujar / Liz Deschenes</a> exhibition. Find more details in our <a href="${link:{uuid:{62c3018b-bb40-46ce-8019-646ec5cd2e4a},repository:{website},path:{/bfs-de/gropius-bau/besuch/informationen}}}">Information &amp; Tickets</a> section.

See You Soon

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Balkan Erotic Epic. The Exhibition

Marina Abramović

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With Andrew Durbin, Biliana Voutchkova, Gary Schneider, Queer Analog Darkroom and Selin Davasse – free admission

Sp&auml;tschicht x C/O Berlin

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Tickets for ten selected concert highlights of the Musikfest Berlin, which in 2026 will also mark the 75th anniversary of the Berliner Festspiele, are available. The programme includes Gy&ouml;rgy Ligeti’s grotesquely humorous anti-opera Le Grand Macabre and George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess.

Musikfest Berlin

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In 2026 the Berliner Festspiele celebrate their 75th anniversary. A selection of events programmed throughout the entire year engage take the anniversary as their theme or mark the occasion with works at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele, the Gropius Bau, the Philharmonie Berlin, on Berlin’s Ringbahn and at other locations in the city.&nbsp;

75 Years of the Berliner Festspiele

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The programme has been published. Advance ticket sales will start on 18&nbsp;April at 10:00.

Theatertreffen

More Berliner Festspiele

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The Practice – What Moves Artists

The Practice – What Moves Artists&nbsp;is a book series by Gropius Bau that invites artists to showcase a practice that they pursue, that has influenced them or that has been with them for a long time. In the third volume of the series On the Erotic, performance artist Marina Abramović talks about female sexuality after menopause, the eroticism of the masses and her love for the planet.

Marina Abramović: On the Erotic

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A Vibrant Place for Enganging with Art and Each Other

Located in the centre of Berlin, Gropius Bau is a lively place to encounter art and each other. The internationally renowned institution is part of the Berliner Festspiele and stages large-scale exhibitions and performances by contemporary artists, offering new perspectives on our present.

About Gropius Bau

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The Practice – What Moves Artists&nbsp;is a book series by Gropius Bau that invites artists to showcase a practice that they pursue, that has influenced them or that has been with them for a long time. In the second volume of the series, artist, performer and author Vaginal Davis looks back on the saucy underground scenes of Los Angeles and Berlin together with former bandmates.&nbsp;On Dangerous Ground recounts past gigs, spectacular live performances and well-kept secrets.

Vaginal Davis: On Dangerous Ground

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Widely regarded as one of the most original and influential artists of the 20th century, Diane Arbus’ bold black-and-white photographs demolish aesthetic conventions and upend all certainties. With&nbsp;Diane Arbus: Konstellationen, Gropius Bau presents the most comprehensive exhibition of her work to date.

Diane Arbus: Konstellationen

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Ligia Lewis is a central figure in redefining performance within the context of the visual arts. Her solo exhibition&nbsp;I’M NOT HERE FORRRRR… at Gropius Bau&nbsp;brings&nbsp;together new and existing works that explore themes of race, gender, violence and resistance.

Ligia Lewis:I’M NOT HERE FORRRRR...

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With BAUBAU, the artist Kerstin Br&auml;tsch designed an&nbsp;admission-free play space for kids, where more is allowed than forbidden. On Gropius Bau’s ground floor, colourful wallpapers, structures, objects and open-ended material called “loose parts” configure flexible spaces that are shaped by children’s activities.

BAUBAU:A&nbsp;Play Space for Kids

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What is and has been the role of play in public space? Gabriela Burkhalter’s&nbsp;Playing in the City&nbsp;presentation traces the history of playgrounds since their emergence in 1900 to today. The free presentation is open to all and can be seen in two rooms next to BAUBAU’s entrance.

Playing in the City:A Short History from 1900 to the Present

Currently at Gropius Bau

Widely regarded as one of the most original and influential artists of the 20th century, Diane Arbus’ bold black-and-white photographs demolish aesthetic conventions and upend all certainties. With Diane Arbus: Konstellationen, Gropius Bau presents the most comprehensive exhibition of her work to date. Featuring 454 prints, many of them shown here for the first time, Konstellationen offers new perspectives on Arbus’ iconic images and the wide range of her portraiture.

Ligia Lewis is a central figure in redefining performance within the context of the visual arts. In her multifaceted practice, she combines performance, live installation and film. From autumn 2025, Gropius Bau presents I’M NOT HERE FORRRRR…, the artist and choreographer’s most comprehensive solo exhibition to date. It brings together new and existing works that explore themes of race, gender, violence and resistance.

Ligia Lewis: I’M NOT HERE FORRRRR…

Current Exhibitions

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Peter Hujar / Liz Deschenes: Persistence of Vision

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Playing, laughing, making noise, letting off steam, doing nothing – all in an exhibition venue! With BAUBAU, the artist Kerstin Br&auml;tsch designed an&nbsp;admission-free play space for kids, where more is allowed than forbidden. On Gropius Bau’s ground floor, colourful wallpapers, structures, objects and open-ended material called “loose parts” configure flexible spaces that are shaped by children’s activities. They set the tone and decide what happens in this place.

BAUBAU

Spielen in der Stadt

A Short History from 1900 to the Present

What has been the role of play in public space, both historically and in the present? Complementing BAUBAU, our free play space for kids, Gabriela Burkhalter’s Playing in the City presentation traces the history of playgrounds since their emergence in 1900 to today. The free presentation is open to all and can be seen in two rooms next to the play space’s entrance.

Playing in the City

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Marina Abramović, one of the most influential contemporary artists, presents Balkan Erotic Epic. The Exhibition at Gropius Bau, marking her first major solo show in Berlin since the 1990s. The exhibition brings together historical and new works by the performance artist, tracing her ongoing engagement with ritual, eroticism, death and the body as a site of political resistance.

Marina Abramović: Balkan Erotic Epic. The Exhibition

Currently and Upcoming

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With Andrew Durbin, Biliana Voutchkova, Gary Schneider, Queer Analog Darkroom and Selin Davasse

On the occasion of <a href="${link:{uuid:{baa82be9-6411-41e5-806b-4889004c8459},repository:{website},path:{/bfs-de/gropius-bau/programm/2026/ausstellungen/peter-hujar-liz-deschenes}}}">Peter Hujar / Liz Deschenes: Persistence of Vision</a>, Sp&auml;tschicht x C/O Berlin turns its focus on 26 March to photography within the shifting terrains of urban space, visibility, and resistance. Look forward to performances, a workshop, a screening and a reading. Admission is free.

We are looking forward to welcoming you back in mid-March with the reopening of our play space, <a href="${link:{uuid:{df42e57d-a14a-4b44-a5e4-9d3e7dcab5a6},repository:{website},path:{/bfs-de/gropius-bau/programm/baubau}}}">BAUBAU</a> (on 22 March), and two exhibitions, <a href="${link:{uuid:{55d64239-53fe-4b12-8567-a63191c6cae4},repository:{website},path:{/bfs-de/gropius-bau/programm/2025/ausstellungen/vaginal-davis}}}">Vaginal Davis: Fabelhaftes Produkt</a> (from 21 March) and <a href="${link:{uuid:{9618c701-bd05-432e-b688-5943e1f7fc57},repository:{website},path:{/bfs-de/gropius-bau/programm/2025/ausstellungen/yoko-ono}}}">YOKO ONO: MUSIC OF THE MIND</a> (from 11 April). For details on opening hours and tickets, please visit our <a href="${link:{uuid:{62c3018b-bb40-46ce-8019-646ec5cd2e4a},repository:{website},path:{/bfs-de/gropius-bau/besuch/informationen}}}">Information &amp; Tickets</a> page. We look forward to seeing you soon!

See you in March!

Persistence of Vision

Working in New York City between the Stonewall uprising of 1969 and the onset of the AIDS crisis in the 1980s, Peter Hujar captured a pivotal cultural moment in piercing black-and-white photographs. In the exhibition Persistence of Vision, Hujar’s photographs are interspersed with contemporary works by New York City-based artist Liz Deschenes, opening up an intergenerational dialogue on photography.&nbsp;

Peter Hujar / Liz Deschenes

A&nbsp;Play Space for Kids

A Short History from 1900 to the Present

From sandpits to adventure playgrounds, urban play spaces have – throughout their evolution – taken many different forms. What has been the role of play in public space, both historically and in the present? Complementing BAUBAU, our free play space for kids, Gabriela Burkhalter’s Playing in the City presentation traces the history of playgrounds since their emergence in 1900 to today. The free presentation is open to all and can be seen in two rooms next to the play space’s entrance.

Playing in the City &nbsp;

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Located in the centre of Berlin, the Gropius Bau is a lively place to encounter art and each other. The internationally renowned institution stages large-scale exhibitions and performances by contemporary artists.

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Festivals & Programme Series

In spring 2007 the exhibition Angkor – Sacred Heritage of Cambodia will be shown in the Martin-Gropius-Bau. For the first time the great Cambodian art will be presented in an exhibition in Berlin. Since it became known in the mid-19th century it has fascinated the culturally interested public in Europe and filled them with wonderment.
Since then, the name Angkor has stood for unfathomably vast, mysterious temples, spread out in the Cambodian jungle – temples that can even today evoke the splendour that was once theirs. Ever since the country began to achieve political stability in the beginning of the 90s following the Paris Peace Agreement, the Angkor region has once again become accessible to travellers, and the public worldwide has become increasingly aware of the splendid culture of the ancient Khmer empire and its monuments, erected between the 9th and the 13th centuries. But what was the spirit behind these stupendous temples, which were the gods they were dedicated to, what was the social and economic structure that made their construction possible? What kind of a society was it that could bring forth such achievements? What was the self-image of its kings? These are some of the questions posed by anyone who wishes to get acquainted with ancient Cambodia.
The exhibition not only provides the viewer the opportunity of gaining an overview of the diversity of art, but also takes up the most important themes in art history, so that the visitor gets an idea of the historical, social and religious context of the works.
Angkor formed the heartland of an empire that, at the height of its power, extended in the west across the Chao Praya (in present-day Thailand), in the east up to the Annamite Range (in present-day Vietnam), in the north up to the curve of the Mekong (in present-day Laos) and in the south up to the Cape of Camau (in what is today Vietnam). The lowlands by the Great Lake (Tonle Sap) where Angkor lies are most suitable for rice cultivation. Trade was fostered by a variety of timbers and wild game together with gold, precious stones and silk, with the Tonle Sap and the Mekong providing access to the sea. Sound water management and an extensive network of canals regulated the irrigation of the paddy fields. It was in this environment, blessed with an abundance of natural resources, that the country developed into the most powerful empire in South East Asia.
Round 140 stone sculptures, bronze figures as well as silver objects and paintings will make their way to Berlin from the National Museum in Phnom Penh. In addition, objects on loan from the Musée National des Arts Asiatiques Guimet in Paris will also be on display at the exhibition. The timeframe covered will extend from the 7th century to modern times, for the exhibition aspires to show through the objects on display, the cultural base on which Angkor developed and the extent to which its legacy continues to resonate even today.
The earliest traditional works of art displayed at the exhibition are from the pre-Angkor empires of Funan and Chenla to the south and north east of present-day Cambodia. These are Buddhist and Brahmanical (Hindu) stone sculptures from the 7th and 8th centuries – objects of great beauty exhibiting an amazing degree of artistic perfection. They bear the distinct impress of Indian art and yet retain a style that is unmistakably their own. Sandstone steles bearing inscriptions give an idea of the overriding importance of epigraphy for gaining insights into the age. It remains the most important source of information for all aspects of Khmer culture until the 14th century.
The real Angkorian period began in the 9th century when the centre of power was shifted to the west, close to the Tonle Sap. There the first temple mountain of stone, surrounded by wide moats and enclosing walls, was consecrated as the Empire’s magico-religious centre. The complex was based on a cosmological concept strictly followed right into the 13th century: as per this, the Earth was visualised as a square surrounded by mountain ranges (enclosing walls). Beyond this ring stretch the mythical primeval oceans (moats). In the centre of this square, Mount Meru, residence of the gods, forms the axis of the universe (temple mountain). The main temple was often surrounded by smaller shrines where statues of divinities were placed. Apart from architectural elements such as carved door lintels and balustrades, the exhibition will also include an impressive number of stone and bronze figures from these temples, some larger than life-sized.
These are both Brahmanical and Buddhist cult statues, their styles exhibiting an extreme diversity ranging from imposing representation, elegant simplicity and vibrant vitality to profound spirituality. One of the most splendid objects on display is a bronze figure of the God Vishnu, which even in its fragmentary state is overwhelming. Clearly reflected in the style are the patrons’ sense of life and role perception.
So typical of the art of Angkor, the bas-reliefs on the gigantic temple-mountain of Angkor Wat (constructed between 1113 and 1150), widely considered the most magnificent specimen of Khmer architecture, will receive special attention. Being immovable objects of art, these bas-reliefs can only be presented in segments on original-sized photo friezes and plaster casts. Transposed onto a substitute medium, they still succeed in providing an impressive display of the exuberant fantasy and artistic perfection that marks the representation of epic and mythical events.
Angkor witnessed its last great efflorescence during the reign of the Mahayana Buddhist king Jayavarman VII (1181–1220). The temples constructed under him are dedicated to the Buddhist ideals of compassion and wisdom. This is most clearly discernible on the facetowers which leave their imprint on the late Angkorian period as no other architectural feature does. Characteristic of this period is the inward smile on the monumental faces – Angkor’s famous smile that also appears on the outstanding stone sculptures and bronze figures of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas on view in the exhibition. Unique among these is a head of polished sandstone portraying Jayavarman VII himself, an object of extreme rarity, for other than the few portraits of the king and presumably of his queen Jayarajadevi which have survived, we know of no representations of individual personages in Angkor.
Following the death of this important ruler, a period of stagnation set in, and in the 15th century, Angkor was completely abandoned by the Khmer kings. They founded a new capital in the eastern part of the country, close to the Mekong. Theravada Buddhism was now the state religion, with the stupa and pagoda forming the religious centre. In its Cambodian version (Reamker), the Indian epic, Ramayana, frequently represented in the Angkorian Period, continued to retain tremendous importance as a vehicle of spiritual knowledge. No longer chiselled on stone but painted on the inner walls of pagodas and repainted time and again, the Reamker influenced artistic creativity in Cambodia right into the 20th century. This important tradition is represented in the exhibition by a series of scenes from the Reamker, produced at the beginning of the 20th century in tempera on canvas.
Through the centuries, Angkor has remained the reference point for Cambodia’s national identity. Till today, its legacy has a bearing on the self-perception of the Cambodians.

Angkor

Veranstaltungen Angkor

Ausstellungen 2007

Events 2007

2007

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Programme

Upcoming

The Berliner Festspiele organise a range of festivals and art exhibitions, concerts, dance and theatre performances, readings, lectures, debates and much more throughout the year. These events are presented at a range of locations across Berlin but are concentrated primarily at their own two venues: the Gropius Bau and the Haus der Berliner Festspiele.

Berliner Festspiele

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In 2026 the Berliner Festspiele celebrate their 75th anniversary. A selection of events programmed throughout the entire year engage take the anniversary as their theme or mark the occasion with works at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele, the Gropius Bau, the Philharmonie, on Berlin’s Ringbahn and at other locations in the city. Outstanding international that liberal societies and their cultural institutions face in a new, multipolar world order. artists such as Marina Abramović, Gabriele St&ouml;tzer and Akira Takayama will set the agenda both thematically and aesthetically. Entitled “Die gro&szlig;e Unordnung” (The Great Disorder), the four-day focus Reflexes &amp; Reflections will also enquire about the challenges.

75 Years of the Berliner Festspiele

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The massacre, hostage-taking and rocket attacks by Hamas have shaken us deeply. The grue-some attack on Israel on 7&nbsp;October left us stunned and initially lost for words.

The Berliner Festspiele on Current Events in Israel, Gaza and Germany

With this letter of intent, we, the signing cultural organizations, express our intention to welcome, host and stage Ukrainian theatre artists in our venues, to make Ukrainian dramatic work visible to the European community.

Support of the Ukrainian Cultural Scene

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In June 2026, Sasha Waltz &amp; Guests will be performing the productions Beethoven&nbsp;7 and In&nbsp;C at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele. Sasha Waltz &amp; Guests will also be staging a special evening to celebrate the 75th&nbsp;anniversary of the Goethe-Institut.

Sasha Waltz &amp; Guests

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Tickets for ten selected concert highlights of the Musikfest Berlin, which in 2026 will also mark the 75th&nbsp;anniversary of the Berliner Festspiele, are already available. The programme includes Gy&ouml;rgy Ligeti’s grotesquely humorous anti-opera Le Grand Macabre and George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess.

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The exploration of myths and rituals shapes the fourth edition of the Performing Arts Season with works by Marina Abramović, Mario Banushi, Marie Chouinard, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker / Rosas, Ictus, Bl!ndman, Dumb Type, Damien Jalet / Kohei Nawa and Gisèle Vienne. The programme will be published on 18 June, and advance ticket sales will start.

Performing Arts Season

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The Theatertreffen’s jury of critics announced their selection of the 10 most remarkable productions for the 2026 Theatertreffen. The programme will be published on 2&nbsp;April, advance ticket sale will begin on 18 April, 10:00.