Bode Museum is one of several museums on Museum Island. It was built in 1904 and originally called the Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum after Emperor Frederick III. The museum was renamed in honor of its first curator, Wilhelm von Bode, in 1956.
Closed for repairs in the late 1990s, the museum was reopened in 2006 after an expensive renovation. Now, it hosts a collection of sculptures, Byzantine art, coins, and medals. The presentation of the collections is both geographic and chronological, with the Byzantine and Gothic art of northern and southern Europe displayed separately on the museum’s first floor and a similar regional division of Renaissance and Baroque art on its second floor.
The museum is home to the coin cabinet, which is one of the world's largest numismatic collections. Its range spans from the beginning of minting in Asia Minor in the 7th century BC and up to the present day. With approximately 500,000 items, the collection is a unique archive for historical research, while its medal collection also makes it an important art exhibition.
