What Georg-kolbe-museum does

The Georg Kolbe Museum is a private non-profit foundation-operated art museum located in Berlin's Westend district, housed in the listed monument-protected 1928 atelier-and-residence of sculptor Georg Kolbe (1877-1947), designed with architect Ernst Rentsch in a Bauhaus-inspired idiom. Founded in 1950 by the Georg Kolbe-Stiftung as the first newly founded museum in post-war Berlin, it preserves and presents one of the most extensive artist estates in sculpture history — including sculptures, plaster models, drawings, photographs, and the written estate returned from Canada in 2020. Core operations comprise rotating exhibitions, a permanent collection displayed in the Schaudepot (visible depot), sculpture garden, and architecture tours, supplemented by an educational and outreach programme covering schools, families, seniors, and inclusive audiences.

Its product portfolio spans physical and digital channels. Physical offerings include ticketed admission (€10 regular / €6 reduced / free under 18), an annual pass (€45), guided public and group tours (€4-€200), the on-site Museum Shop, and Café Benjamine (a separate sustainable bio-restaurant). Digital products centre on Kolbe Online (the museum's digitized collection database), the Bloomberg Connects audioguide, the geo-referenced audio walk 'Kolbes Kiez', the 'Kolbe on the Map' interactive map of 32 Kolbe sculptures worldwide, a YouTube content channel, and the 2024-launched Online Werkverzeichnis der Skulpturen (catalogue raisonné of ~950 sculptures and 9,650 linked dataset entries). Marketing and ticketing run through the museum's own channels plus visitBerlin (Berlin Tourismus & Kongress GmbH) and Brevo for email; education is delivered in partnership with Jugend im Museum e.V. and Poligonal.

Revenue mechanics combine modest admission and tour fees, annual passes, shop and ancillary café income with public and private cultural funding — including the Berlin Senate Department for Culture, Stiftung Deutsche Klassenlotterie, Landesdenkmalamt Berlin, Hermann Reemtsma Stiftung, and Ernst von Siemens Kunststiftung. The institution has 1-10 staff, is governed by a Stiftungsvorstand (Dr. Kathleen Reinhardt, Director; Alexander Farenholtz), and was awarded AICA Museum of the Year 2025. In Spring 2026 it restituted the Dancers' Fountain (1922) to the heirs of original owner Heinrich Stahl under the Washington Principles framework.

Name

Georg-kolbe-museum

Legal name

Georg Kolbe Museum

Website

https://georg-kolbe-museum.de

Company type

Private

Founded year

1950

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The Georg Kolbe Museum is a non-profit foundation-operated art museum in Berlin's Westend, housed in sculptor Georg Kolbe's protected 1928 studio house. It presents exhibitions on Classical Modernist and contemporary sculpture, runs education and digital programmes, and operates ancillary shop and café.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Art Museum

NAICS

Museums (71211), Museums, Historical Sites, and Similar Institutions (7121), Museums (712110), Museums, Historical Sites, and Similar Institutions (712)

akta.pro primary industry

Art Museums (THAJADAA)

akta.pro secondary industry

Art Galleries & Exhibition Spaces (Commercial & Nonprofit) (THAJADAH)

Keywords

• Art museum exhibitions
• Sculpture collection
• Cultural education programs
• Digital museum collection
• Museum research

Headquarters

HQ city

Berlin

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Pricing tiers

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

The Georg Kolbe Museum is a non-profit art museum in Berlin that presents exhibitions of modern and contemporary sculpture. The museum operates from the artist's original studio house, runs educational and outreach programs, maintains the Kolbe Online digital research collection, and offers visitors a museum shop and Café Benjamine.

Product overview

The Georg Kolbe Museum operates primarily as a physical art museum and research institution in Berlin's Westend, housed in the listed monument-protected artist studio complex of sculptor Georg Kolbe (1877–1947). Its core offering is the physical museum experience featuring rotating exhibitions and the permanent collection displayed in the Schaudepot (visible depot), alongside an extensive digital portfolio. The digital products centre on Kolbe Online—a searchable online collection database—and accompanying apps via Bloomberg Connects for audioguides. The museum also produces location-based digital experiences (Kolbes Kiez audio walks, Kolbe on the Map) and maintains a YouTube channel for exhibition documentation. Ancillary offerings include the museum shop, Café Benjamine restaurant, education programmes in cooperation with Jugend im Museum e.V., and an online catalogue raisonné of sculptures. The museum generates revenue through admission tickets, memberships, the shop, publications, and café operations.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Museum Visits and Exhibitions Admission-based visits to view modern and contemporary sculpture exhibitions housed in Georg Kolbe's original studio house in Berlin.
• Museum Shop Retail store selling exhibition catalogues, art books, and museum-related merchandise to visitors.
• Café Benjamine On-site café service offering food and beverages to museum visitors.
• Exhibition Catalogues and Publications Print and digital publications accompanying exhibitions, available for purchase through the museum shop.

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration6 records

Feature1 record

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Museum Berggruen: Berlin modern art museum focused on Classical Modernism (Picasso, Klee, Matisse). Operates within the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin system and competes for the same Berlin modern-art visitor as Georg Kolbe, though focused on painting rather than sculpture.
• Museum für Moderne Kunst (MMK) Frankfurt: Frankfurt's modern and contemporary art museum. Comparable as a German municipal-tier modern-art institution competing for similar traveling exhibitions, scholarly partnerships, and culturally-engaged visitor demographics.
• Nationalgalerie (Staatliche Museen zu Berlin): Berlin's flagship modern and contemporary art institution with multiple sites including the Hamburger Bahnhof. Competes for sculpture-interested visitors and curatorial attention within the Berlin cultural landscape.
• Berlinische Galerie: Berlin's museum of modern art, photography, and architecture. Comparable as a Berlin modern-art institution targeting overlapping audiences, though with a broader (non-sculpture-specific) remit and a larger collection scope.

Direct peers

• Brücke Museum: Berlin-based art museum dedicated to German Expressionism and the artists' group Die Brücke. Comparable as a single-movement-focused Berlin art museum with a heritage building, small staff, and a similar mix of exhibitions, collection research, and education programming.
• Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung: Frankfurt sculpture collection covering antiquity to the present. Comparable as a German sculpture-focused museum with a rigorous research/conservation practice and visible-depot presentation, though with a broader historical remit than Georg Kolbe.
• Lehmbruck Museum: Duisburg-based sculpture museum focused on the work of Wilhelm Lehmbruck and 20th/21st-century sculpture. The most directly comparable institution given its single-artist sculpture focus, research mandate, and Schaudepot-style display model.
• Skulpturensammlung Dresden (Albertinum): Dresden-based sculpture collection housed in the Albertinum under the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden. Closely comparable as a publicly operated sculpture collection with a focus on 19th–21st-century sculpture and a visible-depot presentation model.

Emerging players

• Fondation Beyeler: Renée and Jean Beyeler's private foundation near Basel focused on modern and contemporary art including sculpture. Comparable through its combined physical museum, research focus, and integration of architecture, garden, and digital offerings.

Regional players

• Bauhaus-Archiv / Museum für Gestaltung: Berlin museum dedicated to the Bauhaus school. Comparable as a small Berlin design/art institution with a heritage-building component, education programming, and research mandate, though focused on design rather than sculpture.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UC9YjlIOEI06KTXcDu9SaZdQ
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/georg-kolbe-museum

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles12 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Georg-kolbe-museum