Opened in Berlin in 2001, Europe's largest Jewish Museum is one of the most striking examples of contemporary architecture. The sparkling, triumphant, steel-clad structure is a symbolic memorial in its own right. The museum presents the history of Jews in Germany from the Middle Ages to the present.

A centre for German Jewish history and culture
The remarkable museum building created by the architect Daniel Libeskind is also a monument to the life of the Jewish people, its design based on half a Star of David. The extravagant structure sets a new benchmark, for the relationship between the museum collections and the architecture is unique. The construction of the Jewish Museum has seen the creation of a building full of metaphor, a true cause for contemplation. The exhibition gives visitors an insight into the fateful lives of the Jews, full of tolerance yet also persecution, of great accomplishments and wretched injustice. They saw both significant progress and tragic regression and ostracism.

Helmut Newton has been one of the most coveted and expensive fashion, advertising, portrait and centrefold photographers in the world since the 1970s. In 2004 Helmut Newton donated 1,000 pictures, a considerable proportion of his portfolio, to the Helmut Newton Foundation. They were awe-inspiring pictures, controversial sceneries, unusual photo shoot settings and extraordinary picture compositions. The artistic journey through the decades presents the life and work of the photographer who was well known for his expressive black and white photographs, in a series of special exhibitions. The exhibition is complemented with a presentation of the artist's personal effects.
» www.helmutnewton.com

A selection of other photography museums in Germany.