Jüdisches Museum Berlin

The Jewish Museum Berlin (Jüdisches Museum Berlin), in Berlin, Germany, covers two millennia of German Jewish history. It consists of two buildings. One is the old Kollegienhaus, a former courthouse, built in the 18th century.

The other, a new addition specifically built for the museum, designed by architect Daniel Libeskind. This was one of the first buildings in Berlin designed after German reunification. The museum opened to the public in 2001.

The museum adjoins the old Berlin Museum and sits on land that was West Berlin before the Berlin Wall fell.^[5] The Museum itself, consisting of about 161,000 square feet (15,000 square meters), is a twisted zig-zag and is accessible only via an underground passage from the Berlin Museum's baroque wing. Its shape is reminiscent of a warped Star of David.^[6] A "Void," an empty space about 66 feet (20 m) tall, slices linearly through the entire building. 

An irregular matrix of windows cuts in all orientations across the building's facade. A thin layer of zinc coats the building's exterior, which will oxidize and turn bluish as it weathers

I have been to quite a few museums and this ranks as one of the best, if not the best, museum I have ever seen.  The design is brilliant and inspired.  I believe that this is what true architecture is.  Libeskind is able to convey many symbolic underlying meanings through a structural canvas, almost as if the geometry itself possessed an intellect and a spirit. 

The fenestration is violent, like wounds in the seemingly soft metallic shell. The interior contained an elevated sensibility, as a serious museum should, yet it was not ponderous in its didactic.  

I also appreciated the gardens, particularly this grove of trees.