Die Neue Sammlung has been located in the Pinakothek der Moderne, which unites four museums under one roof, since 2002. The unique combination of art, graphics, architecture and design facilitates a varied agenda across all fields.

The Pinakothek der Moderne borders on to the Gabelsbergerstraße, Barerstraße and Türkenstraße as well as to the university buildings along the Theresienstraße to the north. Originally it was the location of the Bavarian Army barracks, built between 1823 and 1826, but was for the most part destroyed in the Second World War. The remaining witness to that time is the Türkentor (Turks’ Gate), which is now under preservation orders and a mere fragment of the original main portal of the I. and II. Royal Bavarian Infantry Regiment barracks. For almost twenty years in post-war Munich the undeveloped site served as the venue for the Circus Roncalli.

In 1990 the Bavarian government decided to allot the site to the building of museums. From the very beginning four museums dedicated to the arts of the 20th and 21st centuries were planned. Important considerations were the issues of urban planning requirements as well as the specific spatial needs of each museum to be united under one roof. The Munich architect Stephan Braunfels, who was among the 167 applicants in 1992 competing for the contract to design the buildings, offered the most convincing answers to these questions and ultimately secured the commission.

The site is located between the Alte and Neue Pinakothek and the city centre. As such, it serves as a pivotal point between the right-angled grid of the Maxvorstadt district on the one hand and the irregular layout of the historical centre on the other. The central question facing Braunfels was therefore: “Where should the main entrance be?” The design concept foresaw a connection both to the inner city and to the Alte Pinakothek.

There has been a close cooperation between Die Neue Sammlung – The Design Museum and the Neues Museum – Staatliches Museum für Kunst und Design Nürnberg since the latter opened in April 2000.

Die Neue Sammlung, with its extensive collection of design exhibits, collaborates with the Neues Museum Nürnberg to showcase works and objects from the areas of art and design, thus enabling an intensive dialogue between the different disciplines.

This cross-disciplinary interweaving of art and design is a fundamental principle of the Nuremberg museum’s mission and is quite distinct within the world of national and international museums. It notably characterises the jointly developed exhibitions and presentations at the Neues Museum Nürnberg.

The Internationales Keramik-Museum Weiden opened in April 1990 as an affiliate of Die Neue Sammlung – The Design Museum in Munich. It is run by the City of Weiden in the Oberpfalz region in cooperation with the Free State of Bavaria.

The idea for the museum derived from the desire to display the extensive ceramics collections of the state museums at other locations in Bavaria. The entirely new concept developed by Die Neue Sammlung incorporates not only alternating exhibition contributions from all Bavarian state museums with holdings of ceramics, but also special exhibitions on various topics.

The exhibition area covers around 1,000 square metres across two floors. There, visitors can enjoy an impressive number of extraordinary and important ceramic exhibits from many different countries and continents, spanning no less than eight millennia.