In the location's words:

The Museum Fünf Kontinente in Munich, formerly the Staatliches Museum für Völkerkunde, was founded in 1862 as the first ethnological museum in Germany. The collections of everyday objects, ritual objects and works of art preserved and continuously expanded here tell of the cultural wealth of mankind. They build bridges from the past to current events and open doors to other ways of life and perspectives. Within Munich's diverse museum landscape, the museum offers unique access to the cultural wealth of people around the world.

Based on the collections, we show similarities and differences of cultures from Africa, the Americas, Asia, Australia, Oceania, the Orient and Europe. We invite children and adults to learn about the diversity of cultures and the people who shape them. We encourage them to engage with ways of thinking that may seem foreign, to examine points of view, and to take inspiration and ideas back with them into their own everyday lives.

We are guided by openness and respect. We want to contribute to the understanding of other cultures and to the reduction of xenophobia and discrimination - also in our country. Cooperation with specialists, curators and artists from the countries of origin of our collections is a matter of course for us. It leads to new perspectives and insights. Against the background of increasing global interdependencies, we establish references to current events and raise forward-looking questions.

As part of the cultural memory of mankind, we want to preserve, restore and expand the collections. We make these treasures accessible to a broad public through exhibitions and events, publications and the development of an online archive. The basis of our work is sound, up-to-date research.