First openings after relaxation of COVID-19 containment measures
News from 04/23/2020
Lending will be possible again in the SPK libraries from 4 May, reading rooms will remain closed. The museums are preparing to open individual houses.
The SPK museums, libraries and archives have been closed since 14 March 2020. With the current relaxation of the containment measures by the State of Berlin, the SPK institutions are taking the first steps towards opening up.
In the Staatsbibliothek (State Library), the Ibero-Amerikanisches Institut (Ibero-American Institute) and the Staatliches Institut für Musikforschung (State Institute for Music Research), media can be collected and returned on site from May 4. The National Museums in Berlin are working on opening selected museums to limited public access by mid-May. The SPK archives normally do not lend media out of their research reading rooms; the Geheimes Staatsarchiv PK and the Zentralarchiv of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin will therefore remain closed to the public for the time being.
Hermann Parzinger emphasized: "The central guideline for us is the attitude of the Federal Government: health comes first. In order to keep the risk of infection in our facilities as low as possible, both for employees and visitors, we are currently working flat out to implement all necessary clearance and hygiene measures.
In all facilities, physical contact between employees and visitors or users is kept to a minimum and protective measures are taken, e.g. plexiglass walls at issuing points and cash desks, regulation of visitor and user access through the allocation of time windows or special pathways in the buildings. In addition to adhering to the usual hygiene measures, this also includes the wearing of a mouth-nose cover by employees and users and visitors.
More detailed information about the offers, measures and rules for visitors and users are published on the websites of the individual SPK institutions.