“What’s going on, SPK?” – The 2025 Annual Report focuses on the new foundation

Press release from 09/07/2026

2025 was a year that saw a number of changes for the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation: a new Executive Board was appointed, the new Foundation Act came into force, and Marion Ackermann took up her post as the new President.

The SPK’s annual report, which has just been published, focuses on these changes and their implications for the Foundation’s future. The interview with SPK President Marion Ackermann and Achim Bonte, Director-General of the Berlin State Library, addresses the Foundation’s future challenges, such as attracting new audiences, internationalisation and working in the age of AI. It also addresses the major refurbishment of Hans Scharoun’s ‘Book Ship’ on Potsdamer Straße, which is due to begin in four years’ time.

To mark the SPK President’s tour of Germany aimed at revitalising contacts with the federal states, the annual report also provides an overview of the Foundation’s federal activities. Furthermore, Aeneas Bastian – to whose family the SPK owes the centrepiece of its cultural education work, Haus Bastian – explains in an interview the motivations and expectations behind this generous donation.

The new statistics section of the annual report clearly demonstrates that 2025 was a successful year, with 3.6 million visits despite a decline in tourism in Berlin. The annual report also contains other interesting figures that illustrate the relevance of the Foundation’s work: the 38,759 archival records made available to users by the Secret State Archive of the City of Berlin; the 1.7-euro return on investment from museums calculated by the Institute for Museum Research; the approximately 500 events through which the State Institute for Music Research has captivated specialist and general audiences, and the 63 visiting scholars from all over the world who have conducted research at the Ibero-American Institute, thereby strengthening the SPK’s internationalisation.

Furthermore, the SPK Annual Report looks back on the most significant events, exhibitions, research projects and outreach initiatives of 2025: From the exhibition of the Scharf Collection at the Alte Nationalgalerie to the grand Island Festival marking the 200th anniversary of Berlin’s Museum Island, the topping-out ceremony for ‘berlin modern’ and ‘Berlin Beats’ at the Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart.

The annual report was edited by Gesine Bahr, whilst the design was once again in the hands of Andreas Dimmler.

Read the SPK Annual Report 2025 online: https://www.spkmagazin.de/fileadmin/user_upload_SPK/documents/Dossiers/Jahresberichte/SPK-Jahresbericht-2025-web.pdf