September highlight:

Culture heritage in focus

The Tieranatomisches Theater is more than a monument – it is a piece of living memory, preserved here and at the same time continually rewritten.
As the oldest surviving academic building in Berlin, it embodies a unique legacy of knowledge architecture while also opening spaces for new perspectives.

In September, the Tieranatomisches Theater places cultural heritage at the center and presents a program that connects past, present, and future.

On Heritage Day (Saturday, 13 September 2025), architect Dr. Jens-Oliver Kempf invites audiences to join special city walks: from the newly restored St. Hedwig’s Cathedral – the first Catholic church built after the Reformation – via Schinkel’s visionary Altes Museum to the unique Tieranatomisches Theater, an outstanding example of Enlightenment knowledge architecture. These three domed buildings are all linked by the ancient model of the Pantheon in Rome. The walk brings Berlin’s reception of the Pantheon vividly to life and is accompanied by an exhibition.

Yet heritage is not only built: it also consists of memories, communities, and stories. With Community macht Archiv, artist Juana Awad, Fellow at inherit. heritage in transformation (Käte Hamburger Kolleg at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin), invites participants from Thursday 11 to Saturday 13 September 2025 to jointly explore and reframe the traces of the Werkstatt der Kulturen.

And finally, we experience how cultural heritage continues to resonate in the present: Iranian composer and tar virtuoso Elshan Ghasimi presents the premiere of her song cycle Tasneef on Friday, 12 September 2025, weaving together classical and contemporary Persian songs and texts into an amalgam spanning centuries.

At the Tieranatomisches Theater, three perspectives thus come together: the history of the city, the remembrance of communities, and the living transmission of music and culture. Whether you are a heritage enthusiast, researcher, artist, or simply curious – there is something for everyone this week.

Heritage Day · City Walks with Dr. Jens-Oliver Kempf

 

Foto einer Porzellanschale mit dem Motiv der Kuppelausmalung des Tieranatomischen Theaters. @Jens Kempf, Kathrin Schleicher

Porcelain bowl with the motif of the dome painting of the Tieranatomisches Theater. @Jens Kempf, Kathrin Schleicher

The highlight of the September week is the program for Heritage Day, which has been held nationwide since 1993 as part of the European Heritage Days. On Saturday, 13 September 2025, architect Dr. Jens-Oliver Kempf will lead city walks from the newly restored St. Hedwig’s Cathedral via Schinkel’s visionary Altes Museum to the Tieranatomisches Theater, an outstanding example of Enlightenment knowledge architecture.

 

Three domed buildings, connected by the ancient model of the Pantheon in Rome, make Berlin’s reception of this classical archetype tangible. The walks are accompanied by an exhibition.

The Tieranatomisches Theater is itself a listed building that has undergone significant restoration in recent years thanks to the support of the German Foundation for Monument Protection – most recently its façade. On Heritage Day, the Berlin Ortskuratorium of the Foundation will be present with an information stand in the building to share about its work.

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Walks

    • Date: Saturday, 13 September 2025, 10:00 and 14:00

    • Meeting point: St. Hedwig’s Cathedral, Bebelplatz

    • Language: German

    • The Tieranatomisches Theater will be open on 13 September from 11:00–18:00.

Reading Tip
Jens-Oliver Kempf is the author of the monograph Die königliche Tierarzneischule in Berlin von Carl Gotthard Langhans. Eine baugeschichtliche Gebäudemonographie (Gebr. Mann Verlag 2008). The book is available in major libraries and through antiquarian bookshops.

Community Macht Archiv · Juana Awad

From 11 to 13 September 2025, artist Juana Awad, Fellow at inherit. heritage in transformation (Käte Hamburger Kolleg at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin), invites the public to open archive sessions at the Tieranatomisches Theater.

Community Macht Archiv is conceived as an ongoing process that began in July 2025 and now continues in September. At its center are the materials of the Werkstatt der Kulturen (WdK) – a total of 187 boxes left behind after the institution closed in 2019. As part of the seminar Archiving Werkstatt der Kulturen: (Post)Migrant Histories in Berlin Arts in the program Teaching and Learning with Society, 31 students have already worked through more than 130 boxes, cataloguing, classifying, and analyzing them.

For Awad, this work is more than a technical archiving process. She approaches it as artistic research that raises fundamental questions of memory, representation, and belonging:
Which stories can be reconstructed from the documents – and which remain invisible? Who has the authority to remember, who to represent? What happens to the voices of communities when an archive is institutionalized?

The Community Sessions offer insight into this open process. Visitors can directly experience how artistic research collaborates with communities to reframe heritage.

The project is part of Awad’s artistic-curatorial research Transcultural Heritage. Curating Time-based Arts, the Werkstatt der Kulturen and the Making of the Postmigrant Nation and is developed in cooperation with inherit. heritage in transformation, a BMBF-funded Käte Hamburger Kolleg at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Within this collaboration, the Tieranatomisches Theater provides two rooms for artistic research and public formats of the fellows.

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Community Sessions

      • Dates: 11, 12, 13 September 2025, 14:00–18:00

      • Venue: Tieranatomisches Theater, 2nd floor

      • Languages: German and English

      • Accessibility: Elevator available

 

Premiere · Tasneef by Elshan Ghasimi

On Friday, 12 September 2025, 18:00, Iranian composer, tar virtuoso, and singer Elshan Ghasimi will present the premiere of her song cycle Tasneef in the lecture hall of the Tieranatomisches Theater.

The cycle combines classical and contemporary Persian songs and texts, woven by the artist into an amalgam spanning centuries. Ghasimi’s interpretation opens up a panorama of Persian music and poetry, brought to new life through newly composed overtures and arrangements.

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Concert Details

  • Date: Friday, 12 September 2025, 18:00

  • Duration: approx. 1 hour (starts punctually)

  • Venue: Lecture Hall, Tieranatomisches Theater

  • Accessibility: The stage of the lecture hall is wheelchair accessible; elevator available (2nd floor).