Museum Barberini — Attraction in Potsdam

I went to see an exhibition on surrealism. We arrived at 2pm on a Sunday.

When we arrived, there was a lengthy queue to get until the building, which was unfortunate as the weather was unpleasant, cold, wet, and windy. Once inside, we needed to queue a second time to have tickets changed again. Then we were informed we had to proceed immediately to the cloakroom to remove out outer garments or told we had to leave. We were all rather cold from our experience outside, but we followed the orders and left out coats. Jumpers, bags, and hoodies in the cloakroom and proceeded back up the stairs to start looking at the exhibition.

Unfortunately, the way the museum handled the flow of people was pretty incompetent. The ground floor was busy to the point of a crisis while the upper floors were much less populated. Had they been directing people upstairs, they would have reduced the crush downstairs and improved the overall experience. Security guards struggled to deal with the crush of people in the first room and tempers were flaring.

There was a great deal of security staff in the building, but there didn't seem to be any coherent strategy between them in terms of crowd control. Just lots of scowling and trying to look menacing, which frankly made you feel quite unwelcome. I felt more like I was at a prison visiting an inmate than at a museum viewing art. I suppose on such a busy day they were simply exhausted and grumpy.

The exhibition itself was well laid out and offered various zones to cover different aspects of surrealism. Certain artists were given space to give an impression on you, which was nice. The museum itself was very grand and palatial. The building was very warm. There were ample security staff on hand in virtually every room, and communal space. There is a lift in the centre so if you don't want to climb the marble staircase you have that option also.

The Café was oversubscribed when we came down for a coffee before we left. We ended up walking elsewhere to find a place to find respite and refreshment from our...

This is the most stupid galery I've ever been to! They search your bag for explosives before you go in - that's fine, quite normal these days. Then you have to put you coat to a cloakroom- also fine and also quite normal. But then! You cannot take even small womens purse inside a must put it to a locker?! I mean... I totally understand big backpacks, but a purse?! It's not like I can put anything else there besides what's already there! OK then... I'll put it in a locker room. Then the fight starts! There's not enough lockers for all people in. So you have to wait in a line for a locker. When you finaly get some, you realise, you have to use an euro coin to close it?! I mean, come on! I already paid enough for the ticket! As a foreigner, I do not keep euro coins on me... so then the search for euro coin starts and meanwhile you loose your locker and have to wait in line again! Finally you get the locker, you have the euro, you put your stuff in, try to lock it- it's not working!!! Because this particular locker needs 3 euro coins?! BTW it kept the coin I put in. In the end, you have to take most of your personal stuff (walet, phone) to pockets - and no, women pants are not made for keeping your stuff in pockets!- and put your purse to cloack room - because no, I'm not leaving my personal stuff in a cloackroom. This whole first impression ruins your whole visit! Besides that, even though you bought a ticket for specific time, it is totally full of people, because they're obviously overselling more than would be comfortable in a gallery. Sorry, Barberini, you have some beautiful pieces, but cannot make it enjoyable...

Terrible experience! My husband had a very small bottle of water in the jeans pocket for us both – I am pregnant and need water often, and he takes pills and needs water too. The security in the museum seems like former prison workers who are not client orientated and rude, as if they talk to animals, not humans! First, the security guard came to him and said that bottles are not allowed, my husband said that he has health issues and needs some water. Interesting that the guard didn't say anything and just ran away calling the other guards for help as if there are some criminals in the area! When I went to the corridor where my husband stood by the stairs, 3 guards were attacking him because of the water bottle! He said AGAIN that he has health issues and needs water but they were attacking him anyway. I was shocked!!! I was so afraid that could not say a word. I haven't seen such an attitude anywhere! Especially in the museum, to well-educated, intelligent people who came to see the art! As a result, I left in tears without seeing the exhibition, we managed to see a couple of paintings on the ground floor – so 32 Euro for tickets were thrown away, the Friday and the whole weekend were spoiled because of rude, incompetent, unprofessional workers! The best part was – they called my husband a terrorist because he had a bottle of water. Wow, that was already too much and I won't leave it like that! No one has the right to insult visitors in such a way. Or the visitors don't have any...