Bernisches Historisches Museum / Einstein Museum — Attraction in Bern

While the Bern Historical Museum is worth a visit, I cannot recommend it as an event space. At the Japan Festival, we were suddenly told at 16:30 to clear our paying customers because the museum closed at 17:00. We would have happily followed all rules if they had been communicated properly in advance, but instead they were announced at the last minute in an unprofessional tone. We (along with those from other booths) were under the impression that we would be allowed to sell until 17:00. Later, staff came back just before closing to demand we take down all cloth from our kimono booth due to ventilation moving the cloth, tripping alarms—again without prior warning or clear guidance, even though we were leaving our booth materials overnight. This information was communicated at 16:55 and we were again told that all the doors will be locked at 17:00.. Two different women came to tell us this, one Japanese woman working as some kind of official Japanese representative, and one guard - neither was polite. Combined with poor Wi-Fi/mobile reception for processing payments, the overall handling of vendors felt disorganized and...

It was a rainy day unfit for outdoor walks, so I spent five hours in the museum. Honestly I was disappointed. The collection is not splendid but still good. However, the presentation is such a mess. There is only minimal sign and no floor plan. I was constantly confused about the visiting route, and quite often found myself jumping to a text two hundred years apart from the previous block. The exhibition makes little effort to "flow", i.e. it gives no introduction, question, summary or conclusion. Instead, it throws at you many small pieces of texts and items loosely organised by time or theme. One gets much information but no guidance, which definitely limits the use of the former.

The Einstein exhibition is better---at least the timeline is clearer. But again it follows a chronological account without many insights.

Personally I would rather avoid the place (unless the student ticket costs

Wow, so good. I don't even know where to begin. One of the best museums I've ever been to. We popped in thinking it would be a quick visit, but there is SO MUCH. We kept joking because you'd think an exhibit was over, only to see a door in the back of the room lead to another entire world on display. Really interesting information, well laid out, and the staff were so friendly and helpful. The Einstein exhibit alone was awesome.

If you go through all the floors and do Einstein it will easily take 3+ hours.

If anyone from the museum is reading this, thank you for a wonderful experience.

Also one funny thing: we asked if there was a museum cafe and they said "not in the museum, but there is a bistro next door where you can get a coffee". So we go there and it is extremely inviting, but the service seemed to be going above and beyond, which was confusing us until we looked it up and realized that it's a Michelin starred restaurant (in the same building as the museum) 😂 But the prices for lunch were reasonable and the coffee and drinks...