Museum Island (Berlin)

 island, invisible, UNESCO World Heritage Site, historic district

Museum Island (German: Museumsinsel) is the name of the northern half of the Spreeinsel, an island in the Spree river in the centre of the city (the southern half of the island is called Fischerinsel (Fishers' Island)).

The island received its name for several internationally renowned museums that now occupy all of the island's northern half (originally a residential area dedicated to "art and science" by King Frederick William IV of Prussia in 1841). Constructed under several Prussian kings, their collections of art and archeology were turned into a public foundation after 1918, the Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz (Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation), which maintains the collections and museums today.