The exhibits, which come from all over the world, are up to 8,000 years old. The collection has been open to the public since 1909 and now occupies over 8,500 m² of exhibition space. Highlights of the museum, which is housed alongside the Film Museum in the Carlstadt district, include ancient and pre-Columbian pottery, rare stoneware vessels, Islamic ceramics, an extensive collection of fine porcelain, and the Asian section, which was redesigned in 2018.