The Museum Weltkulturen is a Mannheim museum dedicated to ethnography, natural science and history and archeology. It is part of the Reiss-Engelhorn-Museen, a museum complex that brings together various exhibition venues. The museum is housed in a modern building, completed in 1988. The origins of the museum's collections go back to the passion of the elector Carl Theodor von der Pfalz (1724 - 1799). Already in 1757 the elector had the "Cabinet of natural rarities" established. In 1763, acting in the spirit of the Enlightenment, he founded the Mannheim Academy of Sciences, which dealt with history and natural sciences. In the 19th century, the civic commitment of the citizens of Mannheim meant that the collections were expanded. Various purchases, donations and foundations continuously expanded the ethnographic and natural history heritage. This also applies to the archaeological heritage, which has also increased thanks to the numerous excavation activities starting from the second half of the nineteenth century.

The ethnographic section has nearly 40,000 exhibits from the five continents. The cultures of Africa and the South Seas are particularly well represented. The natural history collections comprise a total of several thousand objects from the fields of mineralogy, geology, paleontology and zoology. Part of the collection is also found in the repositories of the Reiss-Engelhorn museums and is presented on the occasion of temporary exhibitions. The archaeological collection brings together prehistoric finds from many regions of Europe. Also part of the collection are the finds from the archaeological conservation of monuments, recovered during construction works in Mannheim and the surrounding area. Particularly noteworthy are the rich furnishings of the early medieval cemeteries of Mannheim-Vogelstang (Elkersberg), Heddesheim, Edingen, Schwetzingen, Plankstadt, OFtersheim, Altlußheim and Hockenheim.