| Berlin - Things To See & Do |
1. Brandenburg Gate
Perhaps Berlin’s best known landmark, the Brandenburg Gate was
designed by Karl Gotthard Langhans at the behest of Friedrich Wilhelm
II.
Its neoclassical style echoing the ancient entrance to the Acropolis
(on which it is modelled), it was built in 1791 as an Arch of Peace
to mark the city’s western boundary. The Quadriga, a sculpture
depicting the goddess Viktoria riding her chariot, was added by Jonathan
Gottfried Schadow in 1794. In 1806, following the Prussian defeat
at Jena, it was moved to Paris by Napoleon, but brought back in triumph
less than a decade later. Its original purpose grew even more ironic
in 1933, when the Nazis processed by torchlight the arch to mark the
beginning of the 1000-year Reich. During the years of the Cold War
the gate was also incorporated into the Berlin wall. Today its original
function has been restored and it symbolises the reconciliation of
East and West. As such, it is the perfect backdrop for commemorative
events, celebrations and pop concerts.
2. Jewish Museum
 Designed
by American architect Daniel Libeskind, the Jewish Museum houses two
millennia of German Jewish history and is principally notable for
its controversial zigzag design, which is supposed to convey the impression
of an irreparably shattered Star of David. Access is underground via
the very courthouse that sentenced thousands of Berlin Jews to exile
and death. Inside the museum, visitors will find a comprehensive collection
of fascinating artefacts documenting the lives of ordinary Jewish
people living in Germany between 1848 and 1919. In the basement, two
lopsided corridors - with an invisible incline - create a pair of
axes dedicated to themes of exile and Holocaust. One leads to a concrete
garden with 36 pillars, and the other to the Tower of the Holocaust,
the most moving exhibit. In a high-vaulted shaft, a ladder hangs just
out of reach (it goes nowhere). Pipe-holes stud the concrete interior
and the room is illuminated by a single slit of light.
3. Potsdamer Platz
 Potsdamer
Platz was Berlin’s main intersection before World War II and
the place where Europe's first traffic light was installed in 1924.
After the war it became a dismal, unfashionable spot, adjacent to
the eastern side of the Wall. Having had millions of Euros pumped
into its regeneration, it is now a shopping and business centre by
day and a culture and entertainment venue after dark. It bristles
with strikingly modern, glass-fronted skyscrapers, including the Sony
Centre, Daimler-Benz's HQ and the Filmmuseum Berlin. The work of such
esteemed architects as Richard Rogers, Helmut Jahn and Renzo Piano
is on display here.
4. Tiergarten
The Tiergarten (literally “animal garden”) was once
a hunting ground from Prussian aristocracy, stocked with wild boar
and deer. It was landscaped by Peter Joseph Lenné in the 1830s
and still bears his imprint, in spite of being almost totally destroyed
in World War II.  Today
it is Berlin’s largest and most famous public park, offering
a wide range of activities, including boating, strolling, jogging,
summer concerts and ornamental gardens. Its most celebrated feature
is the Sigessäule, or victory column, which was erected in 1873
to commemorate Prussian victories against Denmark, Austria and France.
In 1938 Hitler moved it from its place in front of the Reichstag to
the centre of Tiergarten where it stands today. The 67 metre column
is decorated with captured cannon “Gold Else”, the victory
goddess on the summit, beloved by Berliners, is waving her laurel
wreath wryly towards Paris. […] There are also a number of imposing
statues in the park. The three heroes of the Wars of Unification –
Count Otto Von Bismark and Generals Helmute von Moltke and Albrecht
von Roon – are commemorated to the north of the Sigessäule,
while memorials to two prominent revolutionaries – Karl Liebknecht
and Rosa Luxemburg – stand beside the Landwehrkanal near Lichtensteinalle.
Also look for the antique gas lamps from various European cities along
the route from the station to Landwehrkanal.
5. Reichstag
Built in 1894, the Reichstag has always been a prominent building
in German politics, albeit one with a troubled history. In 1918 the
German Republic was announced from its balcony and the building continued
to be the seat of the Weimar Republic from 1919 – 1933. But
in 1933, as the centre of Hitler's dictatorship government, it was
set on fire in mysterious circumstances then further damaged by Allied
bombing of Berlin during World War II.
It was left in this run-down state until the 1960s, when it was opened
as a conference centre. However, after the demolition of the Berlin
wall it became the site of the German reunification ceremonies at
midnight on October 2, 1990. Norman Foster won a commission in 1992
to transform the building into the new home for the unified German
Parliament. The stated aim of his design was to make the processes
of government more transparent. His dome is a gleaming metal and glass
structure with a ramp that spirals up a to a roof terrace with 360-degree
views of central Berlin. 
The dome overlooks the debating chamber for the Bundestag and a central
mirrored cone draws light into the plenary chamber. The design also
preserves remnants of the building's colourful past, including graffiti
left by the Red Army in 1945. You can take a tour of the Reichstag
and go up to the viewing gallery inside the glass dome, but get there
early to avoid the two-hour queues (tours run 09.00–22.00 and
the building closes at midnight).
6. Alexanderplatz
 Originally
a cattle market, Alexanderplatz was named in honour of a visit to
Berlin by the Russian Tsar, Alexander I, who reviewed troops there
in 1805. The square was colonised by Berlin’s burgeoning working
class in the middle of the 19th century, but its heyday came in the
1920s, when, together with Potsdamer Platz, it was at the heart of
Berlin's nightlife. Most of the buildings around it were destroyed
in World War II then reconstructed in dispiritingly drab Communist
style during the 1960s. The most famous building dating from this
period – indeed East Berlin’s most striking landmark –
is the Fernsehturm television tower, which rises like a spear from
the centre of the square. At 362 metres, its height exceeds that of
Paris’s Eiffel Tower. It is topped by a stainless steel sphere,
which is divided into seven stories. One of them is home to the Telecafé,
 which
offers stunning views of the city on clear days. The café rotates
on its own axis, and takes 30 minutes to go round. Other notable buildings
around the square include City Hall – formerly known as Rotes
Rathaus (Red Town Hall) because of its colour – and the Marienkirche,
Berlin’s second-oldest church. The nave of the latter is 15th-century
and the lantern tower a flight of fancy added by Karl Gotthard Langhans
in 1790. As for the square itself, following German reunification
it has undergone a gradual process of change, with many of the surrounding
buildings being renovated. Despite the construction of a tram line
and the addition of some greenery it has retained its somewhat grim
socialist character, including the much-graffitied Fountain of Friendship
between Peoples (Brunnen der Völkerfreundschaft). In 1993 Hans
Kollhoff won the architectural competition to redesign the square
but his plans to grace it with 13 skyscrapers have yet to be realised,
due to a lack of demand.
7. Kurfürstendamm
The tree-lined boulevard Kurfürstendamm, Berlin’s most
celebrated shopping street, stretches for 3 kilometres towards Charlottenburg.
It was originally laid out as a boulevard with bridle path in the
late-19th century, and opulent developments rose along it. In the
1920s, it became the meeting point of Berlin's intellectuals, with
countless theatres, cafés and nightclubs springing up. Badly
damaged in World War II, it was cleared and redeveloped in the 1950s,
with tower blocks and terraced buildings. Many its stores were the
beneficiaries of the Wirtschaftswunder – the economic miracle
of the 1960s – which was brought about to a large part by American
investment. It is still the Berlin's showpiece boulevard, and new
buildings are appearing along it once again. (…) Despite rising
rates on the Ku’damm (as it is called for short), the café
tradition in Berlin lives on. The first coffee shop – Café
Kranzler – opened in 1835 on the corner of Friedrichstrasse
and was soon frequented by Prussian aristocracy. From the 1950s on
it occupied a building on the same spot called the Kranzlereck. In
2001 it was extended upwards and transformed into a ritzy shopping
centre full of boutiques, perfumeries and delicatessens. The café
itself has been relocated to a rotunda with a red-and-white striped
marquee roof on the top floor of the building. None the less it’s
still a great place to stop off and rest your legs while sightseeing.
A huge pyramid – similar to the controversial construction,
which has changed the face of the Louvre – has been built in
the courtyard. (…) The elegant streets off the Kurfürstendamm
are also worth seeing. They were part of the New West End, which was
developed as a residential area at the end of the 19th century. Many
of the houses here are now art galleries. There is also the Literaturhaus,
a cultural centre with a secluded garden café, the Wintergarten.
8. Berlin Wall
 The
Berlin Wall was erected by the GDR leadership on 13 August 1961, in
order to stem the tide of citizens escaping to the West (though of
course they pretended that it served the opposite function by naming
it the “Anti-Fascist Protection Barrier.”) This division
of Berlin tore families, relationships and friendships apart. Since
the Wall began to be dismantled on the night of 9th November 1989,
however, even long-time Berlin citizens find it difficult to trace
its course. The most lasting symbol of its existence is Checkpoint
Charlie. It was at this former border crossing that Soviet and US
tanks faced off following the construction of the Wall in August 1961.
The original prefabricated sentry box has been replaced with a replica,
complete with sandbags and two idealised portraits of US and Soviet
servicemen, by artist Frank Thiel. A multilingual sign warns, “You
are leaving the American sector.” Meanwhile, the exhibition
in the Haus  am
Checkpoint Charlie offers a colourful, if somewhat sensationalist
presentation of the Wall experience. On display are adapted vehicles,
trick suitcases and a hot-air balloon used for escapes to the West.
However there are also other exhibits, which better fulfil the museum’s
stated purpose, which is to explore the Wall’s human rights
implications. The former no-man’s land around the checkpoint
has been redeveloped in an attempt to merge the eastern and western
parts of the city. New landmarks include the Business Centre by Philip
Johnson, the Triangle by Josef Kleihues and the tower block commissioned
by GSW (Partnership for Housing Development). Across the road is a
lone remnant of 19th century Berlin, a pharmacy-turned-café
known as At the White Eagle.
9. Kulturforum
Designed in the 1960s, Kulturforum complex may feature architecture
that is unlovely even by the standards of the times, but it features
two great jewels: the Gemäldegalerie and the Neue Nationalgalerie.
 The
former reunites formerly separated collections from East and West
Berlin and has an extensive selection of European paintings from the
13th to the 18th century. Dürer, Hans Holbein and other German
masters are well represented, as are the great Dutch artists Van Eyck
and Bruegel. Dutch baroque painting is also prominent, with several
outstanding works by Rembrandt, among others. The Italian collection
reads like a roll-call of great Renaissance artists: Fra Angelico,
Piero della Frances, Giovanni Bellini and Raphael. Outside, in the
sculpture park, you can see works by Henry Moore and others. Meanwhile,
the Neue Nationalgalerie was designed by Bauhaus architect Mies van
der Rohe in 1968 for hanging of large canvasses and focuses on modern
art. Many leading post-war artists are represented here: Robert Rauschenberg,
Roy Lichtenstein, Frank Stella, Joseph Beuys. The lower floor displays
work by 20th-century Europeans, including Kirchner, Magritte, Klee,
Max Ernst, Otto Dix, de Chirico, Dalí and Picasso.
10. Hamburger Bahnhof
Berlin’s other great modern art museum is the Hamburger Bahnhof, a renovated
railway station, which opened three years before Tate Modern. A soot-covered
relic of the industrial age for forty years, it now calls itself the
"Museum of the Present" and offers dazzling, white galleries
where light floods from the high-vaulted glass roof, offering an impressive
setting for the impressive collection of Warhol, Beuys and Lichtenstein.
After dark, a light installation by Dan Flavin turns the building
itself into a work of art.
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