WHERE TO GO
You’ll need to plan carefully for a thorough exploration of Berlin — with a total area of 880 sq km (340 sq miles) it is more than eight times the size of Paris. Since the reorganization of the municipal transport system, virtually the whole of the city is accessible via underground (U-Bahn), overhead (S-Bahn) railways, bus, or tram. You should have no difficulty in reaching the outlying areas, including Spandau, the museums in Dahlem, the parks and lakes in the Grunewald, and the summer palaces in Potsdam, by public transport. Busy traffic and the inevitable parking problems make car rental a less attractive, and quite unnecessary, option.
A good orientation exercise is to start with an organized sightseeing tour — by bus, for instance, departing from the eastern end of the Kurfürstendamm. Cruises on the Landwehrkanal or Spree and Havel rivers offer a more leisurely way of taking in areas of eastern and western Berlin that are not normally covered by the tour buses.
The area on and around the Kurfürstendamm is probably the best place to begin, as it’s very well served by information centers and other tourist facilities. Your first port of call should be the Berlin Tourist Office which can be found at the Budapester Straße side of the Europa-Center and is open every day; the helpful, multi-lingual staff will assist you with maps, leaflets, and other useful information.
Around Kurfürstendamm
Berlin’s main thoroughfare, literally “Prince Elector’s Embankment,” is known to Berliners as the Ku’damm. It extends for 3 1⁄2 km (about 2 miles) through the center of the city, forming a triangular area enclosed by Lietzenburger Straße, Hardenbergstraße, Leibnizstraße, and Tauentzienstraße. Here you’ll find a vast array of shops, cafés, restaurants, theaters, cinemas, and art galleries, as well as no-frills fast-food stands and the inevitable souvenir-sellers.
Impressed by the prolongation of the Champs-Elysées in Paris to the Bois de Boulogne, Bismarck wanted to extend the Ku’damm out as far as the Grunewald forest. However, such pretentions were never realized, and finally the avenue linked Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church to nothing grander than the Halensee railway station.
When you are in the center of Tauentzienstraße, notice the intertwined steel tubes of the Berlin sculpture, which were designed for the city’s 750th anniversary in 1987. The two halves are tantalizingly close to each other, yet fail to touch, poignantly symbolizing the once divided city.
At the far end of Tauentzienstraße, Wittenbergplatz is a large, populous square and contains one of Berlin’s many memorials: a stark sign outside the U-Bahn station which reminds passers-by of the Nazi concentration camps. The station itself is a beautifully restored Art Deco delight with lovely wooden ticket booths, period posters, and a central standing clock.
More than just a department store, KaDeWe (Kaufhaus des Westens), located on the edge of Wittenbergplatz, has achieved the status of a monument since its foundation in 1907. The food emporium on the sixth floor is extraordinary. Here, gourmet globetrotters can perch on a bar stool and sample not only food from all over Germany but also Chinese, Japanese, Russian, French, and Swiss cuisine. One floor up, the Wintergarten is a vast food court in the glass-roofed atrium where shoppers can help themselves to less exotic, but equally tasty fare. It’s an ideal spot for a hearty breakfast before a day’s shopping. The toy department is also well worth a visit.
Breitscheidplatz is the big pedestrianized area at the base of the Europa-Center and a busy gathering place for shoppers and sightseers during the day. In the center of the square is Joachim Schmettau’s granite Weltkugelbrunnen (or Fountain of the World), which locals have gaily christened the “aquatic dumpling.”
Soaring above it is another very powerful symbol of the city, the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche. The 1943 bombing, combined with artillery fire at the end of the war, left the tower with the broken stump of its spire — 63 m (206 ft) compared with its original 113 m (370 ft) — as a monumental ruin recalling the city’s destruction. Flanking it, a modern octagonal church to the east and a chapel and hexagonal tower to the west represent the city’s post-war rebirth. Stained glass from Chartres set in walls of molded concrete casts a mysterious bluish glow over the Ku’damm at night.
Built between 1891–1895 to honor Wilhelm I, the remains of this Neo-Romanesque church constitute a memorial hall to celebrate the Hohenzollerns’ pious monarchism. A mosaic representing Christ the King is set above friezes and reliefs of Prussian monarchs from Friedrich I (1415–1440) to the last crown prince, Friedrich Wilhelm. On one wall, Wilhelm I confers with Chancellor Bismarck and Field Marshals Moltke and Roon. With their taste for irreverent nicknames, Berliners have deflated the monuments’ imperial or pacifist intentions by dubbing the original church the “broken tooth” and the two main additions the “lipstick” and “powder compact.”
Beyond the church is the enormous Europa-Center, between Tauentzienstraße and Budapester Straße. The center was built in the 1960s and houses scores of shops, restaurants, a hotel, and a casino amid artificial ponds and waterfalls.
A new, multi-media experience in the Ku’damm Karree (Ku’damm 207–208) dramatically relates 800 years of the city’s history. Visitors to The Story of Berlin begin their fascinating journey in a nuclear blast-proof underground bunker, and finish 15 floors up, where there is a stunning view over Berlin.
The Zoo, entrance on Budapester Straße, has one of the most varied collections of animals in Europe. Beyond the colorful and pagoda-arched Elefantentor (Elephant Gate) are 35 hectares (86 acres) of parkland where you will be able to observe Indian and African elephants, giant pandas from China, and the rare single-horned rhinoceros from India.
Sooner or later, everybody comes to promenade along the Ku’damm, and a suitable vantage point from which to survey them is Café Kranzler, a Berlin institution at the corner of Joachimstaler Straße. It’s now decidedly bourgeois, although the original Kranzler at the west end of Unter den Linden between Friedrichstraße and the Brandenburg Gate was a hotbed of radical intellectuals in 1848.
The avenue lost almost all the Jugendstil architecture of its Wilhelminian heyday during World War II, but a vestige can be seen in the elegant Café Möhring just across the road. Otherwise the street is resolutely modern — gleaming glass, steel, and an occasional touch of marble — but still a magnet for fashionable shopping.
Like so much of the city, this area is in a constant state of redevelopment. The Berlin Panoptikum (Waxworks) opens in 2001, and a stunning, 36-story building, known as The Zoo Window, is being erected.
Off the Ku’damm at Fasanenstraße 79 you will find the Jüdisches Gemeindezentrum (Jewish Community Center). Framing the entrance is the domed portal from the synagogue which was burned during the fateful Kristallnacht of 1938 (see page 21). The modern building serves as a cultural center for the 15,000 Jews still living in Berlin today — in 1933 they numbered some 170,000. The Noah’s Ark restaurant inside the Community Center serves up substantial kosher fare as well as holding a marvelous Tuesday night buffet.
At Fasanenstraße 24 stands the intimate Käthe-Kollwitz Museum, containing sketches and sculptures by Berlin artist Käthe Kollwitz, housed in an elegant villa.
It’s worth exploring some of the other side streets off the Ku’damm. As well as Fasanenstraße, you will discover many other elegant tree-lined boulevards studded with beautiful, balconied villas, antiques shops, art galleries, and exclusive designer boutiques. A little to the north, fashionable Savignyplatz provides a focus for first-class art and architecture bookshops and art galleries, located in the arches beneath the overhead S-Bahn railway line. Here you will find an abundance of literary cafés, bistros, and bars, with plenty of outside seating.
Tiergarten Area
Despite its name, the Tiergarten (literally “animal garden”) is not another zoo. For the Hohenzollern princes, it was a forest for hunting deer and wild boar. After Frederick the Great cut down the woods to create a formal French garden for his brother August Ferdinand, it was replanted with trees in the 19th century and transformed into a landscaped park. Following World War II the Berliners stripped away the trees again — for fuel. Everything you will see here today has been planted since 1950, among pleasant ponds, cafés, and various monuments.
The Englischer Garten (beside Altonaer Straße), financed by British donations, was laid out by the Shropshire Horticultural Society, and forms part of the grounds of Schloß Bellevue. This white, Neo-Classical style palace is the official residence of the German President.
On the northwest side of the Tiergarten is the Hansaviertel, a chic, though slightly dated, residential neighborhood rebuilt by architects for the International Building Exhibition of 1957. Among the winners were Bauhaus founder Walter Gropius (Händelallee 1–9), the Brazilian Oscar Niemeyer (Altonaer Straße 4–14), and Alvar Aalto from Finland (Klopstockstraße 30). Their names are inscribed along with the locations of their projects on a map on Klopstockstraße.
Nearby, at Hanseatenweg 10, the Akademie der Künste (Arts Academy), distinguished by the splendid Henry Moore sculpture outside, holds concerts, plays, and exhibitions of avant-garde art.
At the center of the park, on the circle of the Großer Stern, the soaring Siegessäule (Victory Column) is an unabashed monument dedicated to Prussian militarism. It was completed in 1873, two years after the victory over the French, and also commemorates successes against Denmark and Austria in 1864 and 1866 respectively. A climb of around 285 steps takes you to the top of the 67 m (220 ft) column for a breathtaking view over the city from beneath the gilded bronze statue of Winged Victory.
On the north side of the Großer Stern are monuments honoring the architects of that first unification, the Field Marshals Moltke and Roon, and Chancellor Bismarck.
Follow the River Spree to the east along Spreeweg until you reach the Kongreßhalle, built by the Americans as their country’s contribution to the 1957 International Building Exhibition. Officially renamed Haus der Kulturen der Welt (House of World Cultures), the striking design, with its curved concrete roof, (which was rebuilt after collapsing in 1980) led Berliners to dub the building the “pregnant oyster.” The vast space inside is used for temporary exhibitions on global cultures and non-European avant-garde art, and there’s also a conference room, restaurant, café, and theater. In front of the building, the pond features a sculpture in bronze by the ubiquitous Henry Moore, and is attractively illuminated at night. An austere black structure stands on the corner of Große Querallee near the Kongreßhalle. Built in 1987, the 42 m- (138 ft-) tall tower contains a 68-bell carillon, played by hand on a special keyboard, which chimes daily at noon and six.
The Reichstag
A few minutes’ walk from the Kongreßhalle you’ll find the Reichstag building, its huge, new glass dome, with its mirrored central funnel, visible from much of the city. The parliamentary home of Wilhelminian and Weimar Germany displays the proud dedication Dem deutschen Volke (To the German People) on a Neo-Classical façade built in 1894 by Paul Wallot. This appeal to patriotism and democracy, set above six Corinthian columns, outlasted the burning in 1933 and the bombs of World War II, and was given renewed significance when Berlin resumed its former role as the seat of government of a unified Germany. Today, the dome is a major attraction for Berliners and tourists alike. They endure lengthy lines to be able to travel to the top, gazing out at the city and down into the Bundestag chamber. By the end of 2003, the area in front of the Reichstag — currently a vast construction site — will be transformed, with the completion of all the new government district buildings, including the Federal Chancellery. An enormous new Berlin Central Train Station is being erected at Lehrter Bahnhof, and new S– and U–bahn lines are being built, to further extend the city’s already splendid public transport system.
South of the Siegessäule stands the elegant, modern shared complex which houses the embassies of Denmark, Finland, Holland, Norway, and Sweden, the architecture a stunning showcase for Scandinavian design and materials.
The stylized industrial curves of the Bauhaus-Archiv (see page 73) on the Landwehr canal were designed by Walter Gropius, founder of the hugely influential Bauhaus school of architecture, art, and design.
Note Emil Fahrenkamp’s gracefully curved, travertine-clad Bewag Building on the corner of Stauffenbergstraße and Reichpietschufer. It was built originally for Shell Oil in 1932. The Gedenkstätte Deutscher Widerstand is a memorial to German resistance against Fascism within the Bendlerblock, the former German military headquarters. A bronze statue depicting a young man with bound hands stands in the courtyard where Graf von Stauffenberg and other army officers (who conspired to blow up Hitler on 20 July 1944) were shot. An excellent exhibition, in the historical rooms of the building where the attempted coup was planned, contains more than 5,000 photographs and historical documents charting the tragic course of resistance.
At the corner of Potsdamer Straße, Bauhaus master Mies van der Rohe’s design for the Neue Nationalgalerie of 20th-century art (see page 76) is a square, glass-wall structure with a vast, black steel roof supported by eight massive steel columns. This work of characteristic elegant simplicity was completed in 1968, a year before the architect’s death. It stands on a rather windswept, raised granite platform that serves as a sculpture court for huge outdoor pieces like Henry Moore’s Archer, as well as providing a playground for skate-boarders.
Kulturforum
Beyond the Nationalgalerie, in dignified isolation, is the fine-steepled Neo-Romanesque St. Matthäiskirche, built in the Italian Renaissance style in 1846 by August Stüler. It is the only pre-war building hereabouts to survive Albert Speer’s redesign of Berlin, and forms the nucleus about which the concert halls and the museums of the city’s Cultural Forum are clustered. The quality of exhibits in the museums here is simply outstanding. The Gemäldegalerie is home to a remarkable collection of German and European paintings from the 13th to the 19th centuries. The Kunstgewerbemuseum displays a wide range of the most exquisitely-executed arts and crafts, from medieval gold and silver church treasuries to Baroque glass and ceramics to 20th and 21st century furniture and clothes. (See page 74 for a description of the museum’s contents.)
The prints and watercolors that comprise the impressive Kupferstichkabinett (Engravings Collection) were transferred from Museumsinsel and Dahlem to a new home in Matthäiskirchplatz in mid-1993.
Eclipsed by the sober international style imposed by the Bauhaus in the 1920s — of which the Neue Nationalgalerie is a prime example — architect Hans Scharoun was at last able to indulge his taste for Expressionistic free-form structures. His first design, the controversial ochre and gold Philharmonie, owes its tent-like shape to the demands of the concert hall’s acoustics and sight-lines. The home of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra was designed from the inside out, from the orchestra to the walls and roof. Viewed from across Tiergartenstraße, the nearby Musikinstrumentenmuseum is reminiscent of an open card index file and houses an extensive collection of instruments from the 16th century to the present.
The nearby Staatsbibliothek (State Library), Potsdamer Straße 33, was also designed by Scharoun. Despite its formidable dimensions, the library is a model of peace and harmony. A quite ingenious network of staircases leads to multi-level reading rooms and easily accessible stacks. It’s one of the largest modern library buildings in Europe, and regularly holds documentary and photographic exhibitions as well as concerts.
Potsdamer Platz
Reduced by war and the Wall to a bleak no-man’s-land, the square that was at one time the busiest in Europe has burst back into life in the most invigorating fashion. What was once a scar on the landscape, epitomizing the division of the city and country, is now a thriving arts, entertainment, shopping and business center. The impact of the towering, modern buildings, made almost predominantly from glass, is breathtaking. Investment from corporations such as Daimler-Chrysler and Sony has resulted in the construction of shopping malls, a theater, casino, a splendid hotel, cinemas, and a film museum.
Almost 100,000 people a day come here to marvel at the striking architecture and explore the latest attractions in this ever-changing city. The Sony Center is a vibrant entertainment complex, contained with a central courtyard under a glass ceiling. Technophiles can check out the latest gadgets at Sony’s first European department store, while film buffs will be intrigued by the exhibits at the excellent new Film Museum Berlin. A fascinating contrast to the futuristic architecture and technological content can be found in the elegant remains of the old Grandhotel Esplanade, now preserved behind glass walls.
The nearby Arkaden shopping center became a firm favorite with city shoppers as soon as it opened in 1998, and the cafés, casino, and theater in Marlene-Dietrich-Platz pay tribute to the city’s most famous daughter.
The Martin-Gropius-Bau, situated nearby at Stresemann Straße 110, was originally built between 1877 and 1881 by Martin Gropius (great-uncle of the Bauhaus’s Walter Gropius), with the help of Heino Schmieden, as an arts and crafts museum. The lavish red and gold building is now a spacious exhibition site housing art and architecture exhibits in and around its skylighted inner courtyard area.
Adjacent to the Martin-Gropius-Bau is the site of Prinz-Albrecht-Straße 8, the former School of Applied Arts and Design, which served as the headquarters of the SS, Gestapo, and other Nazi institutions. Excavations in 1987 revealed the cellars where thousands of victims were imprisoned and tortured. The building constructed above the underground quarters of the SS guards houses the Topographie des Terrors, an exhibition of photographs and documents which movingly illustrates the lives of those who resisted the Nazi terror. Berlin has many reminders of its dark past, but this has particular impact.
Further along at Askanischer Platz is the sad but graceful arcaded ruin of Anhalter Bahnhof. By an irony of latterday history, the old railway station was the work of Franz Schwechten, the architect who created the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, that other noble ruin (see page 31).
Mitte
The area east of the Brandenburg Gate known as Mitte (Middle) is the historic center of Berlin, and was at one time the center of the capital of the German Democratic Republic. The city’s most important museums, theaters, government buildings, and churches were constructed here between the 18th and 20th centuries. Many buildings, including the Friedrichswerdersche Kirche (now home to the Schinkel-Museum, see page 58) and Schinkel’s Altes Museum (Old Museum; see page 76), were carefully restored by East Germany after air-raid bombing of World War II, and several quarters were rebuilt in the Old Berlin style, notably Gendarmenmarkt (formerly Platz der Akademie) and Museumsinsel (see page 76).
Today, the area’s principal avenue, Unter den Linden, has regained its former importance as the main focus of the capital’s cultural and political life, while nearby Friedrichstraße is once again becoming a fashionable shopping artery, with the opening of several new shopping complexes. When you talk to people here, however, it’s worth bearing in mind that eastern Berlin did not turn into a bastion of anti-Communism overnight. Although the city voted in a conservative mayor in December 1990, the successor party to the Communists did exceptionally well in the old eastern boroughs, still a solid left-wing stronghold.
Brandenburg Gate
In spite of it attracting occasional protest marches from those who support the political Far Right, this formidable symbol of the united city generally appears at last to be realizing the vision of Johann Gottfried Schadow, the sculptor who crowned the Brandenburg Gate with the Quadriga, a copper statue of Winged Victory in her four-horse chariot. Schadow had wanted the gate to be known as the Friedenstor (Gate of Peace), in keeping with the relief of the Procession of Peace that he himself had sculpted beneath Victory’s simple chariot.
The gate itself, designed by Carl Gotthard Langhans, was built between 1789 and 1791. With two rows of six Doric columns forming the gateway proper, it was inspired by the Propylaeum gatehouse leading to the Parthenon in Athens. (To go all the way, Hitler had even planned to hoist the gate onto an artificial hill, in an attempt to create a mini-Acropolis.) Forming part of the city wall, the gate was intended by the more pragmatic Prussians not so much as a triumphal arch as an imposing tollgate for collecting duties.
The gate was left isolated in no-man’s land when the Wall went up, and subsequently became the scene of quite ecstatic celebrations when it came down, though now you would scarcely believe it as Berliners cross nonchalantly from east to west through Brandenburg’s mighty central arch.
The new US Embassy is being built nearby, on land originally occupied by that country’s pre-war embassy, and a large stretch of ground leading towards Potsdamer Platz has been designated as the site of a memorial to the victims of the Holocaust.
Unter den Linden
Sweeping eastwards from the gate, this grand 61-m (200-ft) -wide avenue, literally named “Beneath the Linden Trees,” was Berlin’s showcase boulevard. Frederick the Great saw it as the center of his royal capital, and it became the most prestigious address in town. Some of its splendor fell victim to 19th-century building speculation, but the avenue remained fashionable until the bombs of World War II reduced it to rubble. Now the trees have been replanted and the most important buildings restored.
Its western end is dominated by the Russian Federation Embassy on the right as you come from Brandenburg Gate. Close by is the smartest hotel in town; the supremely elegant Hotel Adlon was recently built on the site of the original hotel of the same name, which was a 1930s Berlin legend.
Continuing east, you pass the unprepossessing modern façade of the Komische Oper, one of Berlin’s most important opera companies. The ugly exterior is the result of post-war reconstruction; happily, the magnificently over-the-top original gilded interior has been retained.
East of Charlottenstraße, beyond the patched, dark stone of the Deutsche Staatsbibliothek (German State Library), built between 1903 and 1914 but damaged during the Second World War, is Frederick the Great’s architectural complex known as “Forum Fridericianum.” An imposing statue of the monarch on horseback (1851), the work of Christian Daniel Rauch, stands in the avenue’s central strip.
To recreate the cultural climate that his grandfather had brought to Berlin during the 17th century, the king commissioned a new building to house the Royal Academy, a library, an opera house, and a palace for his brother, Prince Heinrich. The result was Heinrich’s palace (1748), which is now beautifully restored and forms part of Humboldt Universität. Founded in 1810 by brothers Alexander and Wilhelm Humboldt, the institution counted among its professors and students Hegel, Engels, Marx, and Einstein, as well as the Grimm brothers. Opposite its rather severe classicism is the curving Baroque façade of the Alte Bibliothek (Old Library). It stands beside the open square named Bebelplatz (formerly Opernplatz) which was the scene of book-burning by Nazi students in 1933.
Across Bebelplatz you will find the grand Palladian-style Deutsche Staatsoper (German State Opera) designed in 1742 by Knobelsdorff, Frederick the Great’s favorite architect. To the east of the square, the Operncafé is housed in the Prinzessinnenpalais, the Prussian princesses’ Baroque town house. Its open-air terrace is one of the most popular places to meet in the eastern part of Berlin, while inside there is an elegant café and a restaurant to be enjoyed.
Beside the university, the old Prussian army guardhouse, the Neue Wache (New Guardhouse), known as the Mahnmal, was Karl Friedrich Schinkel’s first important Neo-Classical design, completed in 1818. It was rebuilt at the end of World War II as a memorial to victims of Fascism and militarism.
Next door is the handsome, Baroque Zeughaus, once arsenal for the Prussian Army, as the sculpted suits of armor testify along the roof. The artist Andreas Schlüter provided the military sculpture, but was able to assert his pacifist views with poignant sculpted masks of dying warriors (1696) in the inner courtyard named after him, the Schlüterhof. Since the early 1950s, the Zeughaus has been home to the Deutsches Historiches Museum. An extensive program of refurbishment is due to be finished by late 2001. In the meantime, the collection, which includes art and social history exhibits, can be found in the splendid Kronprinzenpalais, located directly across Unter den Linden.
To the south of the Staatsoper on the corner of the square is St. Hedwigs-Kathedrale, from 1747, a huge, domed structure built for the Catholics incorporated into Protestant Prussia by Frederick’s conquest of Polish Silesia.
The celebrated architectural ensemble south of Unter den Linden on the Gendarmenmarkt has been almost completely restored after near total destruction during World War II. The square is bordered by bookshops and cafés set in delightful arcades. The imposing Schiller-Denkmal (1868), a monument sculpted in Carrara marble, surrounds the writer with the muses of philosophy, poetry, drama, and history.
It stands in front of Schinkel’s Ionic-porticoed Konzerthaus. Originally called the Schauspielhaus, (Playhouse), this is now a concert hall. The edifice links two identical churches, the Französischer Dom (or French Cathedral) to the north, built for the immigrant Huguenots, and the Deutscher Dom (German Cathedral) to the south. Both were built in the early 18th century. The twin domes were added in 1785.
Step inside the Französischer Dom to visit the Huguenot museum, or look up the stairwell to the Glockenspiel — a dizzying 48 m (159 ft) above. The Turmstuben restaurant on the fourth floor is the place to calm your shattered nerves. The Deutscher Dom now houses a fascinating exhibition, Fragen an die deutsche Geschichte (German History Under Question), which was previously in the Reichstag. This frank examination of Germany’s social and political history cleverly combines documents, photographs, and radio broadcasts to chronicle the rise of Fascism and the development of democracy. The descriptive panels are all in German, but audio guides and information booklets are available in English and French.
A short stroll leads to Friedrichstraße, where over 100,000 m of GDR architectural monstrosity have been demolished and replaced by a very elegant development of designer shops, offices, and apartments. French élan has come to Berlin in the form of a branch of the famous department store, Galeries Lafayette, at Quartier 207. The sophisticated Art Deco styling of Quartier 206, home to some very exclusive designer boutiques, is the work of Americans Pen, Cobb, Freed, and Partners.
Walking along Friedrichstraße, you can only marvel at the changes that have been made here since reunification. Nowhere is this brought home more strongly than at Checkpoint Charlie, that infamous border crossing between East and West. Today, the barbed wire and barriers are gone, but the memories remain, housed in the fascinat-ing Haus am Checkpoint Charlie Museum.
Memories of human tragedy on an even wider scale can be found at the new Jüdisches Museum on Lindenstraße. Even the architecture has been designed to symbolize the devastation of Jewish life in the Holocaust. Daniel Libeskind’s building was drawing huge crowds even before the exhibits of Jewish art and history were installed.
Oranienburger Straße
On the north side of the River Spree, Oranienburger Straße is the heart of the old Jewish quarter. In the 1920s, a diverse community of Jewish professionals and Bohemian artists and writers lived, worked, and thrived here. After the devastation of the war and the grim sterility of its aftermath, the area has now regained much of its former vibrancy, with cultural centers and Jewish restaurants rubbing shoulders with off-beat cafés and alternative art venues beneath the magnificent black-and-gold-leafed dome of the Neue Synagogue. The biggest synagogue in Germany, designed by Eduard Knoblauch and completed in 1866, it was gutted during the anti-Semitic attacks of Kristallnacht on 9 November 1938 (see page 21) and then later destroyed by Allied bombing. It has now been beautifully restored, and is used for services once more. In addition, exhibits from the adjacent center of Jewish studies, Centrum Judaicum, are displayed here.
Nearby Hackesche Höfe is a fascinating complex of early 20th century interconnecting courtyards. This has recently been restored, and is now a lively spot, with bars, art galleries, shops and offices, complete with its own theater.
Karl-Liebknecht-Straße
Linking Unter den Linden to Karl-Liebknecht-Straße is the 19th century Schloßbrücke (Palace Bridge), designed by Schinkel in 1820–1824, and decorated with fierce warriors and victory goddesses. Beyond the bridge, look left to the imposing Neo-Classical façade of the Altes Museum at the far end of the Lustgarten (Pleasure Garden), which forms a grand entrance to Museumsinsel, the site of eastern Berlin’s most important museums (see page 76). On the opposite side of the Lustgarten, stands the area once more known as Schlossplatz. Under the GDR its name was changed to Marx-Engels-Platz, and it became a focus of Communist May Day military parades and rallies. The war-damaged Stadtschloß (City Palace) of the Hohenzollerns once stood here. However, in 1950 Walter Ulbricht decided to raze it as symbolizing German imperialism, despite protests from art historians that it was the city’s outstanding Baroque building. (You can see a model of the palace in the historical apartments at Schloß Charlottenburg, see page 55.)
The palace balcony from which Spartacist leader Karl Liebknecht proclaimed his doomed “Socialist Republic” in 1918 was added to the front of the Staatsrat (Council of State) building on the east side of the square, while the monstrous bronze, glass, and steel Palast der Republik, once, not so very long ago, the seat of East Germany’s parliament, replaced what remained of the royal residence. Recent budget cuts have postponed the demolition of the Palast, and there is a movement afoot to preserve it as an historic monument.
On the opposite side, the exterior of Kaiser Wilhelm II’s Berliner Dom has been completely restored, and its interior beautifully renovated, despite sustaining heavy bomb damage during the Second World War. The cathedral acts as a place of worship as well as a museum, and has a crypt containing 95 Hohenzollern sarcophagi.
Continue along Karl-Liebknecht-Straße as far as the Marienkirche (13th century) on Neuer Markt, a haven of sober Gothic simplicity amid the prevailing bombast. Inside, see Schlüter’s Baroque marble pulpit (1703) and a late-Gothic fresco of the Dance of Death (1484) in the tower hall.
The Neo-Renaissance Berliner Rathaus, also known as the Rotes Rathaus (Red Town Hall), owes its nickname to its red clinker masonry, not its ideology. Built between 1861 and 1869, it is now the seat of the city’s governing mayor, and is decorated with an interesting terracotta frieze chronicling the history of Berlin up to the time of the building’s construction.
Beyond the huge Neptunbrunnen (Neptune’s Fountain), a rather elaborate affair decorated with four figures representing the rivers Rhine, Elbe, Oder, and Weichsel, you can hardly miss the Fernsehturm (Television Tower) rising up above Alexanderplatz. It was built in 1969, and at 365 m (1,197 ft) absolutely dwarfs western Berlin’s Funkturm (see page 59), which was the object of the exercise. Not for the fainthearted, an observation deck at 207 m (679 ft) affords an excellent view over the city, while the revolving restaurant provides refreshment.
Alexanderplatz
“Alex,” as the huge square is known, was once the undisputed heart of pre-war Berlin, and its vibrancy was celebrated in Alfred Döblin’s great 1929 novel Berlin Alexanderplatz, later filmed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder. Today the square is a rather bleak and desolate place with a fountain and a circular World Clock, surrounded by grim, graffiti-ridden Communist architecture. However, plans are afoot to knock down and rebuild part of the area and restore some of the square’s former vitality.
The crumbling façades of apartments, hotels, and bargain basement shops line Karl-Marx-Allee leading southeast from Alex. Walk up and down it if only to remind yourself what soulless buildings Stalinist architects could produce. Until 1961 the street was known as Stalin-Allee.
To the north of Alexanderplatz, behind the Volksbühne theater, Schönhauser Allee is one of the most characteristic avenues of Old Berlin leading to the center of Prenzlauer Berg, the 19th century working-class quarter — now a lively, bohemian area with colorful nightlife. On Husemannstraße, a number of buildings from the age of Kaiser Wilhelm II have been pleasingly restored.
Nikolaiviertel
South of the Rotes Rathaus, the neighborhood of Nikolai was restored for Berlin’s 750th anniversary celebrations in 1987, as a “clean” example of Old Berlin. The site of Berlin’s earliest settlement, it clusters around the city’s oldest parish church, the twin-steepled Gothic-style Nikolaikirche. The church was built in 1230 and now forms part of the Märkisches Museum (see page 79), devoted to the city’s history. Among the buildings resurrected here is the Gaststätte zum Nußbaum, the favorite tavern of cartoonist Heinrich Zille. The Knoblauchhaus, at Poststraße 23, is an elegant house rebuilt in Neo-Classical style in 1835 and containing some fine Biedermeier furniture. More stately is the reconstructed Ephraimpalais, Poststraße 16, a rococo mansion built for Friedrich II’s financier Veitel Heine Ephraim in 1765. Besides providing a delightful setting for chamber-music recitals, it is also used for exhibitions of 18th- and 19th-century art and Berlin history.
Schloß Charlottenburg
The carefully restored palace, an exemplary piece of Prussian Baroque and rococo architecture and decoration, is the city’s only surviving major Hohenzollern residence. To do the palace, grounds, and surrounding museums full justice, you will need to spend at least a day here.
Badly damaged in a World War II air raid, Schloß Charlottenburg became the target of extensive post-war reconstruction, and now functions as a major museum complex. The Galerie der Romantik (Gallery of Romantic Art) and the Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte (Museum of Primeval and Early History) are housed in the east and west wings respectively, while the Sammlung Berggruen (a collection of contemporary art) and the Ägyptisches Museum (Egyptian Museum) are in identical guardhouses opposite the palace. You will find the Bröhan Museum (dedicated to Art Deco and Art Nouveau) in a former infantry barracks opposite the Egyptian museum. A detailed description of each museum is given on page 68.
Schloß Charlottenburg was conceived as a summer retreat for the future Queen Sophie Charlotte in the 1690s, when the site beside the River Spree, west of the Tiergarten, lay well outside the city limits. It was a small palace — scarcely one-fifth of the huge structure you see today — and only with the addition of a majestic domed tower (with the goddess Fortune as its weathervane), the Orangerie to the west and a new east wing, did it become big enough for Frederick the Great. If he ever had to leave his beloved Potsdam, this was where he came.
In the palace courtyard you will find an equestrian statue of the Great Elector Friedrich Wilhelm, designed by Andreas Schlüter in 1697. One of many art works lost in World War II, it was finally recovered from Tegel Lake in 1949, where it had sunk with the barge that was taking it to safety.
To try and recapture the interior’s rather gracious rococo atmosphere, furniture and decorations from other Prussian palaces built in the 18th-century have been used to replace what was destroyed here during World War II.
In the Gobelinzimmer, notice the fine 18th-century tapestries by Charles Vigne. The rays of light on the ceiling of the Audienzzimmer (Reception Room) and bright yellow damask walls in the Schlafzimmer (bedroom) imitate the motif of the Sun King, Louis XIV, the Prussian rulers’ hero. Chinoiserie is the dominating feature of the opulent Porzellankabinett, filled to the ceiling with hundreds of pieces of Chinese and Japanese porcelain. The relatively sober Japanische Kammer contains some prized lacquered cabinets and tables. The tapestries depict landscapes of China, in spite of the chamber’s name. Chamber music recitals can be heard in the Eichengalerie (Oak Gallery) and the Eosander-Kapelle (chapel) which boasts an extravagant rococo decor that makes it more a theater than a place of worship.
Designed for Frederick the Great by Georg von Knobelsdorff, the Neuer Flügel (new wing, also the east wing) subtly combines dignified late-Baroque façades with exuberant rococo interiors. Part of the ground floor is given over to the Galerie der Romantik (see page 69), which boasts the Prussian monarchy’s collection of 19th-century art. The ceremonial staircase which leads to Frederick the Great’s state apartments has an abstract modern ceiling fresco by Hann Trier in place of the original decor which was destroyed by fire. Trier also painted the ceiling of the Weiße Saal (throne room and banquet hall).
The finest achievement of Knobelsdorff at Schloß Charlottenburg is the splendid 42-m- (138-ft-) long Goldene Galerie. This rococo ballroom with its marble walls, dripping with gilded stucco, leads to two rooms containing a fine group of Watteau paintings. Frederick the Great was somewhat amused by the French artist’s insolent Enseigne du Gersaint, a shop sign for art dealer Gersaint, in which a portrait of Louis XIV is being packed away rather unceremoniously. Among various other superb works by Watteau, you will find L’amour paisible (Quiet Love) and Les Bergers (The Shepherds).
Take a break for coffee or lunch at the Orangerie, then head off and explore the Schloßpark. Among the many buildings in the grounds, nearest to the palace is the Italian-style Schinkel-Pavillon (1825). As well as a collection of Schinkel’s drawings and plans, the building contains early 19th-century Berlin paintings and porcelain. Upstairs, take a look at an amusing panorama of 1830s Berlin by Eduard Gaertner. North of the carp pond, the elegant Belvedere, once a teahouse, now houses a collection of quite exquisite 18th- and 19th-century porcelain.
West of Charlottenburg
Built for the Games of 1936, Hitler’s Olympiastadion was spared bombardment to serve as headquarters for the British Army. The structure’s bombastic gigantism is an eloquent testimony to the Führer’s taste in architecture. Viewed from the main Olympic Gate, it appears to be very “low slung” until you see inside that the field itself has been sunk 12 m (40 ft) below ground level. The 76,000-capacity stadium still stages sporting events, and from May through October is open daily to the public, except on event days. It is currently undergoing extensive refurbishment in preparation for its role as the venue for the 2006 Soccer World Cup Final.
To the west of the stadium, take the lift up the Glockenturm (bell tower) for a magnificent view over the Olympic site. Beyond the bell tower, a pathway will lead you to the Waldbühne, an open-air amphitheater which is a summer venue for concerts and films.
On Messedamm southeast of the stadium, stands another colossus, the famous ICC (International Congress Center). One of the biggest convention centers in the world, the complex is also used for staging cultural events. Next to it on the equally huge Messe und Ausstellungsgelände (Trade Fair and Exhibition Area), the Funkturm (Radio Tower) is positively tiny — 150 m (492 ft) to the tip of its antenna, half the height of eastern Berlin’s Television Tower (see page 53). For breathtaking views, take the elevator to the restaurant, 55 m (180 ft) up, or to the observation platform all the way at the top.
The Outskirts
Northeast of Charlottenburg, the Gedenkstätte Plötzensee in Hüttigpfad is a stark and moving memorial to the victims of Nazi persecution (take bus 123 from S-Bahn Tiergarten to Plötzensee). On the opposite side of the road a lane leads to the site of the prison where thousands of people were tortured and executed between 1933 and 1945, including many of the officers involved in the Stauffenberg plot.
The dark sheds where executions were carried out have been preserved, and outside a stone urn, filled with soil from concentration camps, stands in a corner of the paved yard. In one of the sheds you will find a small and poignant exhibition of historical documents which includes death warrants and pictures of leading members of the German resistance. There is an information office where you can obtain free booklets in English, Russian, and French.
Grunewald and Wannsee
On the western edge of Berlin, the dense pine forest which was largely stripped for fuel in 1945, has been replanted, adding to the 18 million pines around 6 million chestnut, linden, beech, birch, and oak trees. The lush wooded areas form a reserve for deer, wild boar, marten, foxes, and rabbits, but there are also plenty of green meadows for picnics, and the forest paths are extremely popular with both cyclists and joggers.
The easiest and most direct way to get to the Grunewald is to take the S-Bahn from Bahnhof Zoo to Grunewald S-Bahn station. Alternatively, you could combine your trip with a visit to the museums at Dahlem — the Brücke Museum is only a 20-minute walk from the eastern edge of the forest. Drivers take the Avus and turn off on the Hüttenweg to Grunewaldsee, a lake offering swimming and sandy beaches. On the east shore, in an attractive lakeside setting of beech trees, you will find the Jagdschloß Grunewald, a hunting lodge built in 1542 for Prince Elector Joachim II. Situated in a cobbled courtyard, the lodge has been restored to its original Renaissance appearance.
Inside is displayed a rather curious collection of early German hunting portraits and landscapes, among which can be found some remarkable paintings, in particular a series of panels depicting the Passion Cycle by Lucas Cranach. Other German and Dutch works of note are those by Jordaens, Rubens, and Bruyn.
There are marvelous views over the lake from the first- and second-floor rooms, and the period porcelain, furniture, and wooden floors add rustic charm. The nominal admission charge includes entry to the small hunting museum (Jagdmuseum) on the opposite side of the courtyard. A short walk down the path outside the lodge brings you to the rather grand Forsthaus Paulsborn, where you can dine in splendor overlooking the lake.
On the Grunewald’s west side, along Havelchaussee, the Grunewaldturm (Grunewald Tower) is a Neo-Gothic tower built in 1897 to commemorate the 100th birthday of King Wilhelm I. You can climb the 205 steps to reach the 55-m- (180-ft- ) high observation platform for views as far as Potsdam. Ferry stations in the area offer boat rides on the River Havel and forest lakes, and the east bank of the Havel is lined with sandy beaches as far as the Wannsee lakes.
The waterfront near Wannsee S-Bahn station is a crowded spot where city-dwellers come and let their hair down on warm spring and summer days. The water bustles with pleasure boats and ferries, and you can cruise all the way to Spandau and Potsdam from here. Strandbad Wannsee is Berlin’s biggest beach, and the longest inland one in Europe.
West of the Großer Wannsee, Königstraße crosses Berliner Forst, an extension of the Grunewald to Glienicke Park. Its whimsical landscaping of little hills, bridges, and ponds was the work of Peter Josef Lenné in the early 19th century. Schloß Glienicke (1828) is a rather austere Neo-Classical edifice, but the nearby cloister, villa, and garden houses add a romantic touch.
A ferry links Pfaueninsel (Peacock Island), a delightfully tranquil nature reserve in the Havel, towards the northern edge of Berliner Forst. The island menagerie was used to stock the Berlin Zoo, but the bird sanctuary still has much to offer the nature-lover including, of course, peacocks.
At the southern tip, half hidden in the trees, is Schinkel’s Swiss Cottage, but the island’s principal curiosity is the fake ruin Schloß Pfaueninsel, built in 1797 as a hideaway for Friedrich Wilhelm II and his lover, the Countess Wilhelmine von Lichtenau. The white wooden façade imitates granite blocks, and the delightful turrets are joined together at the top by a pretty bridge.
Königsstraße extends as far as an illustrious relic of the Cold War, Glienicker Bridge, once a restricted border crossing between West Berlin and East Germany where the KGB and CIA exchanged spies.
Spandau
With a history longer than Berlin’s, Spandau, northwest of Berlin, still remains fiercely independent-minded, and was the most reluctant of the townships to be annexed by the metropolis in 1920. The town is easily reached by U-Bahn and, if you have time to spare, is well worth visiting for its old restored quarter and 16th-century citadel, the venue for regular summer festivals of jazz and classical music.
The Altstadt (old town) was less damaged by bombing than the rest of Berlin, and has been restored to much of its former charm. You will see pretty, gabled houses, Renaissance façades, and even traces of the 14th-century town wall along Hoher Steinweg, east of Falkenseer Platz.
Spandauers claim that St. Nikolaikirche, situated at the heart of Reformationsplatz, is where Prince Joachim II converted to Protestantism. The Gothic structure has an imposing Renaissance altar.
The 16th-century Zitadelle (citadel), in the River Havel, was the scene of heavy fighting in the Napoleonic Wars. Its walls enclose the old Juliusturm, a castle keep from prior medieval fortifications. It was the repository for gold coins paid by the French as reparations after the Franco-Prussian War, and returned as part payment for reparations following World War I. The Heimatmuseum (Local History Museum) in the Zitadelle contains an exhibition of Jewish gravestones, found during excavations here, which date back to the 13th century. A mock medieval tavern within offers good, solid fare in authentic surroundings.
If you’re thinking of looking for it, don’t — the famous Spandau prison was razed to the ground to make way for the building of a community center after the death in 1987 of its last (and latterly sole) inmate, convicted war-criminal Rudolf Hess.
To the north of the borough, Spandauer Forst is half the size of the Grunewald, but equally beautiful. The forest contains nature reserves where you will find rare plants protected in their wild state. Teufelsbruch, for example, which regularly records the coldest winter temperatures in Berlin, provides a natural shelter for shrubs and flowers from the sub-Arctic tundra. Just to the east of Teufelsbruch, summer bathing and camping are popular at Bürgerablage beach on the Havel.
Köpenick
With its delightful Altstadt (old town) of 18th- and 19th-century houses, the borough of Köpenick lies on the southern outskirts of eastern Berlin, and is easily accessible by S-Bahn line S3. The town is rapidly becoming a fashionable place to live, and many of its crumbling old houses have been restored. Affluent shops have opened their doors, and there are plenty of restaurants, cafés, and art galleries.
Like Spandau in the west, Köpenick has a longer history than Berlin itself, having been a Slav settlement on an island in the Spree in the 9th century. It has a similarly independent-minded history. Socialist before the proclamation of the Weimar Republic, the town led the counter-assault which put an end to the right-wing Kapp Putsch of 1920 (see page 18). Resistance to Hitler by the town’s workers in May 1933 resulted in the Köpenicker Blutwoche (bloodbath) in which storm-troopers killed 91 workers. A memorial to the event is in the former Prussian official jail at Puchanstraße 12.
To reach Schloß Köpenick take tram 86 along Bahnhofstraße to Schloßplatz. The magnificent 17th-century palace occupies its own little island in the River Dahme, and is the occasional setting for open-air summer concerts.
The palace houses a Kunstgewerbemuseum (Arts and Crafts Museum), which is not quite as impressive as its counterpart in the Tiergarten (see page 39), but notable for a superb collection of Meissen porcelain, medieval gold jewelry, Venetian glass and 18th-century rococo furniture. The museum is closed for refurbishment until 2002.
From Köpenick, a branch of the Spree leads to the Großer Müggelsee, the largest lake in Berlin, very pleasant for boat cruises or picnics on the shore.
Museums and Excursions
After 1945, many works originally in the eastern half of the city or Potsdam were transferred to a new home in the west. After reunification, Berlin’s museums were again in a state of flux, but this situation is now coming to an end as collections settle into their permanent homes.
Berlin has a huge number of museums, but luckily most of them are arranged in convenient groups. Museums are superbly laid out, and most provide leaflets (usually in German, but often in English and French) with detailed information about the exhibits; you will find honesty boxes for payment freely dotted about. For addresses and opening hours, see pages 66–67.
Charlottenburg
Across from the main entrance of Schloß Charlottenburg lie three excellent museums, while two additional can be found within the walls of the picturesque palace itself. A highly enjoyable day can be spent exploring the museums and the beautiful rooms and grounds of the Schloß.
Ägyptisches Museum
Housed in one of the two handsome, domed-roof guardhouses in front of the palace, the museum boasts one of the greatest collections of Egyptian art to be found in Europe. It covers 3,000 years of sculpture, papyrus fragments, and hieroglyphic tablets.
The most famous piece is undoubtedly the beautiful head of Queen Nefertiti (1340 b.c.), consort of Akhenaton, which is displayed in a dramatically lit room on the ground floor. The bust had been buried for more than 3,000 years before it was unearthed by German and French archaeologists in 1912. Standing at the entrance to the former stables (Marstall), is the monumental Kalabsha Gate (20 b.c.), which was saved from the waters of the Aswan Dam in the 1960s.
Look for the many other gems in the collection, in particular the wrinkled features of the Berlin Green Head, the restored temple courtyard of King Sahu-Re, a mummy and sarcophagi, and charming blue faience funerary objects in the form of animals.
Bröhan Museum
This peaceful, private museum, located next to the Sammlung Berggruen, houses the elegant collection of Art Nouveau and Art Deco pieces amassed by businessman Karl Bröhan from the mid-1960s onwards. Highlights include very fine ceramics, glassware, silverware, and furniture.
Galerie der Romantik
The new wing of Schloß Charlottenburg provides a fine setting for works by 19th-century Romantic painters, and boasts the most comprehensive collection of paintings by Caspar David Friedrich to be found in Germany. Among his works, look for Abtei im Eichwald (Abbey in the Woods, 1809) and Der Mönch am Meer (The Monk by the Sea, 1810).
Note, too, Johann Hummel’s curious study in perspective, a painting of the granite bowl which can still be seen in Berlin’s Lustgarten, in front of the Altes Museum.
Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte
Berlin’s museum of primeval and early history houses an extensive collection of artifacts from the Stone Age to the Bronze Age. The exhibits and meticulously reconstructed dioramas are clearly described in English, French, and German.
Sammlung Berggruen
Occupying the former quarters of the Antikenmuseum, the Sammlung Berggruen is named after the Berlin-born art lover, Heinz Berggruen, whose outstanding collection of late 19th- and early 20th-century art, including works by Picasso and other, more recent, modernists is displayed here.
Dahlem
Dahlem used to house the greatest concentration of museums in Berlin. However, in recent years, institutions such as the Gemäldegalerie have been relocated. This affluent suburb is still well endowed with interesting museums and with its charming architecture, it is definitely still well worth a visit. Museumzentrum, a large complex standing between Arnimallee and Lansstraße groups five museums under one roof. The Brücke Museum and Botanical Gardens, with its horticultural museum, are nearby, as is Dömane Dahlem, a working farm museum.
To reach Dahlem, take the U-Bahn (line U2) from Wittenbergplatz to Dahlem-Dorf.
Botanischer Garten und Museum
Tropical houses within this stunningly beautiful garden contain some 18,000 different species of exotic plants, and there’s also a smell and touch garden for the blind. A small museum at the north entrance covers the history and use of plants.
Brücke Museum
The Bridge Museum is an intimate, single-story museum situated in a pleasant suburb about 20 minutes’ walk from Jagdschloß Grunewald. Take U1 to Oskar-Helene-Heim, then bus 115 to Pücklerstraße. The museum is 5 minutes from the bus stop.
The museum was created in 1967 to house works of classical modernism, thanks to a legacy of Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, a member of the Expressionist group Die Brücke which worked in Dresden from 1905 to 1913. A large number of the group’s works were labeled as “degenerate” and thus destroyed by the Nazis. Schmidt-Rottluff’s own bold paintings hang beside the works of fellow Expressionists Emil Nolde, Erich Heckel, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, and Max Pechstein.
Dömane Dahlem
This 17th century manor house with period interior and 19th century working farm and museum is very popular with children, who enjoy trying their hand at traditional farm tasks such as milking cows.
Museum Europäischer Kulturen
European folk culture and daily life are detailed here in displays of tools, clothes, toys, etc.
The five museums of the Museumzentrum are dedicated to non-European cultures. They contain frescoes, murals, paintings, stone sculptures, and delicate fabrics from Africa, North America, India, Thailand, Tibet, Burma, Indonesia, and Nepal, as well as Chinese, Japanese, and Korean art, including delicate paper hangings, wooden screens, paintings, carpets, ceramics, and lacquerware. They comprise:
Museum für Indische Kunst This exhibition of Indian art is closed until 2002.
Museum für Ostasiatische Kunst (Museum of Far Eastern Art)
Museum für Kunst Afrikas (Museum of African Art)
Museum für Völkerkunde The Museum of Mankind is a dazzling display of ethnic art and culture. Great for children.
Nordamerika Ausstellung (Exhibition of Native North American Cultures)
Kreuzberg
Berlin Museum
This museum of municipal history, folklore, and culture on Lindenstraße opened in 1998, after extensive renovations, but is now closed again until late 2001. It is being converted into the main entry area and specialist exhibition area for the adjacent Jüdisches Museum.
Deutsches Technikmuseum Berlin
Erected over the railway goods yards of the old Anhalter Bahnhof (see page 43), this fascinating museum is devoted not only to rail traffic, but also to aircraft, shipping, and automobiles, plus the technology of textiles, medicine, communications, and printing. Visitors to the Spectrum section are encouraged to manipulate various machines and participate in scientific experiments.
Haus am Checkpoint Charlie
This little museum celebrates the ingenuity and courage of those who sought to escape to the West, and commemorates those who died trying to do so. Exhibits include the shopping cart in which a mother smuggled her infant son across the border.
Jüdisches Museum
Daniel Libeskind’s striking design was the winner of a competition to find a suitable design for an annex to the Berlin Museum. However, it was much larger than the rules of the competition specified, and a decision was taken to build it as a separate museum. Even before the exhibits were introduced, people flocked to see the empty, zinc-faced building, its sharp angles representing the jagged course of German Jewish history, in particular the tragedy of the Holocaust. Jewish life and culture are depicted through art and artifacts. The full exhibition opens in September 2001.
Tiergarten and Kulturforum
Bauhaus-Archiv
The museum documents the achievements of the most progressive 20th-century European school of architecture and design. Architects Walter Gropius, Mies Van der Rohe, and Marcel Breuer, along with artists Paul Klee, Vasili Kandinsky, Lyonel Feininger, Oskar Schlemmer, and Laszlo Moholy-Nagy attempted to integrate arts, crafts, and architecture into mass industrial society. On view here is a selection of the objects they created: tubular steel chairs, cups and saucers, teapots, desks, new weaves for carpets, chess pieces, and children’s building blocks, as well as some pioneering architectural plans and sketches.
There’s a reference library upstairs, and you can relax with refreshments at the small café.
Film Museum Berlin
This fascinating new museum commemorates Berlin’s history as the Hollywood of Germany and, in a remarkable display featuring items from her personal estate, pays tribute to the greatest of all German screen stars, Marlene Dietrich.
Gemäldegalerie
The Kulturforum’s collection of European art from the 13th to the 18th centuries ranks among the most important in the world. Included here are such masterpieces as Hans Holbein’s portrait of Georg Gisze (1532); the rather amusing The Fountain of Youth (1546) by Lucas Cranach the Elder; Van Eyck’s Portrait of Giovanni Arnolfini (1440); Van Dyck’s portraits of a Genoese couple (1626); Vermeer’s study, Young Lady with a Pearl Necklace (1664) and, among one of the largest Rembrandt collections in the world, a portrait of the artist’s second wife, Hendrickje Stoffels (1659).
Hamburger Bahnhof Museum
A former train station is the stunning setting for works by Erich Marx, Andy Warhol, Anselm Kiefer, and other 20th-century artists.
Kunstgewerbemuseum
Outstanding in the Kulturforum’s Arts and Crafts Museum’s dazzling collection of jewelry is the Welfenschatz (Guelphs’ treasure). These splendid examples of the goldsmith’s art from the 11th to 15th centuries — richly bejeweled crosses, reliquaries, and portable altars — were presented to St. Blasius Cathedral in Brunswick by many succeeding generations of Guelph dukes. Other prized exhibits include glazed Italian majolica and a quite bewitching collection of porcelain — Chinese, Meissen, Frankenthaler, Nymphenburger as well as the city’s own Königliche Porzellan Manufaktur (the royal KPM).
Kupferstichkabinett
The drawings and prints to be found in the reunited Engravings Collection were recently transferred from the Altes Museum and Gemäldegalerie and range from 14th-century illuminated manuscripts to modern woodcuts by Erich Heckel and lithographs by Willem de Kooning. Also on display are outstanding works by Dürer, Botticelli, and Rembrandt.
Museum für Naturkunde
An astonishing 60 million exhibits, including the world’s largest dinosaur skeleton, are presented in this 100-year-old museum of natural history.
Musikinstrumentenmuseum
Among the museum’s many historical musical instruments are a 1703 Stradivarius violin, the 1810 piano of composer Carl Maria von Weber, and a 1929 New York Wurlitzer cinema organ, which comes alive in a concert given at noon the first Saturday of every month. Tours are conducted every Saturday at 11am.
Neue Nationalgalerie
The gallery houses permanent collections of 19th- and 20th-century painting and sculpture, and is the venue for excellent temporary exhibitions of contemporary art. Look for paintings by Van Gogh, Monet, Corot, Pissarro, Manet, Renoir, Cézanne, Dégas, Rousseau, Beckmann, Klee, Munch, Grosz, Gauguin, Magritte, Picasso; and Dali. American artists in the permanent collection include Mark Rothko. Sculpture includes works by Rodin.
Museumsinsel and Berlin Mitte
The main cluster of museums in eastern Berlin stands on an island in the River Spree.
Altes Museum
The first of the museums on Museumsinsel. Notice in front the polished granite bowl which was originally intended to sit atop the edifice. The fine, Neo-Classical building houses on the ground floor an astonishing collection of Greek and Roman antiquities, including a vibrant mosaic from the villa of the Roman Emperor Hadrian. The first floor is home to major works of art from the 19th century.
Alte Nationalgalerie
Although its collection was depleted both by Hitler’s assault on Entartete Kunst (degenerate art) and the ravages of war, the museum, which has undergone extensive renovations, has some interesting German works of the 19th and 20th centuries: Blechen, Waldmüller, Slevogt, Liebermann (The Flax Workers and portraits of Wilhelm von Bode and Richard Strauss). Von Menzel’s Eisenwalzwerk (The Iron Foundry, 1875) is a striking portrayal of industrial labor, and Oskar Kokoschka’s painting, Pariser Platz (1926), recalls the bustle around the Brandenburg Gate during the twenties. The Brücke school of Expressionists has works by Nolde, Heckel, Schmidt-Rottluff, and Kirchner. Later Expressionists include Otto Dix, Grosz, and Corinth.
Bodemuseum
The museum is closed for renovation until 2004. When it re-opens, it will carry displays of Early Christian, Byzantine, and European art, together with ancient coins and medals.
Deutsche Guggenheim
The Berlin branch of the famous American institution presents a regularly-changing program of high-quality art exhibitions.
Deutsches Historiches Museum
German art and social history are detailed in this fine collection, which will be housed in the Kronprinzenpalais until late 2001, when it returns to its original home in the magnificent Zeughaus.
Pergamonmuseum
The home of many impressive works of classical antiquity, the Near East, Islam, and the Orient, the museum is named after its most prized possession: the gigantic Pergamon Altar (2nd century b.c.). This masterpiece of Hellenistic art comes from what is now Bergama, near the west coast of Turkey. The massive colonnaded altar, which is dedicated to Zeus and Athena, has been constructed to fill one hall of the museum.
The Babylonian Processional Street (604–562 b.c.), built by King Nebuchadnezzar II, is equally impressive. Lions sculpted in relief stride along the street’s blue-and- ochre tiled walls towards the Ishtar Gate. The gate itself is decorated with bulls and dragons, also in blue-and-ochre tile.
A third great treasure is the Roman Market gate of Miletus, from Greek Asia Minor (a.d. 165). Its name belies the true character of this elaborately pedimented monument, which constitutes both gateway and shopping complex.
The Islamic Museum in the Pergamon’s south wing exhibits the grand façade of the 8th-century Palace of Mshatta (from what is now modern Jordan). It is embellished with intricately incised or perforated animal and plant motifs. In fact, a German art historian rescued this tour de force of early Islamic decoration at the turn of the century by persuading the Sultan of Turkey not to use it as building material for a railway link to Mecca. He made quite a save! Among the other precious exhibits you will find some exquisite Indian Mogul miniatures.
Nikolaiviertel
This neighborhood has been reconstructed and preserved as an extension of the Märkisches Museum, and presents a composite picture of life in the city from the Middle Ages to the 19th century.
Märkisches Museum
Situated near Inselbrücke on the south bank of the River Spree, the museum has a curious collection of Berliniana: the first sewing machines, bicycles, telephones, an 1881 telephone book with 41 names, a 19th-century worker’s kitchen, and a model of the infamous tenements that nurtured unrest prior to the 1848 revolution.
Nikolaikirche
Berlin’s oldest church contains an interesting collection which chronicles the history of the Berlin and Cölln townships from the 13th through 17th centuries, including Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque church sculpture.
Potsdam
If you have time to spare, a visit to the elegant old Baroque town of Potsdam is an absolute must. Stroll around the summer palaces of Frederick the Great and other Prussian monarchs, or wander among the attractively restored 18th-century architecture in the center of town.
Potsdam is situated about 30 km (19 miles) southwest of Berlin. The most direct route is by S-Bahn (Line S7) from Bahnhof Zoo to Potsdam Stadt; alternatively, you can get off at Wannsee and take the bus or boat.
Park Sanssouci
Potsdam’s main attractions are the summer palaces and gardens at Sanssouci, built in the 18th and 19th centuries. The grounds are filled with charming palaces, pavilions, fountains, and temples.
Schloß Sanssouci was commissioned by Frederick the Great and designed by Knobelsdorff in 1744 from the king’s own sketches. For the most stunning approach, follow the Allee nach Sanssouci from Luisenplatz leading up to the palace. Make your way to the other side of the palace where you will find a large courtyard surrounded by semicircular colonnades. The rooms inside the palace can be visited only by guided tour (in German), and are very popular.
The tour includes Frederick’s splendid Konzertsaal (Concert Chamber) where walls and ceiling are overlaid with a delicate gilt filigree. At the center of the palace, the Marmorsaal (Marble Hall) contains exquisite columns made from Carrara marble and stucco figures perched high up on the cornice. Among the guest rooms to be visited, the yellow Voltaire room boasts bizarre rococo decorations including wooden parrots hanging from perches.
The royal Bildergalerie (Picture Gallery) was designed to house Frederick the Great’s extensive collection of paintings by masters such as Caravaggio, and Rubens.
A path through the woods southwest of the palace leads to the Chinesisches Teehaus. On top sits a gilded mandarin under a sunshade, while more statues surround the base. Inside, you’ll find a fine collection of Chinese porcelain.
A stroll west along Hauptweg brings you to a vast structure built from red brick and white sandstone, which is covered in rococo statuary. The Neues Palais (New Palace) is the largest of all the buildings in Park Sanssouci. The apartments can only be visited by guided tour (in German) which lasts about an hour.
Other highlights to be seen include the Römische Bäder (Roman Baths) by Schinkel, and Schloß Charlottenhof. To the north is the vast Italian Renaissance-style Orangerie, while the Drachenhaus (Dragon House), northwest of the park, serves refreshments.
Beside the lake, north of the town center is Neuer Garten, a pleasant English-style garden. It provides the perfect setting for Schloß Cecilienhof (1916), the ivy-covered, half-timbered pastiche of an English country manor built for Crown Prince Wilhelm and his wife. Winston Churchill, Joseph Stalin, and Harry Truman met here in July 1945 to draw up the Potsdam Agreement that fixed the division of Germany for the next 45 years. Today it’s a luxury hotel and restaurant.
Babelsberg
The small suburb of Babelsberg, to the east of Potsdam, was home to the film industry which rivaled Hollywood in the 1920s. Classics such as Fritz Lang’s Metropolis were made here. Now run as a studio and adventure park, Filmpark Babelsberg organizes guided tours. You will also find vintage cars and stunt shows here.
On the outskirts of Babelsberg, Albert-Einsteinstraße climbs Telegrafenberg to the bizarre Einsteinturm, built in 1921 as an astrophysics observatory. Albert Einstein was present here at a memorable technical demonstration of his Theory of Relativity. For want of a fitting statue to the great man, observatory staff have placed in the entrance hall, as a splendidly atrocious visual pun, a simple small stone — Ein Stein.
