Sights in Berlin
-
A
Reichstag
The quarter's historical anchor is the 1894 Reichstag, where the German parliament, the Bundestag, has been hammering out its policies since 1999. This followed a total makeover by Lord Norman Foster who preserved only the building's historical shell while adding the striking glass dome. It's well worth queuing for the lift ride to the top to take in the knock-out panorama and close-ups of the dome and the mirror-clad funnel at its centre. Queues are shortest early morning and at night. You can skip 'em altogether if you're disabled, happen to have a kid in a stroller, are on an organised tour or have reservations for the pricey restaurant on top. In these cases, proceed …
reviewed
-
B
Ddr Museum
Below the hotel, the DDR Museum teaches the rest of us about daily life behind the Iron Curtain. You'll learn that East German kids were put through collective potty training, engineers earned little more than farmers and everyone, it seems, went on nudist holidays. A must for Good Bye, Lenin! fans. The entrance is on the Spree bank, opposite the Berliner Dom.
reviewed
-
C
Kunsthaus Tacheles
The ‘Sistine Chapel of Graffiti’, the Tacheles may look scary-ass but it is actually a beloved-as-a-puppy-dog collective art and culture space born during the heady post-reunification days. Inside you’ll find a warren of studios, galleries, a cinema and a cafe-bar. In summer quaff a cold one among the surreal installations in the backyard beer garden. Alas, its future is uncertain and it may soon fall victim to development. Stay tuned.
reviewed
-
D
Brandenburg Gate
A symbol of division during the Cold War, this landmark now epitomises German reunification. The 1791 structure by Carl Gotthard Langhans is the only surviving one of 18 city gates and is crowned by the Quadriga sculpture, a horse-drawn chariot piloted by the winged goddess of victory.
reviewed
-
Olympic Stadium
Even though it was put through a total modernisation for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, it’s hard not to remember the Nazi legacy when visiting the Olympic Stadium. The bombastic bulk of the Colosseum-like structure undoubtedly remains, although it’s now softened by the addition of a spidery oval roof. These days, the more than 74,000 seats are often filled with fans cheering on the local Hertha BSC football (soccer) team, the Pope or Madonna. Call ahead to make sure the stadium is open for touring. Multilingual audioguides are available for an additional €2.50.
reviewed
-
E
Deutsches Historisches Museum
If you're wondering what the Germans have been up to for the past 2000 years, pop into the excellent Deutsches Historisches Museum. A startling highlight is the big globe that originally stood in the Nazi Foreign Office with bullet holes where Germany should be. In the courtyard, Andreas Schlüter's baroque mask sculptures of dying soldiers make a strong case against war. High-calibre temporary exhibits take up a strikingly geometrical annexe, called IM Pei Bau, named for the architect that designed it.
reviewed
-
F
Stasi Museum
The former head office of the Ministry of State Security is now the Stasi Museum, where you can marvel at cunningly low-tech surveillance devices (hidden in watering cans, rocks, even neckties), a prisoner transport van with teensy, lightless cells and the obsessively neat offices of Stasi chief Erich Mielke. Panelling is in German only and exhibits are not always self-explanatory, so you may want to invest a few euros in the English-language booklet.
reviewed
-
G
Neues Museum
After 10 years and €200 million, the reconstructed Neues Museum finally opened in October 2009. David Chipperfield harmoniously incorporated remnants of the war-damaged structure into the new building, which presents the Egyptian Museum (including the famous bust of Queen Nefertiti) and the Papyrus Collection.These are joined by the Museum of Pre- and Early History and works from the Collection of Classical Antiquities.
reviewed
-
Friedrichshagen & Grosser Müggelsee
Berlin ‘muggles’ love their Müggelsee, especially on hot summer days when scores of city slickers escape the urban cauldron by heading to the edge of town. At 4km long and 2.5km wide, it’s a large and lovely lake with plenty of sandy beaches and boats puttering along on placid waters. The easiest access is by taking the S-Bahn to Friedrichshagen, a village-like suburb first settled in 1753 by Bohemian cotton spinners who padded their income by growing mulberry trees to fatten up small armies of silkworms. From the station, head south on the main drag, Bölschestrasse, past a few of the original 18th-century cottages and some scraggly mulberry trees. On Sunday a fle…
reviewed
-
Gärten der Welt im Erholungspark Marzahn
Poetically named ‘Gardens of the World’, this sprawling recreational park offers just that: an exotic escape into global garden architecture. Europe is represented with an Italian Renaissance garden, a German country garden and an English maze, but it’s the five Asian gardens that steal the show. Cream of the crop is the Chinese Garden, the largest of its kind in Europe and a collaborative effort between Berlin and its sister city Beijing. It takes up 2.7 hilly hectares in the southern park and is anchored by a large lake. At an authentic teahouse you can relax over green tea or take part in a traditional tea ceremony (0179-394 5564; per person €6), reservations req…
reviewed
Advertisement
-
Schloss Glienicke
Glienicke Palace, at the far southwestern tip of Berlin, is the result of what happens when a rich royal kid goes to Italy and falls in love with the country. Prince Carl of Prussia (1801–83), son of Friedrich Wilhelm III, was only 21 when he returned to Berlin giddy with dreams of building his own Italian villa. He hired Schinkel to turn an existing estate – surrounded by a rambling, romantic garden designed by Peter Joseph Lenné – into an elegant, antique-looking compound. When Schinkel was through, he had indulged the prince’s love of antiquities by expanding the existing mansion, converting the former billiard house into the Casino, an Italian villa with a do…
reviewed
-
Gründerzeit Museum
Quite frankly, this museum in the far-flung suburb of Mahlsdorf would be just another dusty collection of period rooms had its founder not been the GDR’s most famous transvestite and gay icon. And what a life s/he led! Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, neé Lothar Berfelde, was born in 1928 and, much to the consternation of her Nazi father, was much more into dresses and dolls than trains and automobiles. Papa Berfelde’s efforts to whup his son into manhood ended abruptly when s/he bludgeoned him to death with his own revolver at the tender age of 15. After a short stint in prison, Charlotte turned into the ultimate pack rat, eventually assembling enough furnishings and bric-a-brac…
reviewed
-
Schloss Köpenick
On a little island just south of the Altstadt (via Alt-Köpenick), the baroque Köpenick Palace served not only as a royal residence but also as a prison and a teaching seminary before becoming a museum in 1963. Since 1990 it’s been home to a branch of the Kunstgewerbemuseum (Museum of Decorative Arts). Exhibits showcase a rich and eclectic collection of decorative furniture, tapestries, porcelain, silverware, glass and other items from the Renaissance, baroque and rococo periods. Highlights include four lavishly panelled rooms and the stunning Wappensaal (Coat of Arms Hall). It was in this very hall where, in 1730, a military court meted out questionable justice agains…
reviewed
-
Tierpark
Thanks to polar bear Knut, the Berlin Zoo in Charlottenburg may have been more in the spotlight recently, but with gorgeous landscaping and around 8000 critters in often generously sized enclosures, its eastern cousin is definitely an attraction in its own right. Perennial crowd-pleasers include the tigers and lions in the Alfred-Brehm-Haus; the elephants (including adorable little ones born at the zoo) and rhinos that reside in the Dickhäuterhaus; and the Schlangenfarm, which has more slithering, poisonous snakes than even Harry Potter could handle. The zoo is particularly proud of its oryx antelopes and Vietnamese sika stags, which are extinct in the wild. Before becom…
reviewed
-
Zitadelle Spandau
The 16th-century Spandau Citadel, on a little island in the Havel River, is one of the most important and best-preserved Renaissance fortresses in the world. With its moat, drawbridge and arrowhead-shaped bastions, it is also a veritable textbook in military architecture. Imagine yourself a guard keeping an eye out for enemies as you climb up the crenellated tower called Juliusturm. From 1874 to 1919, somewhere deep in the tower’s bowels, Prussia’s rulers hid the war booty wrestled from France after the war of 1870–71. If you want to fill any gaps in your historical knowledge, drop by the Stadtgeschichtliches Museum Spandau (Spandau City History Museum) in the forme…
reviewed
-
Kleistpark & Around
This romantic little park is dominated by the richly ornamented sandstone Königskolonnaden (Royal Colonnades), designed in 1780 by Carl von Gontard (he of Gendarmenmarkt churches fame). They originally stood near the Rotes Rathaus in Mitte but were displaced by road construction in 1910. West of Kleistpark, the imposing 1913 Kammergericht (Elssholzstrasse 30-33) was the courthouse that staged the notorious show trials of the Nazi ‘people’s court’ against the participants – real and alleged – in the July 1944 assassination attempt on Hitler. Led by the fanatical judge Roland Freisler, hundreds of people were handed their death sentences; many were executed at Ge…
reviewed
-
H
Grossiedlung Siemensstadt
Architecturally speaking, Museumsinsel, Schloss Sanssouci and the Hufeisensiedlung in Neukölln could not be more different. Yet they all have one thing in common: they are Unesco World Heritage sites. Along with five other housing estates throughout Berlin, the Hufeisensiedlung became the most recent site to be inducted onto this illustrious list in July 2008. Created between 1910 and 1934 by such leading architects of the day as Bruno Taut and Martin Wagner, these icons of Modernism are the earliest examples of innovative, streamlined and functional – yet human-scale – mass housing. They reflect the spirit of the Weimar Republic, a period of unbridled experimentation and…
reviewed
-
I
Schillerpark Siedlung
Architecturally speaking, Museumsinsel, Schloss Sanssouci and the Hufeisensiedlung in Neukölln could not be more different. Yet they all have one thing in common: they are Unesco World Heritage sites. Along with five other housing estates throughout Berlin, the Hufeisensiedlung became the most recent site to be inducted onto this illustrious list in July 2008. Created between 1910 and 1934 by such leading architects of the day as Bruno Taut and Martin Wagner, these icons of Modernism are the earliest examples of innovative, streamlined and functional – yet human-scale – mass housing. They reflect the spirit of the Weimar Republic, a period of unbridled experimentation and…
reviewed
-
Teufelsberg
It may have a terrifying name, but at 115m high, the Teufelsberg (Devil’s Mountain), just south of the Olympic grounds, ain’t no Matterhorn. It is, however, the tallest of Berlin’s 20 ‘rubble mountains’, built by citizens, initially most of them women, during the clean-up of their bomb-ravaged city after WWII. It took 20 years to pile up 25 million cubic metres of debris. The curious domed structure up on top used to be a listening station operated by the Allies during the Cold War. The hill that was born from destruction is now a fun zone, especially in snowy winters when hordes of squealing kids toboggan or ski down its gentle slopes. At other times you can explore the …
reviewed
-
Ökowerk
t may have a terrifying name, but at 115m high, the Teufelsberg (Devil’s Mountain), just south of the Olympic grounds, ain’t no Matterhorn. It is, however, the tallest of Berlin’s 20 ‘rubble mountains’, built by citizens, initially most of them women, during the clean-up of their bomb-ravaged city after WWII. It took 20 years to pile up 25 million cubic metres of debris. The curious domed structure up on top used to be a listening station operated by the Allies during the Cold War. The hill that was born from destruction is now a fun zone, especially in snowy winters when hordes of squealing kids toboggan or ski down its gentle slopes. At other times you can explore the t…
reviewed
Advertisement
-
Köpenick Altstadt
Many of the cobblestone streets in Köpenick’s Altstadt still follow their original, medieval layout. To walk there from the Köpenick S-Bahn station, follow Borgmannstrasse two blocks south to Mandrellaplatz, site of the imposing Amtsgericht (municipal court). It houses a small memorial exhibit (admission free; 10am-6pm Thu) for the victims of a brutal Nazi crackdown against local communists between 21 and 26 June 1933. Around 90 people were killed, most of them in the court prison itself, during what went down in history as Köpenicker Blutwoche (Bloody Week). The entrance is via the courtyard at Puchanstrasse 12. The victims were raised to martyr status in the GDR’s day a…
reviewed
-
Britzer Garten
This super-pretty garden puts on a dazzling show from spring to autumn but especially so during ‘Tulipan’, when thousands of tulips in a rainbow of colours brighten early spring, and in summer when the Rose Garden is at its redolent best. But actually any time is a fine time to spend an afternoon amid the greenery, spring-fed lake and flower fields of this fantastic, rambling park that originated as the 1985 Federal Garden Show. It’s so big, there’s even a miniature train to carry around the foot-weary. There are plenty of places for kids to let off steam, including a water playground, a petting zoo and Makunaima, an entire village made of clay. The old windmill o…
reviewed
-
Freie Universität Berlin
The Free University was founded in 1948 in reaction to the growing restrictions on academic freedoms imposed on students and faculty at the Humboldt University, then in the Soviet sector. Lectures started in the spring of 1949 and were initially held in empty villas throughout Dahlem. In the 1960s the university played a leading role in the country’s student movement, which sparked major nationwide academic and political reforms. Today it is the largest of Berlin’s three public universities with nearly 40,000 students hitting the books in numerous buildings spread across Dahlem. The latest addition (2005) is the Philology Library, a masterpiece of modern architecture …
reviewed
-
J
Gedenkstätte Plötzensee
Nearly 3000 people were executed at Plötzensee prison during the Third Reich, about half of them German resistance fighters. The room where the beheadings and hangings took place is now a hauntingly simple memorial. Housed in a plain brick shed, only a steel bar with eight hooks pierces its emptiness. Next door, an exhibit documents the Nazis’ perverted justice system, which gleefully handed out death sentences like candy at a parade. The extent of their cruelty knew no bounds. The families of the condemned even had to pay for the cost of the execution, while executioners received a bonus for each bloody deed. They were particularly busy in 1944 when many of the conspirat…
reviewed
-
K
Sowjetisches Ehrenmal Treptow
At the heart of Treptower Park, the gargantuan Soviet War Memorial (1949) looms above the graves of 5000 Soviet soldiers killed in the Battle of Berlin, a bombastic but sobering testament to the immensity of the country’s wartime losses. For the full effect, approach from the north and walk past the statue of Mother Russia grieving for her dead children. Two mighty walls fronted by soldiers kneeling in sorrow flank the gateway; the red marble used here was supposedly scavenged from Hitler’s ruined chancellery. Beyond lies a massive sunken lawn lined by sarcophagi representing the then 16 Soviet republics, each decorated with war scenes and Stalin quotes. This all culminat…
reviewed
