Sights in Berlin
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DZ Bank
The Brandenburger Tor stands sentinel over the elegant Pariser Platz, which was completely flattened in WWII, then spent the Cold War trapped just east of the Berlin Wall. Look around now: embassies, banks and a luxury hotel have snapped up the city’s priciest real estate and hired top architects to rebuild in style and from the ground up. California-based deconstructivist Frank Gehry, for instance, masterminded the DZ Bank at No 3, which packs a visual punch past those heavy doors. You’ll only get as far as the foyer but that’s enough for a glimpse at the vast atrium with its bizarre free-form sculpture vaguely reminiscent of a fish but actually a conference room! Next…
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Viktoriapark
Take a break in this unruly, rambling park draped over the 66m-high Kreuzberg hill, Berlin's highest natural elevation. It's home to a vineyard, a waterfall and – at the top – a pompous 19th-century Karl Friedrich Schinkel memorial commemorating Napoleon's 1815 defeat. In summer, locals arrive to chill, tan or have a beer at the Golgatha beer garden.
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Schloss Friedrichsfelde
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, Tierpark, is definitely an attraction in its own right. Before becoming an animal park in 1955, the grounds were the Peter Lenné–designed park of the late-baroque Schloss Friedrichsfelde. Guided tours (in German) let you sneak peeks into the lives and lifestyles of its many aristocratic owners. Fans of fancy wall coverings, baroque glass, hand-painted porcelain, historic portraits, silverware and other decorative items will especially get their fill.…
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Strasse des 17 Juni
The broad boulevard bisecting Tiergarten was named Street of 17 June in honour of the victims of the bloodily quashed 1953 workers' uprising in East Berlin. With origins in the 16th century, it originally linked two royal palaces and was doubled in width and turned into a swastika-lined triumphal road under Hitler.
The section between the Brandenburger Tor and the Siegessäule (Victory Column, located 2km west of Brandenburg Gate) turns into a mega-party zone on New Year’s Eve and for such festivals as Christopher Street Day.
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Aquadom & Sealife Berlin
Pricey but entertaining, this high-tech aquarium follows the Spree River to the North Atlantic, introducing you to aquatic denizens living in the various habitats along the way. There are some 30 tanks, including a head-spinning 360-degree aquarium where a giant school of mackerel makes its merry rounds. Other crowd favourites include smile-inducing sea horses, otherworldly jellyfish and a big tank with manta rays and small sharks. Also memorable is the dazzling – and dizzying – mirror cabinet where you’ll feel like you’re quite literally swimming with the fishes. Visits conclude with a slow lift ride through the Aquadom, a 16m-tall cylindrical tropical fish tank. Catch a…
reviewed
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Fernsehturm
Germany's tallest structure, the 368m-high TV Tower is as iconic to Berlin as the Eiffel Tower is to Paris. Come early to beat the queue for the lift to the panorama level at 203m, where views are unbeatable on clear days. Pinpoint city landmarks from here or the upstairs cafe, which makes one revolution every 30 minutes. VIP ticket holders can jump the queue. Built in 1969, the tower was supposed to demonstrate the GDR's engineering prowess but ended up being a bit of a laughing stock when it turned out that, when hit by the sun, the steel sphere below the antenna produced the reflection of a giant cross. West Berliners gleefully dubbed the phenomenon ‘the Pope’s…
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Funkturm
The Funkturm (radio tower), next to the trade-fair grounds, is by far the most visible structure in western Charlottenburg. Its filigree outline, which bears an uncanny resemblance to Paris’ Eiffel Tower, soars 129m into the Berlin sky (146m with antenna) and has been transmitting signals since 1925. In 1935 the world's first regular TV programme was broadcast from this tower, which looks especially pretty when lit up at night.
From the viewing platform at 126m or the restaurant at 55m you can enjoy sweeping views of the Grunewald forest and the western city, as well as the AVUS, Germany’s first car-racing track, which opened in 1921; AVUS stands for Automobil-,…
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Georg Kolbe Museum
Georg Kolbe (1877-1947) was one of Germany’s most influential sculptors in the first half of the 20th century. A member of the Berlin Secession, he distanced himself from traditional sculpture and became a chief exponent of the idealised nude. After his wife’s death in 1927, Kolbe’s figures took on a more solemn and emotional air, whereas his later works focus on the athletic male, an approach that found favour with the Nazis.
The attractive museum, in Kolbe’s former studio, shows works from all phases of the artist’s life alongside temporary exhibits often drawn from his rich private collection of 20th-century sculpture and paintings. The sculpture garden is an…
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Bernauer Strasse
The Berlin Wall ran north–south along Schwedter Strasse through today’s Mauerpark, then continued west on Bernauer Strasse. Some of the best known escape attempts took place along here, including the leap across barbed wire of 19-year-old GDR border guard Conrad Schumann at the corner of Ruppiner Strasse and Bernauer Strasse. Peter Leibing’s photograph of the scene became an iconic symbol of the Cold War. Four multilingual panels commemorate Schumann’s escape and three others that took place along this fateful street. Not everyone was successful: on 22 August 1961 a despondent Ida Siekmann leapt to her death from a 3rd-floor window. For more about the Wall, it’s well…
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Nikolaikirche
The lofty late-Gothic Church of St Nicholas (1230) is Berlin’s oldest surviving building and now a museum documenting the architecture and history of the church. Grab the free audioguide for the scoop on the octagonal baptismal font and the late-Gothic triumphal cross or find out why the building is nicknamed ‘pantheon of prominent Berliners’. Getting buried here, by the way, cost a nobleman 80 thalers, an ‘old person’ 50 thalers.
Head up the gallery for close-ups of the organ, a sweeping view of the interior and a chance to listen to recorded church hymns.
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Matthäuskirche
Standing a bit lost and forlorn within the Kulturforum, the Stüler-designed Matthäuskirche (1846) is a beautiful neo-Romanesque confection with alternating bands of red and ochre brick and a light-flooded, modern sanctuary that doubles as a gallery. Climb the tower for good views of the Kulturforum and Potsdamer Platz. A nice time to visit is for the free 20-minute organs recitals at 12.30pm Tuesday to Sunday.
German resistance fighter Dietrich Bonhoeffer was ordained a Lutheran minister here in 1931. A few years later the church was scheduled to be transplanted to Spandau to make room for Albert Speer's Germania. Fortunately the war – and history – took a different…
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Sophie-Gips-Höfe & Sammlung Hoffmann
Blink and you’ll miss the plain doorway leading to this artsy trio of 19th-century courtyard complexes linking Sophienstrasse with quiet Gipsstrasse. Originally a sewing-machine factory, it now harbours stores, offices, flats, the popular Barcomi’s Deli and the Sammlung Hoffmann, a private contemporary art collection assembled by Erika and Rolf Hoffmann. In 1997 the couple opened up their two-storey apartment/gallery for guided 90-minute tours, a tradition Erika has continued since her husband’s death in 2001. Every July she rearranges the space, so you never know what you’re going to see, but most likely it’ll include works by Frank Stella, Michael Basquiat, AR Penck…
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Majakowskiring
In GDR days, at least until the 1960s, this oval ring road, southwest of Schloss Niederschönhausen, was home to a who’s who of the apparatchik elite. Walter Ulbricht (Wall builder and SED secretary from 1950 to 1971) lived at No 28 next to the first GDR president Wilhelm Pieck. Erich Honecker later moved into No 58. Their neighbours were state-approved scientists and creative folk. Nicknamed the Städtchen (little town), the enclave was completely sealed off from the public, lest anyone saw the lavish 1920s villas (seized from industrialists after WWII) and overall luxury in which their rulers wallowed while denying almost everyone else basic amenities such as a car or…
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Luftwaffenmuseum
About 9km south of Altstadt Spandau, the Luftwaffenmuseum (German Air Force Museum) occupies the grounds of the former military air field Berlin-Gatow. Built in 1934–35 as a Nazi air combat and technical training academy, it came under British control after the war and provided an important lifeline during the 1948 Berlin Airlift. Since the Union Jack was taken down in 1994, the Bundeswehr (German armed forces) has moved exhibits about the history of the Luftwaffe and the airport itself into the old hangars. An old control tower now houses uniforms and military ephemera, while the runways are littered with over 100 historical craft, including WWI biplanes, a Russian…
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Künstlerhaus Bethanien
Even after moving to bigger digs, this seminal Kreuzberg art space has kept its mission intact: to be an artistic sanctuary and creative cauldron for emerging artists from around the globe. With studio space for 25 of them, it's among Germany's largest residency programs. Exhibits showcase their work, as well as that of former residents and other artists.
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Sony Center
Designed by Helmut Jahn, the Sony Center is visually the most dramatic of the three Potsdamer Platz sections, fronted by a 26-floor, glass-and-steel tower that’s the highest building on Potsdamer Platz. It integrates remnants of the prewar Hotel Esplanade, including a section of facade (visible from Bellevuestrasse) and the opulent Kaisersaal hall, which had to be moved 75m to its current location using some wizardly technology. The heart of the Sony Center, though, is a central plaza dramatically canopied by a tentlike glass roof with supporting beams emanating like spokes of a bicycle. After dark it erupts in a light show of changing colours. The plaza and its many…
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Alter St Matthäus-Kirchhof
This pretty cemetery, created in 1856, was a favourite among Berlin’s 19th-century bourgeoisie and is filled with opulent gravestones and memorials. Celebrities buried here include the Brothers Grimm and physician Rudolf Virchow. A memorial tombstone honours Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg and fellow conspirators in the July 1944 plot against Hitler. Their bodies were initially buried here, but SS members had them exhumed, cremated and their ashes scattered. The cemetery office has a pamphlet with names and grave locations of these and other famous Berliners. It’s also available as a PDF: go to ‘Download’ on the website, then select the ‘englisch’ PDF for Alter St…
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Leipziger Platz
Just like Potsdamer Platz, this historical square has risen from the death strip. The octagonal Leipziger Platz was first laid out in 1734 and later became one of Berlin’s most beautiful squares courtesy of the urban planning ‘dream team’ of Schinkel and Lenné. The hulking building just east of here houses the Bundesrat (Federal Council), the body of the German legislative branch of government that represents the interests of the Länder, or federal states. Hidden behind the new buildings stands a rare remaining GDR watchtower – the GDR border watchtower Erna-Berger-Strasse. To see it, follow Erna-Berger-Strasse (off Stresemannstrasse) to the end.
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Sophienkirche
One of Berlin’s finest baroque churches, Sophienkirche was named for Sophie Louise, wife of King Friedrich I. The queen financed the project but was nowhere to be seen when it opened in 1713, though not by choice: her stepson and newly crowned king, Friedrich Wilhelm I, had banished her from Berlin! Today the galleried confection with its delicate stucco ceiling is rarely open and the tower is under long-term reconstruction. The entrance is at the end of a walkway off Grosse Hamburger Strasse, past a building still sporting WWII shrapnel wounds. The enchanting churchyard with its ancient trees and gracefully aging tombstones is also visible from Sophienstrasse.
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Wall Installation by Ben Wagin
The Berlin Wall ran right behind the Reichstag, which accounts for the Mitte area’s multiple memorials in honour of those who died trying to escape across it. Near the northeastern corner of the building, the Gedenkstätte Weisse Kreuze (White Crosses Memorial) consists of seven white crosses placed here in 1971 right where the Wall ran into the Spree. Across the river, in the basement of the Marie-Elisabeth-Lüders Haus, a Wall installation by Ben Wagin features original segments of the Wall, each painted with a year and the number of people killed at the Wall in that year. Enter from the Schiffbauerdamm riverwalk, and if doors are closed, sneak a peak through the big…
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Spectrum Science Center
The giant Deutsches Technikmuseum (German Museum of Technology) is a fantastic place to spend a rainy afternoon. Its 14 departments are loaded with interactive stations, demonstrations and exhibits that examine technology through the ages. In fact, it can all be pretty overwhelming after a while, so it’s best to prioritise what you want to see, especially if you’re here with attention-span-challenged kids. Little ones probably have the most fun in the adjacent Spectrum Science Center, where they can participate in about 250 entertaining experiments that playfully explain acoustics, optics, gravity, electricity, magnetism and other scientific concepts.
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Spreedreieck
So much has been accomplished since reunification, yet Berlin remains a work in progress. The biggest project of 2009, the Spreedreieck, is a 10-story office high-rise situated on the triangular plot of land next to Friedrichstrasse station. Designed by the late Mark Braun, its twin glass towers echo the blueprint of the Modernist building Ludwig Mies van der Rohe conceived for the site back in 1929. The new structure preserves the GDR-era Tränenpalast (Palace of Tears), so-named because the Friedrichstrasse station was where West Berliners had to say their teary farewells after visiting their relatives and friends stuck behind the Iron Curtain.
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Archenhold Sternwarte
Germany’s oldest astronomical observatory, in the southeastern corner of Treptower Park, is the place where, in 1915, Albert Einstein gave his first speech in Berlin about his theory of relativity. The observatory’s other major claim to fame is its 21m-long refracting telescope, the longest in the world, built in 1896 by astronomer Friedrich Simon Archenhold. Exhibits in the foyer are a bit ho-hum but still impart fascinating nuggets about the planetary system, astronomy in general and the history of the observatory. Kids love having their picture taken next to the big meteorite chunk.
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Prussian Pomp
After the fall of the Wall, the Palast closed instantly because of asbestos contamination. Years of debate resulted in the demolition of the behemoth and the plan to build an exact replica of the Prussian palace shell but with a modern interior. To be called Humboldt Forum, it will shelter art and artefacts from Africa, Asia, Oceania and the Americas currently on display in the far-flung suburb of Dahlem, as well as a library and a research facility. It’s slated to be completed in time for the 25th anniversary of reunification in 2015. For a preview of what’s to come, drop by the Berliner SchlossInfocenter.
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Akademie der Künste
The only building on Pariser Platz with a glass facade is the Academy of Arts at No 4, designed by Günter Behnisch. This is one of Berlin’s oldest cultural institutions, founded by King Friedrich I in 1696 as the Prussian Academy of Arts. Come here for readings, lectures, workshops and exhibits, many of them free.
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