Gendarmenmarkt

Top choice


This graceful square is bookended by the domed German and French cathedrals and punctuated by a grandly porticoed concert hall, the Konzerthaus. It was named for the Gens d’Armes, an 18th-century Prussian regiment consisting of French Huguenot refugees.

The area shows Berlin at its ritziest, dappled with luxury hotels, fancy restaurants and bars.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby attractions

1. Konzerthaus

0.03 MILES

One of Karl Friedrich Schinkel’s finest buildings, the Konzerthaus (1821) rose from the ashes of Carl Gotthard Langhans’ Schauspielhaus (National Theatre)…

2. Französischer Dom

0.06 MILES

The 1705 Französischer Dom was built by Huguenot refuges and consists of two buildings: the soaring domed tower and the attached Französische Kirche …

3. Deutscher Dom

0.07 MILES

The Deutscher Dom (German Cathedral) wasn’t much of a looker until being topped by Gontard’s dazzling galleried dome in 1785. Built as the Neue Kirche …

4. Mendelssohn Ausstellung

0.1 MILES

This exhibit traces the fate and history of the Mendelssohn family, one of Germany's most influential dynasties starting with the pater familias, Jewish…

5. Friedrichstadtpassagen

0.1 MILES

This trio of shopping complexes (called Quartiere), built during the post-reunification construction boom years, never really succeeded at triggering the…

6. St Hedwigs-Kathedrale Berlin

0.18 MILES

This copper-domed church (1773) was commissioned by Frederick the Great, designed by Knobelsdorff, modelled after the Pantheon in Rome and named for the…

7. Alte Bibliothek

0.19 MILES

Berlin's first library is a baroque beauty commissioned by Frederick the Great to shelter the royal book collection. Completed in 1780, its design mimics…

8. Bebelplatz

0.21 MILES

The heart of a cultural centre envisioned by King Frederick the Great, austere Bebelplatz is infamous as the site of the first full-blown public book…