Berlin
BERLIN INTRODUCTION
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In 1415, Berlin became the capital of the Margraviate of Brandenburg, and today it is the capital of Germany.
As you’re no doubt aware, the 20th century has been the most significant century in...
THE WONDERS OF LOCAL CUISINE
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The specialty Germany is best known for is Wurst, a sausage made with ground pork, as well as liver and chicken, flavored and prepared in an endless variety of ways. The best-known is Bratwurst, made...
REICHSTAG
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Following centuries during which it was divided into a number of small states, German Unification officially occurred in 1871, and Berlin became the capital. The decision was thus taken to build the...
MUSEUM ISLAND
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The oldest museum on the island is the Altes Museum, or “old museum”, completed in 1830 by the architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel and located in the Lustgarten, a park beside the...
BRANDENBURG GATE
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It was commissioned in 1791 by Frederick William II of Prussia, who entrusted the task to the German architect Carl Gotthard Langhans, and it was to represent a symbol of peace and unity among...
HOLOCAUST MAHNMAL
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Also known as the Holocaust Mahnmal, or Holocaust Monument, it occupies a whole block. The location is significant, since it was once occupied by buildings belonging to Joseph Goebbels, one of the...
FÜHRERBUNKER
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Unfortunately, nothing remains of the bunker today, and the only element that marks its presence is an exhibition panel in a parking area along the Cora-Berliner Strasse, illustrating the...
ALEXANDERPLATZ
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The history of this large open space dates back to the Middle Ages, when it was a cattle market, which gave the square its original name, Ochsenmarkt, meaning “oxen market”.
It was...
FERNSEHTURM TELEVISION TOWER
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Visitors to Paris know that wherever you are in the city, if you look up towards the sky, you’ll see the Eiffel Tower. In Berlin, it’s the Fernsehturm that’s visible from every...
POTSDAMER PLATZ
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This lively area, with its skyscrapers and shopping malls, features some particularly striking architecture, with buildings that seem to have been constructed with each other’s functions in...
GEMÄLDEGALERIE
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It currently holds over 1500 paintings, spanning some five centuries of art history. The art gallery is located in the Kulturforum, a large complex that also comprises buildings such as the Museum of...
JEWISH MUSEUM
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It is one of the most popular museums in Berlin, drawing in some 700,000 visitors a year.
The visitor route comprises two buildings, skillfully linked with one another. The entrance is located on...
CHECKPOINT CHARLIE
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The checkpoint was built in 1961, remained operative until the fall of the Berlin Wall, and was the main crossing point between East and West Berlin for soldiers, diplomats, foreigners or ordinary...
GENDARMENMARKT
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It was designed by Johann Arnold Nering at the end of the 17th century, and was rebuilt by Georg Christian Unger in 1773. The name derives from the cuirassier regiment Gens d'Armes, which had stables...
EAST SIDE GALLERY
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This enormous 1316-meter-long gallery, covering over 2000 square meters, is the work of 118 artists from 21 countries. The murals were painted between 1990 and 1991, on a stretch of the Wall running...
TIERGARTEN
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Sandwiched between two waterways – the Spree to the north and the Landwehrkanal to the south - this area is today one of the largest urban parks in Germany, spread over 250 hectares and with...
CHURCH OF SAINT NICHOLAS
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The Catholic church was built between 1220 and 1230, but in 1539, following the Reformation, it became a Lutheran church. This building hosted the first Lutheran religious service in the entire...
GERMAN HISTORICAL MUSEUM
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The Museum is located in what was once the city’s armory, one of the most important Baroque buildings in northern Germany. The first stone was laid by Frederick III of Brandenburg on May 29,...
HAMBURGER BANHOF
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The building facing you, now a museum, began life as a railway station. Built in the mid-19th century on a design by the architects Friedrich Neuhaus and Ferdinand Wilhelm Holz, it performed its...
HACKESCHE HÖFE
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One of the most fashionable areas in Berlin today, it was for many years a poor neighborhood. Located outside the city walls for centuries, it was renamed the “barn quarter” at the end of...
NEUE SYNAGOGE
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What you see today is an exact reconstruction of the original synagogue, which was destroyed by British bombs in 1943. The building was designed by the architect Eduard Knoblauch in the Moorish...
BERLIN ZOO
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This zoo, located in the south-west part of the Tiergarten, is one of the finest in the world in terms of the number of species found there: 1400, with a total of 14,000 animals. This is why it...
BERLIN WALL MEMORIAL
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This huge outdoor museum covers the period of nearly thirty years, from 1961 to 1989, during which the Wall split the city in two. The museum comprises all aspects of life in Berlin at the time of...
SCHLOSS CHARLOTTENBURG
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The Palace, with its splendid gardens, is the main attraction of the Charlottenburg neighborhood, on the south-western side of central Berlin.
During a bombing raid on November 23, 1943, it suffered...
BERGGRUEN MUSEUM
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It was created in 1996, when the art collector and dealer Heinz Berggruen left his collection to the city of Berlin. When he died in 2007, his heirs pledged to maintain and enrich the splendid...
VOLKSPARK FRIEDRICHSHAIN
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This huge area was created between 1840 and 1848, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Frederick the Great’s ascension to the Prussian throne. The original design was by the landscape...
BOTANICAL GARDEN
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With a surface area of over 40 hectares, containing 22,000 different species, this huge botanical garden offers the chance to discover plants from all the continents, from the Alps to the Caucasus...
TOPOGRAPHY OF TERROR
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The exhibition was so successful that it became permanent. Over the following years, excavations continued in the underground area, and 2010 saw the construction of a huge 800-cubic-meter exhibition...
