The literal translation of Mitte is “middle” but “heart” is so much more appropriate. In the first half of the 20th century it was almost self-contained when all that mattered in German history, art, government, diplomacy and fun took place within its confines. It had a less certain role in East German times. When it was in East Berlin it was missed more than any ordinary city centre would have been and no amount of building and renewal in the West could replace it. After reunification, developers moved in with a vengeance, and it was soon difficult to distinguish new buildings here from their counterparts in the West. The public sector was, however, not too far behind. Once again, visitors come to see the Pergamon Museum and its neighbours on Museumsinsel, the elegant town houses of the Nikolaiviertel, and above all to enjoy passing through the Brandenburg Gate, which had not been possible for 30 years. They can enjoy concerts at all the reconsecrated cathedrals too. Along Unter den Linden is the Adlon Hotel and the Russian Embassy; further east are the Humboldt-Universität, Bebelplatz and the Deutsche Historische Museum. SightsBrandenburger Tor (Brandenburg Gate) Pariser Platz. S-Bahn Unter den Linden. Built in 1791 at the western end of Pariser Platz, the happiest and saddest days of Berlin’s history have all been played out here. Conquerors from abroad such as Napoleon had to seize the quadriga from the top of the gate in order to humiliate the local population, which he did in 1806. (After his defeat, the Prussian army brought it back from Paris in 1814.) Conquerors from within such as Hitler organized their first march-pasts here to show the future irrelevance of all democratic institutions. On 30 January 1933, the Nazis organized a three-hour long torchlight parade through the gate. Their regime surrendered to the Russians around it in May 1945. On 17 June 1953 East German workers paraded through it to protest at the lower wages the government was trying to impose on builders. To stem the flow of refugees westward, the East German Government had in 1961 to build the Wall in front of the gate which isolated it for 28 years. Since 9 November 1989, the day the border was reopened, television stations use every possible occasion to show film of young people from both sides of the border climbing onto the Wall in front of the gate to drink champagne. The gate was restored between 2000 and 2002. Among other repairs, the bullet holes left from 1945 were filled in. The gate was unveiled again on 3 October 2002, the 12th anniversary of German reunification, in front of former US President Clinton who proclaimed it to be “now a symbol of unity, not of division”. Pariser Platz S-Bahn Unter den Linden. No building will be taller than the Brandenburg Gate and none will have excessive glass when all structures here are completed in 2005. The square was a wilderness during the division as it was too close to the Wall for building to be allowed. The American Embassy will return to the south side now that the State Department and German town planners have worked out a compromise between the needs of security and the needs of the environment. The Academy of Fine Arts will be beside it. The French Embassy reopened on the north side in early 2003, together with a residential block, named after its most famous pre-war resident, the artist Max Liebermann. He was President of the Academy of Fine Arts until sacked by the Nazis as a Jew in May 1933. He was lucky to die in 1935 of natural causes and was able to stay in his flat on the square until his death. Denkmal für die ermordeten Juden (Memorial to the murdered Jews) S-Bahn Unter den Linden. It may be 2005 before the Holocaust Memorial is completed. The site and design were agreed in 1999, but work is unlikely to start before late 2003 at the earliest. It is about 200 yards from the Brandenburg Gate, towards Potsdamer Platz, on land just to the east of the former border. The location had to be central, but not too close to any site associated with the Nazis. This was the compromise. It is a bleak empty space at present, but in due course it will be covered by a “forest of stelae” representing grave stones which all those murdered were denied. Adlon Hotel Pariser Platz. S-Bahn Unter den Linden. From the outside, the Adlon Hotel has never looked more than a solidly built office and the architects Carl Gause and Robert Leipniz are now hardly remembered. But, from 1907 when it opened, nobody would forget any aspect of the interior, whether it was the bronze beds, Carrara marble staircase or the “Sauce diable” hurriedly invented here for Edward VII. Through two world wars it managed to ignore rationing, bombing and political correctness. In September 1939, it “imprisoned” British and French diplomats until the Swiss could transport them out of Germany. Staff ensured the wine cellar was emptied a few hours before the Russians seized it in 1945. Unter den Linden and Britische Botschaft (British Embassy) Wilhelmstr. S-Bahn Unter den Linden. Unter den Linden (Amongst the Lime Trees) is one of very few streets in Berlin to have kept its name over the centuries. Hitler cut down the trees to accommodate his parades but otherwise they have always stayed too. It runs eastwards from the Brandenburg Gate and Pariser Platz. The trees in the centre now make a congenial pedestrian precinct between the two wide traffic lanes on either side. The first street to the south is the Wilhelmstrasse and the first building on the right is the British Embassy designed by British architect Michael Wilford (of Lowry fame). In East German times, the embassy was in Unter den Linden but on reunification it reclaimed its former site. It breaks from traditional embassy design in every way possible. With its varied uses of colours and glass, it invites and does not overawe. It has a cafeteria, computer room, light boxes and sandstone sculptures. Only two items are linked with the past – the wrought iron gates from the pre-war embassy which are displayed on the staircase and the oak-tree in the courtyard which is 50 years old. Russische Botschaft (Russian Embassy) Unter den Linden. S-Bahn Unter den Linden. Walking east along Unter den Linden, after crossing Wilhelmstrasse, this is the first building on the south side. Built by the Soviets immediately after the Second World War, they were not bothered by planning regulations and centuries of practice along Unter den Linden. As a result, they did not have a straight front façade nor did they limit the building to the usual six stories. The building is better than most examples of socialist realism but now seems totally incongruous in a Berlin eager to forget its links with the former USSR. Friedrichstrasse Station Friedrichstr. S-Bahn and U-Bahn Friedrichstr. Friedrichstrasse station (1934-38) is one of the few buildings left in Berlin with an exterior dating from the Nazi period. The interior was completely changed in 1961 when it became one of the few border crossings to West Berlin. To the north of the station, the building on the western side of Friedrichstrasse was for crying and that on the eastern side for laughing. The Palace of Tears (Tränenpalast), as it came to be known, was the building used for the stringent passport controls carried out before passengers could catch the trains for West Berlin. It is now a concert hall but it has taken on this name officially. On the other side of the road, the Distel (thistle) is a political cabaret venue. It functioned with considerable freedom in East German times and the political temperature of the time could usually be judged by how critical the acts were of the government. Gendarmenmarkt U-Bahn Stadtmitte. If there is still a tendency to judge Germany by the worst periods of its history, a stop in this square will show the country at its most liberal. It became the centre of a French community around 1700 when Prussia gave refuge to 6,000 persecuted Huguenots. The Französischer Dom (French Cathedral), on the north side of the square, dates from this time, as does the Deutscher Dom built to similar proportions on the south side. Both have been extended and rebuilt on several occasions since then, but the symmetry has always been maintained. The French one is still used for worship, but the German one houses an exhibition which used to be in the Reichstag before unification. Despite its austere title – “Questions on German History” – it is in fact a wide-ranging collection of documents and pictures dating from 1800 until the present. The Konzerthaus (Concert hall) in the centre is still often referred to by its earlier name Schauspielhaus (Playhouse). The original was built in 1800 but was destroyed by fire in 1817. Its replacement was one of the earliest buildings by Karl Friedrich Schinkel (1781-1841), who would then be responsible for so many more in this part of Berlin. He took on the task of making his replacement fire-proof. This it was, although it could not of course withstand bomb damage 130 years later. In front of the concert hall is a statue of one of Germany’s most famous writers, Friedrich Schiller (1759-1805). The Nazis removed it in 1936 to a store in what would become West Berlin and it was only returned to the east in 1986 when very limited co-operation took place between both regimes as they planned their separate celebrations of Berlin’s 750th birthday for 1987. The square is often used for open-air concerts in the summer. Bebelplatz U-Bahn Französische Str. Bebelplatz is one of the few name changes implemented in East German times which has stuck, probably because August Bebel was a 19th-century social democrat respected throughout Germany. Before the war it was Opernplatz (Opera Square) and that name will always be associated with the Burning of the Books that took place here on 10 May 1933. Nazi soldiers raided the nearby library of Magnus Hirschfeld which held about 20,000 books. Being Jewish, a social democrat and homosexual, he was an instant Nazi target. The entire library was publicly and enthusiastically destroyed in the presence of Joseph Goebbels, Hitler’s propaganda minister. German artistic creativity died that night. A large sheet of glass in place of a paving stone commemorates this; beneath it are rows of empty bookshelves. Beside it is a quotation from poet Heinrich Heine, who seemed to predict Nazism over 100 years before it came to power: “Where books are burnt, humans will also suffer the same fate.” In a much happier vein, the square and its surroundings commemorate the co-operation between Frederick the Great and his architect Georg von Knobelsdorff giving rise to the name Forum Fridericianum being used to describe the area. On the western side of the square is the Alte Bibliothek which was the Royal Library. Berliners, who like to find nicknames for all their famous buildings, call this one the “Chest of Drawers” and it is not hard to see why. It is now part of the University. The Staatsoper (National Opera House) on the eastern side was the largest in Europe when built and the front entrance was reserved for the King. He in fact planned it with Knobelsdorff before he even ascended the throne. It originally had 2,000 seats but only royal guests were invited. The public had to wait until after Frederick the Great’s death to be admitted. The building was one of the first to be bombed during the war, in 1941, and because of Hitler’s interest in Frederick, he had it immediately rebuilt. This was to no avail, as it was destroyed again in 1944 but it would be faithfully restored in the early 1950s. Bundesministerium für Verkehr, Bau-und Wohnungswesen (The Ministry of Transport, Building and Housing) Bebelplatz, T 20 08 30 60. Daily 0900-1700. Free. U-Bahn Hausvogteiplatz. This is a building hardly visited by foreigners. It has a large model of Berlin before the war and temporary exhibitions about future building plans for the city. Half an hour here will give a far better impression of what Berlin was and what it will be than days spent reading books. Berlin was at its architectural best in the 1920s and it will be another 10 years or so before we can judge whether the completed modern city is a worthy successor of what is seen here. St-Hedwigs-Kathedrale (St Hedwig’s Cathedral) Mon-Sat 1000-1700, Sun 1300-1700. U-Bahn Hausvogteiplatz. Also on the south side of Bebelplatz is the cathedral which was built between 1747 and 1778. While Frederick the Great was willing to grant Roman Catholics a church in the town centre, he was not prepared to pay for it, so it got built as their community could afford to do so. Knobelsdorff modelled it on the Pantheon in Rome. It was rebuilt in 1952, a remarkably early date for the East German Government to restore a religious building. This was probably out of respect for its last priest, Bernhard Lichtenberg, who courageously fought the Nazis and was to die soon after his arrest en route to Dachau Concentration Camp. Friedrichswerdersche Kirche (Schinkel Museum) Werderscher Markt. Tue-Sun 1000-1800. E3. U-Bahn Hausvogteiplatz. This is no longer a church but is now the Schinkel Museum with many of the architect’s original drawings. Being a totally gothic, brick structure, it is hard to believe it is the work of Schinkel until one realizes he built it after a visit to England. A collection of 19th- century sculpture is also housed here and several of the artists, notably Johann Gottfried Schadow, were friends of Schinkel. Frederick the Great on horseback Unter den Linden/Bebelplatz. U-Bahn Französische Str. It took a team of sculptors 10 years in the mid-19th century to produce a design the royal family would accept and then to cast it in bronze. For many years after the war, the statue was banished to Potsdam, but as the East German Government became more reconciled to Prussian history the statue was returned here in 1980. Humboldt-Universität Unter den Linden 6. U-Bahn Französische Str. The university was originally built as a palace for Prince Heinrich, the brother of Frederick the Great, but was never used as a royal residence. It was opened as the university in 1810. On the left-hand side of the entrance is the statue of its founder, Wilhelm von Humboldt. The plinth illustrates his interests as an archaeologist, linguist and philosopher. The statute on the right is of his perhaps more famous brother Alexander who was a botanist and explorer. Again his work is brought to life on the plinth. Both marble statues date from 1880. During the week, visitors sometimes join students in their cafeteria as there is little other provision for refreshment nearby. At weekends second-hand booksellers set up stands on the pavement by the main entrance to dispose of the works of former academics here who became discredited after 1989. Museum für Kommunikation (Communication Museum) Leipzigerstr., http://www.museumsstiftung.de Tue-Fri 0900-1700, Sat-Sun 1100-1900. U-Bahn Stadtmitte. This building was founded in 1872 as the first post museum. It adapted in the 1990s to the increasing irrelevance of post and the greater importance of electronic transmission, but was one of the last to integrate with its former opposite number in West Berlin, this being only done in 2000. Older visitors will be reminded of childhood with the display of radiograms, built-in television sets and telex machines. Its stamp collection inevitably reflects the complicated political history Berlin has endured but also includes examples of the very rare Blue Mauritius. This is housed in the basement Schatzkammer (Treasury). Mobile robots will entertain some children, but may frighten others. Neue Wache (New Guardhouse) and Zeughaus (Arsenal) Unter den Linden. U-Bahn Französische Str. These two buildings have been remarkably well preserved. The New Guardhouse has for nearly 200 years guarded the dead rather than the living. It was Schinkel’s first public building in Berlin. It is worth going inside to see the bronze statue (Mother with her dead son) by Käthe Kollwitz who lost her son in the First World War and her grandson in the Second World War. She just missed enjoying the peace for which she had struggled all her life as she died on 22 April 1945. The surrounding interior just pre-dates the Nazi era, having been completed in 1931. The tombs and the flame are from after the Second World War; one tomb is for the unknown soldier and the other for the unknown concentration camp victim. The Arsenal is due to reopen as the Deutsche Historische Museum (German History Museum) in May 2003. It is hard to believe that for 200 years from its opening in 1695 such an ornate baroque building could be used just for storing arms. Because of this role it was stormed during the 1848 uprisings. It was then briefly a museum before becoming a ceremonial hall towards the end of the 19th century. In East German times it became the German History Museum and with very changed contents it will soon return to this role. Chinese-born architect I.M. Pei was commissioned to build a new glass roof, based on his pyramid designs for the Louvre in Paris. Schlossplatz (Palace Square) U-Bahn Hausvogteiplatz. This name reflects a hope and a government promise rather than a view offered to a current visitor. Perhaps it would have been better if it had kept its East German name Marx-Engels Platz a little longer. Crossing the River Spree eastwards from Unter den Linden on Schinkel’s Schlossbrücke (Palace Bridge), a view emerges of desolation to the right and of vigorous renewal to the left. The desolation results from the destruction of the former Stadtschloss (Royal Palace), not so much by bombs from the Second World War, as by a deliberate policy of the East German Government in autumn 1950. At that time Prussian regal history had to be removed from central Berlin so that Moscow-style march-pasts could be arranged in the town centre. The palace had a history of 400 years and was on the scale of those in Potsdam and Charlottenburg with each ruler adding to it. Neither the post-First World War Weimar Republic nor the Nazis had used it for government and in fact it became a mixture of galleries and offices. It was used in this way from 1945, so the destruction in 1950 had no rational basis, and this was privately admitted towards the end of the East German era. In 2002, despite acute financial problems, the German Government announced it would rebuild the palace, although no use was specified for the interior. A different sort of palace was built in its place, one doomed to a much shorter life, however. The Palast der Republik built between 1973 and 1976 is due for complete destruction in early 2003, given the danger posed by the asbestos used in its construction. It was given many nicknames, including “Ballast of the Republic” because of its cost and “Eric’s Lamp Shop” to ridicule both the number of lights used in it and Erich Honecker, the East German leader at the time. Officially it was “a congress centre, a home for socialist culture, an environment of fun and relaxation for working people and their overseas guests”. Many former East Germans now miss it. The catering was good, the shows varied and there were no queues. If many East Germans were cynical about the politics of the place, they were happy it included a bowling alley. Some may have enjoyed the fact that a striptease club had a short lease there in 1990 just as the East German parliament was winding up. Berliner Dom (Berlin Cathedral) Karl Liebknecht Str. Mon-Sat 0900-2000, Sun 1200-2000. S-Bahn Hackescher Markt. Normally the main cathedral is a high point of any visit to a capital. In Berlin, however, it is impossible to find any admirers for this building. Perhaps, as with the Palace of Culture in Warsaw, it is best to climb to the top, so that the building itself can be ignored. What had originally been a modest construction was torn down and replaced by Kaiser Wilhelm II at the turn of the last century. It flaunts the arrogance of the time in its use of gold and marble. Apart from the copper dome, good taste gives way to crude opulence. Ironically the brief to the architect was to rival St Peter's in Rome and St Paul's in London. It is thought that when the Royal Palace was blown up, Walter Ulbricht, the East German leader in 1950, wanted to do the same to the cathedral. He is reported to have said that while he could fight art historians, he could not take on the church. It was therefore neglected rather than destroyed. From the 1970s the East German Government was quite happy to take money from West German Protestants to pay for the restoration. The Kaiser though was to have the last laugh. A memorial service was held here for his grandson in October 1994. Lustgarten (Pleasure Gardens) S-Bahn Hackescher Markt. These now live up to their name. Grass and flowers finally returned in 1998 to reflect the gentler, modern Germany. Military regimes cleared this area for army parades and, not surprisingly, Friedrich Wilhelm I (the soldier king) was the first one to do so in the early 18th century. The first potatoes in Germany were grown here as a delicacy for the royal family. The gardens would later enjoy another "flowering" in the mid-19th century when Peter Joseph Lenné laid out what little land Schinkel had left after the completion of the museums. The Nazis were of course quick to return it to military use and the East Germans ignored the area. Museumsinsel (Museum Island) http://www.smb.spk-berlin.de Tue-Sun 1000-1800, Thu till 2200. E6 but free the first Sun in the month. The Bode and Neues museums are closed for several years. S-Bahn Hackescher Markt. Museum Island (Bode Museum, Neues Museum, Altes Museum, Pergamon Museum, Alte Nationalgalerie) is currently being reshaped. It is appropriate that one museum and a road bear the name of Wilhelm Bode (1848-1929) who brilliantly combined the role of scholar, administrator and social networker, always for the benefit of his collections rather than for himself. On many occasions he would brief the Kaiser on what to admire when he visited friends. These objects would then always be "given" to the museums. Three words summed up Bode's power "Bode hat gesagt" (Bode has spoken) and a work of art would then be exhibited or condemned to oblivion. A century on, the extent and taste of these collections is still thanks to him. Altes Museum Bodestr., Museumsinsel. The Altes Museum overlooks the Lustgarten and given its design could house only a classical collection. Schinkel called it simply "my best piece of work". As it suffered less than many others during the war, and the Lustgarten has always provided a clear view for the entrance, it is certainly one of his most impressive. An 18-column façade and a Latin inscription 80 m long set the tone. The inscription dedicates the museum to the classics and to liberal arts and notes the year it was built, 1823, and the king on the throne at the time, Friedrich Wilhem III. The collection concentrates on ancient Greece, but goes back to the Etruscans as well. The theme is luxury rather than the day-to-day, with statues, jewellery and ornamental pottery. The life-size 4th-century BC bronze of a boy at prayer and the 1st-century BC silver table service are the major exhibits here. The museum also holds temporary exhibitions on architecture. Designs are always shown too of buildings that were never completed. Pergamon Museum Museumsinsel. The Pergamon Museum does not exhibit mere objects, but whole complexes and streets which surround and absorb the visitor. Its cramped entrance gives no hint of what is to follow: the Pergamon Altar and the Babylonian Street. Both needed some, but not much, reconstruction when they were brought to Germany. The evening lighting is particularly dramatic, the performances of son et lumière even more so. The altar dates from the 2nd century BC and was excavated in the 1870s over an eight-year period in Turkey. It is the largest monument from ancient Greece to have been removed from its original site. The Turks have of course on many occasions requested its return. Do not just look at it from a distance; the intricate friezes of battles between gods and giants demand equal attention. Their message is clear; gods are stable and immortal, whereas humans, however large, are very much the opposite. The blue-tiled processional Babylonian Street is even earlier, dating from the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II in the 6th century BC. Somehow, all the other exhibits in the Pergamon pale into insignificance beside these two, even the remains of the Mshatta City Wall, excavated near Amman. This was actually not looted but was a gift from the Turkish Emperor in 1903. Alte Nationalgalerie Bodestr., Museumsinsel. The Alte National Gallery, old to distinguish it from the Neue. (The new one in the Kulturforum near the Potsdamer Platz was founded in 1866, five years before the German nation actually existed.) The collection of 250 paintings was initially a private one. Brought together by the banker Joachim Wagener and by taking this name, art was hopefully going to precede politics. (Prussia imposed its authority on the whole of Germany and on Alsace-Lorraine in 1871 after its defeat of the French.) The museum was in fact conveniently completed in 1871 and the inscription above the entrance, Der deutschen Kunst (To German Art), actually gives this year. Most of Berlin's 19th-century art is now finally displayed together in a single building. One room is devoted to Schinkel's paintings, appropriate as his art has been so little known, and one to Caspar David Friedrich, probably the most famous German artist of this period. Schinkel draws and paints buildings that appeal to him and also shows his designs for future work transposed onto their surroundings. Friedrich, in contrast, shows natural landscapes, usually in bleak winter surroundings. If buildings intrude at all, they are largely abbey ruins. A wonderful enhancement to the collection is the room devoted to French Impressionists. Nikolaiviertel (St Nicholas Quarter) S-Bahn and U-Bahn Alexanderplatz. With each passing year, critics are slightly less harsh about this area. They, like the buildings, are beginning to mellow and now grant it some atmosphere. When first assembled in 1987, the Nikolaiviertel was simply a film set and a political statement; pseudo-historic was the only formal description it could be given. The East German Government was by then happy to look back on certain aspects of German history and, cynics would say, to cash in on Berlin's 750th anniversary that year. A brand new old town was therefore quickly created near to the sights that tourists always covered. This had been an area badly damaged during the war, damaged in fact with particular relish by the British Royal Air Force in early 1944. They wanted it to be seen as a "final lesson for the German people". It contained no military or industrial targets. If the quarter is hardly an area for walks, specific buildings and specific restaurants are definitely worth a visit. Some original buildings remain. The St Nicholas Kirche is the oldest in Berlin, with a few fragments dating from its foundation in the 14th century. In 1539 it adopted the Reformation. Inside is a small museum detailing Berlin's history until the early 17th century, the most interesting item being a model of the city in the 16th century. The church has three modern organs so is often used for concerts. The Knoblauchhaus at Poststrasse 23 commemorates a family that spent 170 years in the house from 1760 and whose members spanned every prestigious field of human activity. The most famous was the architect Eduard (1801-1865) who designed Berlin's largest synagogue on Oranienburgerstrasse. Some of the furniture displayed in the house belonged to him. The Ephraim- Palais at Poststrasse 16 is named after Frederick the Great's jeweller and treasurer Veital Heine Ephraim (1703-1775) who financed the Seven Years’ War for him, largely by debasing the coinage. So many rogue coins were produced that they became known as "Ephraimites". The building caused the Nazis great problems as Ephraim was Jewish but Frederick was a hero of Hitler's. The compromise reached was to tear down the building but to keep the façade. This baroque façade (divided into 2,500 units) ended up in West Berlin but was returned for the palace to be rebuilt by 1987. The building is now used for temporary exhibitions, usually with 19th-and 20th-century Berlin as the theme. (Listed at http://www.ephraim-palais.de but only in German.) Alexanderplatz U-Bahn and S-Bahn Alexanderplatz. 255 Always just “Alex” to the local population, this square has, in an architectural sense, now stood still for over 30 years; hence its interest as a legacy from its role as the centre of East Berlin. In the early 1970s the best that the town could offer was here – its newest hotel, its best-stocked department store and a bookstore with the greatest diversity of reading material that the censors would allow. The square had been widened greatly into the vast pedestrian precinct, which also still remains. The Television Tower nearby completed the image of a modern town centre able to look Warsaw and Minsk in the face. Just two office buildings beside the station, the work of Peter Behrens (1868- 1940), have sur
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