Berlin Attractions

Berlin Pictures

The focal piece of so many television and press images in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Brandenburg Gate dating back to 1789, has changed in its symbolism, becoming a new gate of unity rather than the division of the past. Beginning here, you can take a stroll past the Zoologischer Garten to the Siegessäule (Victory Column) to the west, or to the famous ‘Unter den Linden’ moving you towards the heart of the eastern part of Berlin, the Alexanderplatz.

Located by the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag was completed in 1894, and is now again home to the government of the reunited Germany. It was built as a neo-Renaissance palace, but was damaged by fire, battle and dynamite explosions during the twentieth century! Most recently the British architect Sir Norman Foster has given it a new lease of life ready for the 750,000 visitors expected each year.

The Gedächtniskirche is one of the few real attractions of west-Berlin, which is normally more renowned for its nightlife and as a bustling shopping center. This church serves as a poignant reminder of the destruction the Second World War left in its wake. It is to the east of the Brandenburg Gate that real tourists should engage themselves! Many of the buildings lining the avenues beyond ‘Unter den Linden’ date back to the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. These include the German Cathedral and French Cathedral located on Berlin’s beautiful Gendarmenmarkt - a square named after one of King Frederick Wilhelm I’s regiments.

Bear in mind that Berlin has such a vast array to offer by way of sights, museums and memorials, that you are unlikely to be able to see everything. This is particularly given that these are located all over the vast expanses of the city, so carefully plan the time you have.