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Home - City Guide - Berlin - Key Attractions | ||
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Key Attractions The New Centre After lying desolate for decades except for the platform that allowed Westerners to peer over the Wall into the East, Potsdamer Platz is again part of Berlin's thriving centre. Inside the Infobox, a large red container mounted on stilts, displays outline the developments taking place outside. Passing through a turnstile, visitors can then climb 23m (75ft) to the roof of the Infobox to view the city's new constructions. Leipziger Platz 21 Tel: (030) 2266 2420. Fax: (030) 2266 2420. E-mail: fuehrung@infobox.de Website: www.infobox.de Transport: U-Bahn/S-Bahn Potsdamer Platz; or bus 142, 248 or 348. Opening hours: Mon-Sun 0900-1900 (Thurs until 2100). Admission: Exhibition is free; viewing platform costs DM2 (concessions available). Public guided tours are conducted hourly (Mon-Fri 1000-1500, Sat-Sun 1100-1600) and cost DM6. Private tours for up to 20 people in a variety of languages can be arranged and cost from DM197. Reichstag British architect Lord Foster has transformed the Reichstag, which was built at the end of the nineteenth century and has long since been emblematic of the German state. It was damaged in the fire of 1933, which marked Hitler's consolidation of power and has now been renovated for the Bundestag (People's Assembly) of a reunited Germany. The new dome is meant to symbolise the transparency of the democratic government and visitors can pass between its layers to witness the decision-making chamber of the Government. The walk through the dome itself is stunning, culminating in sweeping views of a city in transition Platz der Republik Tel: (030) 2273 2152 or 2272 2152 Fax: (030) 2273 0027 or 2272 0027 Website: www.bundestag.de Transport: S-Bahn Unter den Linden. Opening hours: Daily 0800-0000 (last admission 2200). The Pleanary is open for free hourly guided tours when parliament is not in session (Mon-Fri 0900-1600, weekends 1000-1600). The restaurant is open until 0000). Admission: Free. Berlin Wall History Although much of the Wall, or the 'Anti-Fascist Protection Rampart' as the GDR Authorities liked to call it, has succumbed - first to enthusiastic revellers and souvenir hunters and then more significantly to developers - a few sections remain. The East Side Gallery emerged in the post-Wall years as a poignant symbol of new hope as it was covered with inspiring artwork. Today its future is in doubt and the faded state of the paintings is symbolic of how far Berlin has come since 1989. The Gedenkstatte Berliner Mauer is a graffiti-free stretch of the Wall that has been preserved by the authorities. Recently opened is a visitors centre at Bernauer Strasse 111, with more information about the Wall years as well as a better view of the Wall. A chapel dedicated to the 80 or so victims of the Wall is also currently under construction on the site. Muhlenstrasse (East Side Gallery), Bernauer Strasse (Gedenkstatte) Tel: (030) 22 464 1030 (Gedenkstatte) Website: www.die-berliner.mauer.de (German only) Transport: S-Bahn 3, 5, 7, 9 Ostbanhof. U-Bahn 8 Bernauer Strasse (Gedenkstatte) Open: Gedenkstatte Visitors Centre Wed-Sun 1000-1700. Admission: Free. Unter den Linden and the Museumsinsel One of Berlin's most recognisable landmarks, the Brandenburger Tor (Brandenburg Gate), stands at the western end of Unter den Linden, where some of the city's richest cultural treasures also lie. These include the Deutsche Staatsoper (German State Opera); the Neue Wache (New Guardhouse), now a memorial to the victims of fascism and tyranny; and the Zeughaus (Arsenal), which houses the Deutsches Historisches Museum (German Historical Museum). Until renovation work is completed in 2002, this collection is on view at the Kronprinzen-Palais opposite the museum. The Museumsinsel (Museum Island), at the eastern end of Unter den Linden, offers the Pergamonmuseum, Bodemuseum (closed until mid-2001), Altes Museum, Alte Nationalgalerie (closed until 2001) and the massive, neo-Baroque Berliner Dom (Berlin Cathedral), built in 1893-1905 and recently renovated. The Altes Museum (Old Museum) is a striking neo-classical building, designed by Karl Friedrich Schinkel, that opened in 1830. The main floor houses a collection of antiquities, while the upstairs galleries house the most important of the Alte Nationalgalerie's nineteenth-century collection of sculpture and painting. Altes Museum Bodestrasse 1-3, Mitte (entrance from Lustgarten) Tel: (030) 2090 5555. Fax: (030) 266 2612. Website: www.smb.spk-berlin.de/ant/e/i.html Transport: U-Bahn/S-Bahn Friedrichstrasse or S-Bahn Hackescher Markt; or bus 100, 147, 157 or 348. Opening hours: Tues-Sun 1000-1800 (Thur 2200). Admission: DM4; day ticket DM8* (concessions available). Schloss Charlottenburg The Charlottenburg Palace was built as a summer residence for Sophie Charlotte, the wife of King Frederick I, in 1790. The museums and galleries that are in and around the palace include the Egyptian Museum and the Berggruen Collection, which includes 64 artworks by Picasso as well as a representative collection of his contemporaries. Inside one of the wings of the palace is the Galerie der Romantik, one of the State Museums, which has a large collection of German and Austrian paintings from the first half of the nineteenth century. Spandauer Damm 22, Charlottenburg Tel: (030) 2090 5555. Fax: (030) 266 2612. Website: www.smb.spk-berlin.de/ng/gdr.html Transport: U-Bahn Sophie-Charlotte-Platz or Richard-Wagner-Platz; or bus 109, 110, 145, 204, X21 or X26. Opening hours: Tues-Fri 1000-1800; Sat and Sun 1100-1800 Admission: DM4; day ticket DM8, three day ticket Dm16; annual ticket DM60 (concessions available). Kulturforum The opening of the Gemäldegalerie (Painting Gallery) in the Cultural Forum in 1998 brought a stunning collection of thirteenth- to eighteenth-century paintings to the site. It joins the Kunstgewerbemuseum (Arts and Crafts Museum) and the Neue Nationalgalerie (New National Gallery). The latter, built to the designs of Mies van der Rohe, contains German Expressionist and Realist art and other works of the twentieth century, as well as a sculpture garden. Am Kulturforum, Potsdamer Strasse 50 Tel: (030) 2090 5555. Fax: (030) 266 2612. Website: www.smb.spk-berlin.de/ort/k.html Transport: U-Bahn/S-Bahn Potsdamer Platz. Bus 129, 142, 148, 248, 341 or 348. Opening hours: Tues-Fri 1000-1800; Sat and Sun 1100-1800 Admission: DM4; day ticket DM8, three day ticket Dm16; annual ticket DM60 (concessions available). Neue Synagogue This synagogue built in 1866 suffered serious bomb damage in 1943. It recently underwent renovation and its Moorish dome can now be seen in its original glory. The New Synagogue now houses a Jewish Centre with exhibition. Oranienburger Strasse 28-30, Mitte Tel: (030) 2840 1316. Transport: S-Bahn Oranienburger Strasse or U-Bahn Oranienburger Tor; or tram 1 or 13. Opening hours: Sun-Thurs 1000-1800; Fri 1000-1400. Admission: DM3 (concessions available). Museum Haus am Checkpoint Charlie The best place, these days, to get a sense of what the divided city was like is the museum at this famous border-crossing site. A number of permanent exhibitions document the history of the Wall, placing it in the context of the larger history and including images of the Wall itself (the famous paintings on the Western side of it). The actual Checkpoint Charlie is now only marked by two large posters, one of an American soldier and the other of a Russian. Friedrichstrasse 43-44 Tel: (030) 253 7250. Fax: (030) 251 2075. Transport: U-Bahn Kochstrasse. Opening hours: Daily 0900-2200. Admission: DM9 (concessions available). |