Wild, colorful, hectic, rough around the edges and multifaceted, Berlin is all these things. The capital of Germany between 1871 and 1945, and again since the reunification of Germany in 1990, Berlin is also its biggest city with a population of 3.5 million. Between 1949 and 1990, it was divided into East Berlin, the capital of the German Democratic Republic, and West Berlin. The Berlin Wall was erected in 1961 and momentously torn down on November 9, 1989.
Berlin is a major cultural center with three opera houses, over 150 theaters and playhouses, over 170 museums and 200 private galleries; every day nearly 1.500 events are on Berlin's cultural calendar. The city has no definite centre and pockets of attractions are dotted all over but the densest array of sights lies to the east of the Brandenburg Gate, on either side of Unter den Linden.
Potsdamer Square
Potsamer Platz was once the busiest square in Europe, during its heyday in the 1920s and 30s. It was heavily bombed during WWII but still remained active until the erection of the Berlin wall, which cut off Berlin’s traditional center, now in the East, from its commercial district, now in the West, and rendered the Platz a dead end. Today it is a glittering commercial district.
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Berlin Wall East Side Gallery
Near the center of Berlin lies one of the few surviving sections of the Wall still standing and relatively intact. Created in 1990 in celebration of the Wall’s collapse, the Gallery features works by an international group of artists who expressed their reactions to the November 9, 1989 event in paintings that cover the half-mile long section of the Wall that has come to be known as the East Side Gallery. One image found here, and also on t-shirts sold in Berlin, if of communists Erich Honecker and Leonid Brezhnev kissing each other on the mouth.
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St. Hedwig's Cathedral
St. Hedwig’s Cathedral, with its eye-catching copper-green dome, was based upon the design of the Roman Pantheon. Destroyed during World War II, it was completely rebuilt between 1952 and 1963. With its unusual dome and valuable inventory, including a Madonna from the 16th century and the Pietà from 1420, the building is well worth a visit. The building is dedicated to wartime Bishop Bernhard Lichtenberg, who spoke out against the Nazi regime and paid for it with his life.
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Charlottenburg Castle
Commissioned by Sophie Charlotte, the wife of Friedrich III, Elector of Brandenburg, the Schloss (palace) was constructed in the Italian Baroque style by the architect Arnold Nering. After Friedrich's coronation in 1701 as King Friedrich I of Prussia, and Charlotte his Queen, architect Eosander von Göthe expanded the palace, initially conceived as a summer retreat from Berlin, into a magnificent building. After the death of his wife in 1705, Friedrich named the Schloss and the accompanying estate Charlottenburg in her memory.
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Visit Arounder Berlin
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