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Berlin is the capital city and a state of Germany. It is the country's largest city in area and population, and the second most populous city in the European Union.
Berlin is noted for its numerous cultural institutions, many of which enjoy international reputation. In addition, cultural diversity and tolerance remain from the time when West Berlin took pride in its role as a "free city" with the motto "something for everyone."
Berlin has a rich art scene, and it is home to hundreds of art galleries. The city is host to the Art Forum annual international art fair. Many young Germans and international artists continue to settle in the city, and Berlin has established itself as an important center of youth and popular culture in Europe. Signs of this expanding role were the 2003 announcement that the annual Popkomm, Europe's largest music industry convention, would move to Berlin after 15 years in Cologne. Shortly thereafter, MTV also decided to move its German headquarters and main studios from Munich to Berlin. Universal Music Group opened its European headquarters on the banks of the River Spree in an area known as the mediaspree. Since 2005, Berlin has been listed as a UNESCO City of Design.
Berlin has one of the most diverse and vibrant nightlife scenes in Europe. After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 many buildings in Mitte, the former city center of East Berlin were renovated. Many had not been rebuilt since World War II. Illegally occupied by young people, they became a fertile ground for all sorts of underground and counter-culture gatherings. It is also home to many nightclubs, including Kunst Haus Tacheles, techno clubs Tresor, WMF, Ufo and E-Werk.
Former West Berlin was also home to several well-known nightclubs. SO36 in Kreuzberg originally focused largely on punk music but today has become a popular venue for dances and parties of all kinds. SOUND, located from 1971 to 1988 in Tiergarten and today in Charlottenburg, gained notoriety in the late 1970s for its popularity with heroin users and other drug addicts as described in Christiane F.'s book Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo. The Linientreu, near the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, has been well known since the 1990s for techno music. The LaBelle discotheque in Friedenau became famous as the location of the 1986 Berlin discotheque bombing.
Berlin's annual Karneval der Kulturen, a multi-ethnic street parade, and Christopher Street Day celebrations, Central Europe's largest gay-lesbian pride event, are openly supported by the city's government. Berlin is also well known for the techno carnival Love Parade and the cultural festival Berliner Festspiele, which include the jazz festival JazzFest Berlin.
Berlin is home to 153 museums. The ensemble on the Museum Island is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is situated in the northern part of the Spree Island between the Spree and the Kupfergraben.[6] As early as 1841 it was designated a “district dedicated to art and antiquities” by a royal decree. Subsequently, the Altes Museum (Old Museum) in the Lustgarten, and the Neues Museum (New Museum), Alte Nationalgalerie (Old National Gallery), Pergamon Museum, and Bode Museum were built there. While these buildings once housed distinct collections, the names of the buildings no longer necessarily correspond to the names of the collections they house.
Apart from the Museum Island, there is a wide variety of museums. The Gemäldegalerie (Painting Gallery) focuses on the paintings of the "old masters" from the 13th to the 18th centuries, while the Neue Nationalgalerie (New National Gallery, built by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe) specializes in 20th-century European painting. In spring 2006, the expanded Deutsches Historisches Museum re-opened in the Zeughaus with an overview of German history through the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. The Bauhaus Archive is an architecture museum. The Jewish Museum has a standing exhibition on 2,000 years of German-Jewish history. The Egyptian Museum of Berlin, across the street from Charlottenburg Palace, is home to one of the world's most important collections of Ancient Egyptian artifacts. The German Museum of Technology in Kreuzberg has a large collection of historical technical artifacts. The Humboldt Museum of Natural History near Berlin Hauptbahnhof has the largest mounted dinosaur in the world, and the best preserved specimen of an archaeopteryx. In Dahlem, there are several museums of world art and culture, such as the Museum of Indian Art, the Museum of East Asian Art, the Ethnological Museum, the Museum of European Cultures, as well as the Allied Museum (a museum of the Cold War), the Brücke Museum (an art museum). In Lichtenberg, on the grounds of the former East German Ministry for State Security (Stasi), is the Stasi Museum. The Wall Museum, also known as Museum at Checkpoint Charlie, displays moments from the history of the divided Berlin. The East Side Gallery in Friedrichshain is an open-air exhibition of art painted directly on one of the remaining stretches of the Berlin Wall. The Beate Uhse Erotic Museum near Zoo Station claims to be the world's largest erotic museum.
Berlin is home to more than 50 theaters. The Deutsches Theater in Mitte was built in 1849–50 and has operated continuously since then except for a one-year break (1944–45) due to World War II. The Volksbühne on Rosa Luxemburg Platz was built in 1913–14, though the company had been founded already in 1890. The Berliner Ensemble, famous for performing the works of Bertolt Brecht, was established in 1949 not far from the Deutsches Theater. The Schaubühne was founded in 1962 in a building in Kreuzberg, but moved in 1981 to the building of the former Universum Cinema on Kurfürstendamm. Other theaters in Berlin include the Theater des Westens, the Theater am Potsdamer Platz, the Friedrichstadtpalast, and the Maxim Gorki Theater.
Berlin has three major opera houses: the Deutsche Oper, the Berlin State Opera, and the Komische Oper. The Berlin State Opera on Unter den Linden is the oldest; it opened in 1742. Its current musical director is Daniel Barenboim. The Komische Oper, which has traditionally specialized in operettas, is located not far from the State Opera just off Unter den Linden. It originally opened in 1892 as a theater and has been operating under its current name since 1947. The Deutsche Oper opened in 1912 in Charlottenburg (then still a separate town from Berlin) and is still in the same location, not far from Berlin Zoologischer Garten. During the division of the city from 1961 to 1989 it was the only major opera house in West Berlin.
There are two major symphony orchestras in Berlin. The Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra is one of the preeminent orchestras in the world; it is housed in the Berliner Philharmonie near Potsdamer Platz on a street named for the orchestra's longest-serving conductor, Herbert von Karajan. The current principal conductor is Simon Rattle, who took over in 2002 from Karajan's successor, Claudio Abbado. The Berlin Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1952 as the orchestra for East Berlin, since the Philharmonic was based in West Berlin. Its current principal conductor is Eliahu Inbal.
Berlin has two zoos. Zoologischer Garten Berlin, the older of the two, was founded in 1844, and presents the most diverse range of species in the world. Tierpark Friedrichsfelde, founded in 1955 in the grounds of Schloss Friedrichsfelde in the Borough of Lichtenberg), is Europe's largest zoo in terms of square meters.
Berlin's botanical gardens include the Botanic Museum Berlin, the largest botanical garden in Europe.
Tiergarten is Berlin's largest park and was designed by Peter Joseph Lenné. In Kreuzberg the Viktoriapark provides a good viewing point over the southern part of inner city Berlin. Treptower Park beside the Spree in Treptow has a monument honoring the Soviet soldiers killed in the 1945 Battle of Berlin. The Volkspark in Friedrichshain, which opened in 1848, is the oldest park in the city. Its summit is man-made and actually covers a World War II bunker as well as rubble from the ruins of the city; at its foot is Germany's main memorial to Polish soldiers. Weißensee Cemetery is the largest Jewish cemetery in Europe. The writers Micha Josef Berdyczewski and Stefan Heym as well as the philosopher Hermann Cohen are buried there. Städtischer Friedhof III in Friedenau is the final resting place of Marlene Dietrich as well as composer Ferruccio Busoni and photographer Helmut Newton.
The Brandenburg Gate is a world-wide known symbol of Berlin, and nowadays of Germany. It also appears on German euro coins. The Reichstag building is the traditional seat of the German Parliament, renovated in the 1950s after severe World War II damage . The building was again remodeled by Norman Foster in the 1990s and features a glass dome over the session area, which is open to the public and allows parliamentarians to be viewed from above.
Gendarmenmarkt, a neoclassical square in Berlin whose name dates back to the Napoleonic occupation of Berlin, is bordered by two similarly designed cathedrals, the French Cathedral with its observation platform and the German Cathedral. The Concert Hall (Konzerthaus), home of the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, stands between the two cathedrals.
The Berliner Dom, a Protestant cathedral and the third church on this site, is located on the Spree Island across from the site of the Berlin City Palace and adjacent to the Lustgarten. A large crypt houses the remains of some of the earlier Prussian royal family. The Cathedral of St. Hedwig is Berlin's Roman Catholic cathedral.
The Nikolaiviertel is the historical core of Berlin. Its church dates from the 13th century. This area was much remodeled during the East German period and although not authentic, has become a busy tourist site. Adjacent to this area is the Rotes Rathaus and on a previously built-up part of the city, which has now become an open space, is the Neptunbrunnen, a fountain featuring a mythological scene. The fountain has been moved from its earlier location in front of the Palace. This area is now known as Marx-Engels-Platz.
West of the center, Schloss Bellevue is the residence of the German President. Schloss Charlottenburg, which was burnt out in the Second World War and largely destroyed, has been rebuilt and is the largest surviving historical palace in Berlin.
The Siegessäule —(Victory Column) monument was built to Prussia's victories and is situated at the Großer Stern in the Tiergarten Park where it was relocated in 1938–39 from its previous position in front of the Reichstag.
Sorry, no tips were foundBerlin is noted for its numerous cultural institutions, many of which enjoy international reputation. In addition, cultural diversity and tolerance remain from the time when West Berlin took pride in its role as a "free city" with the motto "something for everyone."
Berlin has a rich art scene, and it is home to hundreds of art galleries. The city is host to the Art Forum annual international art fair. Many young Germans and international artists continue to settle in the city, and Berlin has established itself as an important center of youth and popular culture in Europe. Signs of this expanding role were the 2003 announcement that the annual Popkomm, Europe's largest music industry convention, would move to Berlin after 15 years in Cologne. Shortly thereafter, MTV also decided to move its German headquarters and main studios from Munich to Berlin. Universal Music Group opened its European headquarters on the banks of the River Spree in an area known as the mediaspree. Since 2005, Berlin has been listed as a UNESCO City of Design.
Berlin has one of the most diverse and vibrant nightlife scenes in Europe. After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 many buildings in Mitte, the former city center of East Berlin were renovated. Many had not been rebuilt since World War II. Illegally occupied by young people, they became a fertile ground for all sorts of underground and counter-culture gatherings. It is also home to many nightclubs, including Kunst Haus Tacheles, techno clubs Tresor, WMF, Ufo and E-Werk.
Former West Berlin was also home to several well-known nightclubs. SO36 in Kreuzberg originally focused largely on punk music but today has become a popular venue for dances and parties of all kinds. SOUND, located from 1971 to 1988 in Tiergarten and today in Charlottenburg, gained notoriety in the late 1970s for its popularity with heroin users and other drug addicts as described in Christiane F.'s book Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo. The Linientreu, near the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, has been well known since the 1990s for techno music. The LaBelle discotheque in Friedenau became famous as the location of the 1986 Berlin discotheque bombing.
Berlin's annual Karneval der Kulturen, a multi-ethnic street parade, and Christopher Street Day celebrations, Central Europe's largest gay-lesbian pride event, are openly supported by the city's government. Berlin is also well known for the techno carnival Love Parade and the cultural festival Berliner Festspiele, which include the jazz festival JazzFest Berlin.
Berlin is home to 153 museums. The ensemble on the Museum Island is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is situated in the northern part of the Spree Island between the Spree and the Kupfergraben.[6] As early as 1841 it was designated a “district dedicated to art and antiquities” by a royal decree. Subsequently, the Altes Museum (Old Museum) in the Lustgarten, and the Neues Museum (New Museum), Alte Nationalgalerie (Old National Gallery), Pergamon Museum, and Bode Museum were built there. While these buildings once housed distinct collections, the names of the buildings no longer necessarily correspond to the names of the collections they house.
Apart from the Museum Island, there is a wide variety of museums. The Gemäldegalerie (Painting Gallery) focuses on the paintings of the "old masters" from the 13th to the 18th centuries, while the Neue Nationalgalerie (New National Gallery, built by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe) specializes in 20th-century European painting. In spring 2006, the expanded Deutsches Historisches Museum re-opened in the Zeughaus with an overview of German history through the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. The Bauhaus Archive is an architecture museum. The Jewish Museum has a standing exhibition on 2,000 years of German-Jewish history. The Egyptian Museum of Berlin, across the street from Charlottenburg Palace, is home to one of the world's most important collections of Ancient Egyptian artifacts. The German Museum of Technology in Kreuzberg has a large collection of historical technical artifacts. The Humboldt Museum of Natural History near Berlin Hauptbahnhof has the largest mounted dinosaur in the world, and the best preserved specimen of an archaeopteryx. In Dahlem, there are several museums of world art and culture, such as the Museum of Indian Art, the Museum of East Asian Art, the Ethnological Museum, the Museum of European Cultures, as well as the Allied Museum (a museum of the Cold War), the Brücke Museum (an art museum). In Lichtenberg, on the grounds of the former East German Ministry for State Security (Stasi), is the Stasi Museum. The Wall Museum, also known as Museum at Checkpoint Charlie, displays moments from the history of the divided Berlin. The East Side Gallery in Friedrichshain is an open-air exhibition of art painted directly on one of the remaining stretches of the Berlin Wall. The Beate Uhse Erotic Museum near Zoo Station claims to be the world's largest erotic museum.
Berlin is home to more than 50 theaters. The Deutsches Theater in Mitte was built in 1849–50 and has operated continuously since then except for a one-year break (1944–45) due to World War II. The Volksbühne on Rosa Luxemburg Platz was built in 1913–14, though the company had been founded already in 1890. The Berliner Ensemble, famous for performing the works of Bertolt Brecht, was established in 1949 not far from the Deutsches Theater. The Schaubühne was founded in 1962 in a building in Kreuzberg, but moved in 1981 to the building of the former Universum Cinema on Kurfürstendamm. Other theaters in Berlin include the Theater des Westens, the Theater am Potsdamer Platz, the Friedrichstadtpalast, and the Maxim Gorki Theater.
Berlin has three major opera houses: the Deutsche Oper, the Berlin State Opera, and the Komische Oper. The Berlin State Opera on Unter den Linden is the oldest; it opened in 1742. Its current musical director is Daniel Barenboim. The Komische Oper, which has traditionally specialized in operettas, is located not far from the State Opera just off Unter den Linden. It originally opened in 1892 as a theater and has been operating under its current name since 1947. The Deutsche Oper opened in 1912 in Charlottenburg (then still a separate town from Berlin) and is still in the same location, not far from Berlin Zoologischer Garten. During the division of the city from 1961 to 1989 it was the only major opera house in West Berlin.
There are two major symphony orchestras in Berlin. The Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra is one of the preeminent orchestras in the world; it is housed in the Berliner Philharmonie near Potsdamer Platz on a street named for the orchestra's longest-serving conductor, Herbert von Karajan. The current principal conductor is Simon Rattle, who took over in 2002 from Karajan's successor, Claudio Abbado. The Berlin Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1952 as the orchestra for East Berlin, since the Philharmonic was based in West Berlin. Its current principal conductor is Eliahu Inbal.
Berlin has two zoos. Zoologischer Garten Berlin, the older of the two, was founded in 1844, and presents the most diverse range of species in the world. Tierpark Friedrichsfelde, founded in 1955 in the grounds of Schloss Friedrichsfelde in the Borough of Lichtenberg), is Europe's largest zoo in terms of square meters.
Berlin's botanical gardens include the Botanic Museum Berlin, the largest botanical garden in Europe.
Tiergarten is Berlin's largest park and was designed by Peter Joseph Lenné. In Kreuzberg the Viktoriapark provides a good viewing point over the southern part of inner city Berlin. Treptower Park beside the Spree in Treptow has a monument honoring the Soviet soldiers killed in the 1945 Battle of Berlin. The Volkspark in Friedrichshain, which opened in 1848, is the oldest park in the city. Its summit is man-made and actually covers a World War II bunker as well as rubble from the ruins of the city; at its foot is Germany's main memorial to Polish soldiers. Weißensee Cemetery is the largest Jewish cemetery in Europe. The writers Micha Josef Berdyczewski and Stefan Heym as well as the philosopher Hermann Cohen are buried there. Städtischer Friedhof III in Friedenau is the final resting place of Marlene Dietrich as well as composer Ferruccio Busoni and photographer Helmut Newton.
The Brandenburg Gate is a world-wide known symbol of Berlin, and nowadays of Germany. It also appears on German euro coins. The Reichstag building is the traditional seat of the German Parliament, renovated in the 1950s after severe World War II damage . The building was again remodeled by Norman Foster in the 1990s and features a glass dome over the session area, which is open to the public and allows parliamentarians to be viewed from above.
Gendarmenmarkt, a neoclassical square in Berlin whose name dates back to the Napoleonic occupation of Berlin, is bordered by two similarly designed cathedrals, the French Cathedral with its observation platform and the German Cathedral. The Concert Hall (Konzerthaus), home of the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, stands between the two cathedrals.
The Berliner Dom, a Protestant cathedral and the third church on this site, is located on the Spree Island across from the site of the Berlin City Palace and adjacent to the Lustgarten. A large crypt houses the remains of some of the earlier Prussian royal family. The Cathedral of St. Hedwig is Berlin's Roman Catholic cathedral.
The Nikolaiviertel is the historical core of Berlin. Its church dates from the 13th century. This area was much remodeled during the East German period and although not authentic, has become a busy tourist site. Adjacent to this area is the Rotes Rathaus and on a previously built-up part of the city, which has now become an open space, is the Neptunbrunnen, a fountain featuring a mythological scene. The fountain has been moved from its earlier location in front of the Palace. This area is now known as Marx-Engels-Platz.
West of the center, Schloss Bellevue is the residence of the German President. Schloss Charlottenburg, which was burnt out in the Second World War and largely destroyed, has been rebuilt and is the largest surviving historical palace in Berlin.
The Siegessäule —(Victory Column) monument was built to Prussia's victories and is situated at the Großer Stern in the Tiergarten Park where it was relocated in 1938–39 from its previous position in front of the Reichstag.
Last edited by Gary (7:48, 20 June 2006)
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