Reichstag -- I and other Berlin, Germany Things to Do Tips

The Reichstag is a marvel of historical re-construction and re-imagination, a governmental landmark for the 21st century. On a brisk day in November, it gleams in the afternoon sunlight. No doubt modern Germany faces many problems, economic, social, political. But they certainly have a governmental center to be proud of.

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Phone: 22 73 21 52
Address: Platz der Republik, Berlin-Tiergarten
Directions: Bus 100

Following reunification, the German government staged an international competion to select an architect/designer to renovate and re-create the Reichstag as a functional parliamentary center. The competion was won by the masterful Sir Norman Foster, whose ingenuous solution called not only for a glass dome on the structure, but also the use of glass as a dominant theme throughout the building.

Foster is probably the most highly regarded British architect of our time. He has put his imprint upon radically new designs for museums, office buildings, airports, and bridges. Developments by Foster which are featured on my VT pages include the Sainsbury Centre for the Arts in Norwich England, and his famous "Millennium Pedestrian Bridge" crossing the Thames in London.

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Phone: 22 73 21 52
Address: Platz der Republik, Berlin-Tiergarten
Directions: Bus 100

Probably the most famous gate in the world. . .

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Address: Pariser Platz, Berlin-Mitte
Directions: S-Bahn: Unter den Linden, Bus 100

Karl Friedrich Schinkel (1781-1841) designed the "Neue Wache" in the early 19th century. It is generally considered to be an outstanding example of neo-classical architecture.

For its first century, the Neue Wache served as a guardhouse for Prussian troops. In the 1920s, it became a Memorial to soldiers killed in World War I. During the DDR era, it was rededicated as a "Memorial to the Victims of Fascism and Militarism." Now, it has once again been re-dedicated as a Memorial to all the victims of war and dictatorship worldwide. Memory and memorials are always contextual and "political" in the broadest sense; sightseeing in Berlin makes this perfectly clear.

The atmosphere of the Neue Wache is austere and solemn. There is a circular opening in the roof of the building, underneath which are arrayed a variety of wreaths. There is a also a copy of a powerful 20th century sculpture, "Mother With Her Dead Son," by Kathe Kollwitz, a Berlin artist who lost her own son to World War I. This is a subdued, serious, and contemplative war memorial - and should be an early stop for all first-time visitors to Berlin.

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Address: Unter den Linden, Berlin-Mitte
Directions: S-Bahn: Unter den Linden, Bus 100

The architectural frieze above the pediment shows an allegory of War: Battle, Victory, Flight, and Defeat.

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Address: Unter den Linden, Berlin-Mitte
Directions: S-Bahn: Unter den Linden, Bus 100

This was one of the most notorious stretches of the Wall. Originally, there was a line of apartment blocks on the eastern side of Bernauer Strasse, but after the wall went up these buildings were used as conduits for escape, so the East German authorities had them dismantled and replaced with a lethal "death zone" of guard towers and machine gun emplacements.

If you are fortunate, you'll visit this section of the Wall on a gray and dismal day in November. (I did.) I hadn't planned upon the weather, but it was certainly appropriate for the milieu.

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The East German authorities removed all buildings along the Bernauer Strasse stretch of the wall: apartment blocks, shops, and even a nineteenth century church, which was solemnly demolished in the middle of the 1980s. On the site of the church, which is smack dab In the middle of the "death zone," a contemporary "Chapel of Reconcilation" has been constructed - a simple but profound gesture of healing for the spiritual as well as physical wounds which the wall brought about.

The picture was taken from the observation tower at the Wall Documentation Center.

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The Neptune Fountain is exceptionally beautiful - even with the water turned off.

It was designed in the 1880s by Reinhold Begas, and originally was located on the south wall of the old Berlin Schloss. It was moved to its present location - in front of the Fernsehturm - in 1969.

Inspired by Bernini's Neptune in Rome, Begas shows the water god surrounded by four lesser divinities, each representing one of Germany's great rivers at that time: the Rhine, the Elbe, the Oder, and the Vistula. (Germany no longer borders the Vistula - but it's still a beautiful fountain.)

Berlin's great medieval church, the Marienkirche, stands in the background.

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Address: Rathausvorplatz

One of the minor river goddesses; I'm not sure which one.

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