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1. Potsdamer Platz

Potsdamer Platz is one of the most important places in the city of Berlin. This plaza performs the Berlin Film Festival, better known as the Berlinale, which hands out the Golden Bear for best film of the festival.

This plaza was developed since the nineteenth century an area of dense commercial and cultural activity. It was here where the first traffic light was installed in Europe.

Potsdamer Platz, like the rest of the city, came under aerial bombardment during the last months of World War II, which led to the almost total destruction of buildings on the site.

After the occupation of the city by the Allies, Potsdamer Platz was in the area dividing the Soviet and American protectorates. With the construction of the Wall, who crossed their western sector was in a no man's land unusable and was not rebuilt, despite being very close to the main shopping boulevard of East Berlin. After the fall of the Berlin Wall were given the task of rehabilitating Potsdamer Platz, which succeeded in the course of less than a decade.

The current architecture of the site not remember anything original.

Source: Wikipedia

2. Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe

The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe (German ermordeten Denkmal für die Juden Europas), also known as Holocaust-Mahnmal or Holocaust Memorial is a monument in Berlin to remember the Jewish victims of the Holocaust.

It was designed by architect Peter Eisenman and engineer Buro Happold. It is an area of 19000 square meters inclined covered by mesh grid in 2711 are located trails or concrete slabs. These slabs have a size of 2.38m long and 0.95m wide and vary in height, from 0.2 m to 4.8m. According to Eisenman's project, the stelae are designed to produce an atmosphere uncomfortable and confused, and looking around the monument to represent a supposedly ordered system that has lost touch with human reason. However, in an official tourist brochure published in 2005 by the Memorial Foundation, says that the design represents a radical approach to traditional monument, partly because Eisenman did not use any symbolism. An underground annex called Ort der Information (information point) contains the names of all known Jewish Holocaust victims, obtained from the Israeli museum Yad Vashem.

The construction of the monument was opened on 1 April 2003 and was completed on 15 December 2004. It was inaugurated on 10 May 2005 and opened to the public on 12 May of that year. It is located one block south of the Brandenburg Gate in the Berlin suburb of Friedrichstadt. The construction cost was approximately 25 million euros.

Source: Wikipedia

3. Brandenburg Gate

The Brandenburg Gate is an ancient gateway to Berlin and one of the main symbols of both the city and Germany. It is not a triumphal arch, but access was by way of Propylaea, the "New Berlin" at the time. It lies in the current city center, in Plaza de Paris, forming the end of the avenue Unter den Linden and marking the beginning of the large Tiergarten park and the Avenue Straße des 17. Juni. Nearby are also the Reichstag and Potsdamer Platz. Important events in the history of Berlin are linked to the Brandenburg Gate.

Architecture:
The Brandenburg Gate, by the architect Carl Gotthard Langhans, is a sandstone building at 26 meters high, 65.5 m wide and 11 m long in the style of early Neoclassicism. Reminds Propylaea of the Acropolis in Athens. It has five paths, of which the plant is the widest, with two smaller doors on the sides. The columns are Doric, fluted base and reach a diameter of 1.75 m. The top and inside the passageways are covered with reliefs depicting Hercules, Mars and the goddess Minerva. After the demolition of the city wall (1867/68), the disciple of Friedrich Schinkel, Johann Heinrich Strack, placed on both sides of the two largest portals.

The door is crowned with a copper sculpture of about 5 m high, the Quadriga, founded by Johann Gottfried Schadow, who represents the goddess of victory riding a chariot drawn by four horses in the direction of the city.

History:
The Brandenburg Gate was built between 1788 and 1791 during the reign of Frederick II of Prussia by Carl Gotthard Langhans, following the model of the gateway to the Acropolis in Athens. This place was at that time one of the 18 gates in the wall of the city of Berlin.

In 1806, after the battle of Jena, the Quadriga was taken to Paris by Napoleon to be exhibited as a war trophy. Before this happened, Napoleon was overthrown. Following the capture of Paris, General Ernst von Pfuel was appointed commander of part of the city. He is responsible for the recovery of the statue to Berlin. In 1814, troops of General Blücher statue kept in boxes and transported back to Berlin, where it was restored. During this restoration the statue underwent a significant change, then was added, the iron cross designed by Schinkel.

Until 1918, only members of the royal family, their guests and family members were allowed to use Pfuel central step in the door.

During the Second World War, the door was badly damaged and the Quadriga was almost completely destroyed. On 21 September 1956, the council agreed to rebuild the gate despite strong differences between authorities in the divided city. Despite the accusations, both sides joined forces and succeeded in completing work on 15 December 1957. East Berlin authorities decided to redo the Quadriga with the original molds, but removing the eagle and the Iron Cross for considered symbols of German militarism.

With the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961, the Brandenburg Gate was in no man's land, without access from east or west. Only border guards and special guests from the GDR had access to the monument.

In 1991, after the reunification of Germany, the Quadriga, which had not had any maintenance in 30 years, was dismantled and restored. During this restoration were added again eagle and iron cross. Between January 2001 and October 2002 undertook a complete restoration of the Porte, which remained covered for 22 months. The Brandenburg Gate was unveiled between major holidays on 3 October 2002 (anniversary of the reunification of Germany).

On 9 November 2009, celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Berlin Wall fell, they took out several events commemorating the Berlin Wall, Brandenburg Gate being the center stage of the celebrations, including a memorial concert Irish group U2, around 100,000 people participated in the rain in central Berlin that Germany organized the celebrations to mark 20 years since the fall of the Wall of Shame. The crowd was bet over a thousand polystyrene giant dominoes installed in central Berlin, which were torn down to symbolize the fall of the Wall, according to organizers.

Source: wikipedia

4. Reichstag

The Reichstag (German Reichstagsgebäude, abbreviated Reichstag) is in the district of Tiergarten, the Mitte district of Berlin, capital of Germany. It was the seat of the Reichstag at the time of the German Empire (1871-1918) and later the parliament of the Weimar Republic (1919-1933). Since 1994 there meets every five years the Federal Convention (Bundesversammlung) to elect the president of Germany (Bundespräsident) and since 1999 is the meeting place of the German parliament (Bundestag). Its official name is Plenarbereich Reichstagsgebäude that means "full enclosure of the Reichstag building.

The building, designed by Paul Wallot was finished in 1894 following a neo-Renaissance style. In 1933 he was the victim of an arson whose authorship was never fully clarified. At the end of World War II, during the Battle of Berlin, was the scene of fierce fighting and was badly damaged. In the 1960s he made the most urgent reforms. The aspect that has now acquired it during construction work in the 90 responsibility of the British architect Sir Norman Foster.

5. Unter den Linden

Unter den Linden (Under the Lindens) in Berlin, Germany, is the main boulevard of the city. Since its inception and until the Second World War was the hub of cultural life in Berlin. In ruins after 1945 stay in the eastern sector (East Berlin) as capital of the GDR. With the reunification after the fall of the Berlin Wall, has resumed its place as a favorite street in Berlin near Kurfürstendamm.

The broad boulevard starts at the Plaza de Paris on the west side of the Brandenburg Gate, which houses the Academy of Art, the famous Hotel Adlon and the French embassy. From this square runs 1.5 kilometers in an easterly direction to the bridge of the castle (Schlossbrücke), which serves as a junction with the Museum Island and downtown East Berlin.

Unter den Linden is one of the main axes of the city, classical and entertainment venue. It contains numerous institutions and places of tourist and cultural interest like famous Staatsoper Berlin Staatsoper Unter den Linden.

Source: wikipedia

6. Friedrichstrasse

The Friedrichstraße is a commercial street in central Berlin, which forms the center of the Friedrichstadt district.

This street runs from the northern district of Mitte, from the street to the Hallesches Chausseestraße Tor in the Kreuzberg district. Due to its north-south direction, is important intersections with other streets with an east-west, the most important, the Leipziger Straße and Unter den Linden. It runs under the street line U-6 in the Berlin subway.

This street was granted on behalf of the Elector Frederick I of Prussia.

This street was opened in the early eighteenth century as a leading center Friedrichstadt district. This street is perpendicular to the Unter den Linden and Leipziger Straße.

In the nineteenth century, became a major trade routes of the city's busiest.

The Allied bombing of Berlin, destroyed most buildings. In 1961, the street was cut in two by the construction of the Berlin Wall. It was also the location of the border crossing Checkpoint Charlie.

While the South Street belonging to the district of Kreuzberg in West Berlin was rebuilt quickly, but with dissatisfaction as only popular buildings were constructed of cement. In East Berlin, the area was located north of the Friedrichstrasse, in the district of Mitte. With German reunification, the street became one. The Friedrichstraße was rebuilt in the 1990s, reaching a complete reconstruction of the central section of the street, with large commercial buildings such as department stores Galeries Lafayette in Berlin.

7. Checkpoint Charlie

Checkpoint Charlie is the most famous border crossing of the Berlin Wall between 1945 and 1990 - see map of Berlin and border crossings. It is located in the Friedrichstraße, and opened the way to the zone of U.S. control with the Soviet Union, where he now join the neighborhoods of Mitte and Kreuzberg. Only employees allowed to use military and embassies of the Allies, foreigners, employees of the permanent delegation of the FRG and the GDR officials.

Charlie The name comes from the NATO phonetic alphabet, and is its third letter. Checkpoint Alpha was the passage of highway in Helmstedt, Checkpoint Bravo highway passing Dreilinden.

Following the attempt by the leadership of the SED of restricting the rights and allies had the Western powers in Berlin in October 1961 Soviet and U.S. tanks positioned themselves faced with heavy ammunition.

Checkpoint Charlie was the scene of spectacular escapes from East Berlin, some especially tragic as the death of Peter Fechter bled in 1962 before the eyes of those who lived in West Berlin.

The checkpoint was demolished on 22 June 1990, so unless the Wall Museum of Checkpoint Charlie was not anything to remember it, until 13 August 2000, when it opened a reconstruction of the first booth control identical except for sandbags, which were now filled with cement.

Today, Checkpoint Charlie is one of the tourist attractions of Berlin. Apart from the post, you can also see the museum dedicated to the history of the wall, the last flag of the Kremlin and several fragments of the German separation. 31 October 2004 to 5 July 2005, there was also a controversial memorial to the victims of the GDR regime.

Source: wikipedia

8. Gendarmenmarkt

The Gendarmenmarkt (Gendarmenmarkt) is a plaza located in downtown Berlin. It is considered the most beautiful square in the city. The central building of the plaza at the Konzerthaus, in the north (center in photo) is the French cathedral (French Cathedral) and on the south side the Deutscher Dom (German Cathedral).

The square was built from 1688 according to plans by Johann Arnold Nering as part of Friedrichstadt, a suburb planned for the future Frederick I of Prussia. In this suburb settled largely immigrant French Huguenots, who the "Great Elector" Frederick William of Brandenburg, had been granted citizenship rights and the protection of their religious freedom by the Edict of Potsdam in 1685.

Frederick I of Prussia was granted to both the Lutheran community as the French Reformed community, a place to build their churches. For the year 1701 there were already two buildings, but the towers that were built later.

Her true form this place caught between the years 1780 and 1785 under the reign of Frederick II, when the towers were built with twin domes according to plans by Carl von Gontard, who continued modeling La Piazza del Popolo in Rome.

Source: wikipedia

9. Bebelplatz

The Bebelplatz (formerly Opernplatz) is a public square located in Berlin, the capital of Germany. The square was named after August Bebel, a leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) in the nineteenth century.

The Bebelplatz is known for being the place where he held the book burning on 10 May 1933 by members of the SA (brown shirts) and the Hitler Youth, at the instigation of the Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels. The Nazis burned around 20,000 books, including works by Thomas Mann, Erich Maria Remarque, Heinrich Heine, Karl Marx and other authors

In 2006 was held in this place called "Round Table of free voices," a project that brought unprecedented thinkers from around the world in order to find answers to major social issues.

The square is located on the south side of Unter den Linden, a major street that runs through the center of the city from east to west. Borders with the building of the Staatsoper (this is his name before the war), west to the Humboldt University buildings and the south by St. Hedwig's Cathedral, the oldest Roman Catholic church in Berlin.

Currently, a slab of glass located on the floor of the Bebelplatz, through which you can see an empty shelf, commemorates the burning of books, 1933.

Students at Humboldt University held an annual book sale in the square to mark the anniversary of what happened.

Source: wikipedia

10. Berlin Cathedral

Berlin Cathedral (Berliner Dom in German) is a temple of the Evangelical Church in Germany located in Berlin, Germany.

In fact Berlin Cathedral has never been a cathedral in the strict sense of the term, as this cathedral has never hosted a Catholic bishop. When in 1930 the Holy See established for the first time a Roman Catholic diocese in Berlin, the Berlin Cathedral was already a Protestant church for long. St. Hedwig's Cathedral is the site of residence of the metropolitan bishop of Berlin.

The building was built between 1895 and 1905. The location of this building was occupied formerly a Baroque cathedral built by Johann Boumann culminated in 1747 and later remodeled in 1822 by the Berlin architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel in the neoclassical style. This cathedral was demolished in 1894 by Emperor Wilhelm II and was replaced by the current, designed by Julius Raschdorff.

During World War II, the temple was seriously damaged by bombing. Until 1975, when they started the reconstruction work, was placed a temporary roof to protect the interior. The work was completed in 1993, [1] with a new design of the simplest upper and lower height than the original.

Source: wikipedia

11. Alexanderplatz

Alexanderplatz (Berlin Alexanderplatz) is a large square located in downtown area of Berlin, Germany, near the river Spree and the Palace of the Republic, among other historical buildings. Originally called Ochsenmarkt or bull market, one of the hubs of the city as Potsdamer Platz.

The place simply called Alex by Berliners, also officiates passenger transshipment center. It is surrounded by several buildings and major structures such as the Fernsehturm, the highest TV tower in the European Union. At Alexanderplatz same are located, among others, the Forum Hotel Berlin, the building itself higher than the city, and world clock, a large metal structure that rotates and displays the time permanently worldwide.

Originally a cattle market sales, was named in honor of a visit to Berlin by Tsar Alexander I of Russia, 25 October 1805. In the late nineteenth century the place became important as a commercial center with the construction of a subway station of the same name and a market for that period rose at its core Berolina allegorical statue. Boomed in the 1920s, when together with Potsdamer Platz was considered the heart of Berlin at night, reaching the novel inspired Alfred Döblin, Berlin Alexanderplatz, published in 1929.

During the Battle of Berlin in the framework of the Second World War, the place was heavily damaged by shelling and fighting.

Alexanderplatz was redesigned several times in its history, being the reforms of the 1960s the last of magnitude, in which the square was enlarged as part of the redesign of the center of Berlin faced by the German Democratic Republic. It thereafter became one of the most important public spaces in East Berlin. After German reunification Alexanderplatz again underwent several changes and reforms, like the surrounding buildings and much of the city.

Despite building a tram line and the addition of some green space, the square has retained its socialist character set. It retains, for example, the Fountain of Friendship of Peoples, a frequent target of graffiti and graffiti. In 1993 plans were published which told of the construction of several skyscrapers, but the lack of demand and interest wane made the initiative and is unlikely to be carried out. However, since 2004 some buildings have been redesigned and is planned to build some new structures in the southeastern quadrant of the square.
Alexanderplatz at night, the Fernsehturm background and the metro station, opposite the tram and World Clock.
World clock.

In May 2007 the workers who create works of sewerage in the place discovered in their basement that is regarded as the largest Nazi Germany bunker built in the German capital.

The construction of which had forgotten its existence, was built between 1941 and 1943 as a refuge for the German railway company.

The bunker is located next to the House of Teachers and its exact dimensions are unknown.

Source: wikipedia