t The Dinosaur Hall at the Museum für Naturkunde
t The Dinosaur Hall at the Museum für Naturkunde
Berlin’s Natural History Museum is one of the biggest in the world, its collection numbering over 30 million exhibits. Occupying a purpose-built Neo-Renaissance building completed in 1889, the museum has been operating for over a century, and despite several periods of renovation has maintained its old-fashioned atmosphere.
The highlights of the museum are Europe’s best-preserved Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton and the world’s largest original dinosaur skeleton, which is housed in the glass-roofed courtyard. The colossal 23-m- (75-ft-) long and 12-m- (39-ft-) high Brachiosaurus brancai was discovered in Tanzania in 1909 by a German fossil-hunting expedition. Six other smaller reconstructed dinosaur skeletons and a replica of the fossilized remains of an Archaeopteryx lithographica, thought to be the prehistoric link between reptiles and birds, complete this fascinating display. The adjacent rooms feature countless colourful shells and butterflies, as well as taxidermy. Particularly popular are the dioramas – scenes of mounted animals set against the background of their natural habitat. A favourite is Bobby the Gorilla, who was brought to Berlin Zoo in 1928 as a 2-year-old and lived there until 1935. There is also a fine collection of minerals and meteorites.
This actor and director became famous as one of the 20th century’s greatest theatre reformers. He worked in Berlin, first as an actor in the Deutsches Theater, and then from 1905 as its director. As well as setting up the Kammerspiele, he produced plays for the Neues Theater am Schiffbauerdamm (renamed the Berliner Ensemble) and the Schumann Circus (later to become the Friedrichstadtpalast). His experimental productions of classic and modern works brought him worldwide fame. Forced to emigrate because of his Jewish origins, he left Germany in 1933 for the United States, where he died in 1943.
Founded during the early years of the 20th century, the People’s Theatre owes its existence to the efforts of the 100,000 members of the Freie Volksbühne (Free People’s Theatre Society). The original theatre was built in 1913, a time when the Scheunenviertel district was undergoing rapid redevelopment. During the 1920s the theatre became famous thanks to the director Erwin Piscator (1893–1966), who later achieved great acclaim at the Metropol-Theater on Nollendorfplatz.
Destroyed during World War II, the theatre was rebuilt in the early 1950s to a design by Hans Richter. Now one of the city’s most important cultural spots, it often stages controversial performances.
This theatre building first opened in 1850 as the Friedrich-Wilhelm Städtisches Theater, and in 1883, following reconstruction, it was renamed Deutsches Theater. It was here that Max Reinhardt began his career as an actor, before becoming director from 1905 until 1933.
Another famous figure associated with the theatre was Bertolt Brecht who, until 1933, wrote plays for it; after World War II he became the director of the Berliner Ensemble, whose first venue was here at the Deutsches Theater.
The house where Bertolt Brecht and his wife, the actress Helene Weigel, lived and worked is now a memorial. Brecht, one of the greatest playwrights of the 20th century, was associated with Berlin from 1920, but emigrated in 1933. After the war, his left-wing views made him an attractive potential resident of the newly created German Socialist state. Lured by the promise of his own theatre he returned to Berlin in 1948 with Weigel. He directed the Berliner Ensemble until his death, focusing mainly on productions of his own plays.
He lived in the first-floor apartment here from 1953 until he died in 1956. Weigel lived in the second-floor apartment, and after Brecht’s death moved to the ground floor. She also founded an archive of Brecht’s works which is located on the second floor of the building.
This small cemetery, established in 1763, is the final resting place of many famous Berlin citizens, including Bertolt Brecht and Helene Weigel. Many of the monuments are outstanding works of art, coming from the workshops of prominent Berlin architects, including Karl Friedrich Schinkel and Johann Gottfried Schadow, who are both buried here. A tranquil, tree-filled oasis, the cemetery is reached via a narrow path, leading from the street between the wall of the French Cemetery and the Brecht-Weigel-Gedenkstätte.
t Dorotheenstädtischer Friedhof memorial to Johann Gottlieb Fichte
Experience North Mitte and Prenzlauer Berg
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drink Buck & Breck This hipster bar is cunningly disguised as an art gallery. If you can find it, and if there’s room, you'll be rewarded with impeccable drinks. M2 ⌂ Brunnenstrasse 177 # Opening times vary, see website for details ∑ buckandbreck.com Becketts Kopf Find the wrinkled visage of Mr Beckett staring from a dark window, ring the bell and enter Prenzlauer Berg’s best cocktail spot. N1 ⌂ Pappelallee 64 # 7pm–2am Mon–Thu & Sun (to 4am Fri & Sat) ∑ becketts-kopf.de |
Multicoloured glass tiles and a pink, plume-shaped neon sign make up the gaudy but eye-catching façade of the Friedrichstadt Palace. Built in the early 1980s, this massive theatre complex specializes in spectacular, Vegas-style shows involving gigantic casts and expensive special effects. Nearly 2,000 seats are arranged around a huge podium, used by turns as a circus arena, a swimming pool and an ice rink. A further huge stage is equipped with every technical facility. There is also a small cabaret theatre with seats for 240 spectators.
The original and much-loved Friedrichstadtpalast suffered bomb damage during World War II and was replaced with the existing version. Built as a market hall, the earlier building was later used as a circus ring. In 1918 it became the Grosse Schauspielhaus, or Grand Playhouse, opening in 1919 with a memorable production of Aeschylus’s The Oresteia, directed by Max Reinhardt. The old building was extraordinary, its central dome supported by a forest of columns and topped with Expressionist, stalactite-like decoration. An equally fantastical interior provided seating for 5,000 spectators.
t Michel Majerus on show at the Sammlung Boros
This former air-raid bunker, built by architect Karl Bonatz, is an intriguing gallery location. The bunker has a chequered history; once used as a POW prison by the Red Army, it later became a warehouse, then in the 1990s it was a popular club. In 2003 art collector Christian Boros bought the building and converted it into a gallery space. It houses the Boros Collection of modern art. No more than 12 guests can visit at one time and advance online registration is required.
Oranienburger Strasse is home to many of Berlin’s most popular nightspots. People of all ages flock here, spending pleasant hours in the area’s numerous cafés, restaurants and bars. The district has traditionally been a centre for alternative culture, and home to the famous state-sponsored Tacheles centre for the arts, previously occupied by artist squatters. The Tacheles centre has closed, but many good art galleries remain in this area. As you stroll around the district it is worth looking out for a number of interesting buildings, such as the one at Oranienburger Strasse No. 71–2, built by Christian Friedrich Becherer in 1789 for Germany's Great National Masonic Lodge.
Designed by Heinrich Seeling and completed in 1892, this theatre has seen many changes in Berlin’s cultural life. First known as the Neues Theater am Schiffbauerdamm, it soon became famous for staging important premieres and for its memorable productions by Max Reinhardt. These included Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream in 1905, which, for the first time, used a revolving stage and real trees as part of the set. In 1928 the theatre presented the world premiere of Bertolt Brecht’s The Threepenny Opera. The building was destroyed during World War II and subsequently restored with a much simpler exterior, but its Neo-Baroque interior survived intact.
The theatre returned to prominence in 1954 with the arrival of the Berliner Ensemble under the directorship of Brecht and his wife, actress Helene Weigel. The move from its former home, the Deutsches Theater, to the new venue was celebrated by staging the world premiere of Brecht’s The Caucasian Chalk Circle. After Brecht’s death Weigel took over the running of the theatre, maintaining its innovative tradition.
t Samuel Beckett’s Endgame, staged by the Berliner Ensemble
The bunker that houses Sammlung Boros used to be an underground venue for live concerts and techno parties.
t Triple domes of the Neue Synagoge
The building of the New Synagogue, by architect Eduard Knoblauch, was completed in 1866. The design, a highly sophisticated response to the asymmetrical shape of the plot of land, used a narrow façade flanked by a pair of towers and crowned with a dome containing a round vestibule. Small rooms opened off the vestibule, including an anteroom and two prayer rooms – one large and one small. The two towers opened onto a staircase leading to the galleries, and the main hall had space for around 3,000 worshippers. An innovative use of iron in the construction of the roof and galleries put the synagogue at the forefront of 19th-century civil engineering.
This fascinating structure was Berlin’s largest synagogue until the night of 9–10 November 1938, when it was partially destroyed in the course of the infamous Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass), when thousands of synagogues, cemeteries, Jewish homes and shops were looted and burned by soldiers and Nazi supporters. The building was damaged further by Allied bombing in 1943 and was finally demolished in 1958 by government authorities. Reconstruction began in 1988 and the stunning new building was completed with due ceremony in 1995.
Adjoining the New Synagoge, the Centrum Judaicum (Jewish Centre) occupies the former premises of the Jewish community council, and contains a library, archives and a research centre devoted to the history and cultural heritage of the Jews of Berlin. The Centre also uses restored rooms of the Neue Synagoge to exhibit various materials relating to the local Jewish community, which included one of the greatest of all Jewish thinkers and social activists, Moses Mendelssohn.
Be aware that security is strict at both the Synagoge and the Centrum Judaicum.
Experience North Mitte and Prenzlauer Berg
One of the greatest German philosophers of the 18th century, Moses Mendelssohn arrived in Berlin in 1743 and was a central figure in the Jewish struggle for citizenship rights. About 50 years later the first Jewish family was granted full civic rights; however, it was not until the Emancipation Edict of 1812 that Jewish men finally became full citizens. The grandfather of composer Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, he is immortalized in the drama Nathan der Weise (Nathan the Wise) by his friend Gotthold Ephraim Lessing.
Running from Oranienburger Strasse and Rosenthaler up as far as Sophienstrasse, the Hackesche Höfe (Höfe means “courtyard”) is a huge, early 20th-century complex. It is made up of an intricate series of nine interconnecting courtyards surrounded by tall and beautifully proportioned buildings. The development dates from 1906, and was designed by Kurt Berendt and August Endell, both of whom were outstanding exponents of the German Secession style.
Damaged during World War II, Hackesche Höfe has been restored to its original splendour. The first courtyard is especially attractive, featuring glazed facings with geometric designs decorated in fabulous colours. A whole range of restaurants, bars, art galleries, shops and restaurants can be found here, as well as offices and apartments on the upper floors. The complex also has a small theatre, the Chamäleon, specializing in contemporary circus shows. For many Berliners the Hackesche Höfe has become something of a cult spot, and for visitors it is definitely a sight not to be missed.
Little Monbijou (“My Jewel”)Park, between Oranienburger Strasse and the Spree river, was once the grounds of the Monbijou Palace. Damaged by bombing during World War II, the ruined palace was dismantled in 1960.
A rare green space in this part of the city, the well-kept park is a pleasant place to relax. It features a marble bust of the poet Adelbert von Chamisso, and there is also an open-air swimming pool for children.
HIDDEN GEM
Famed German artist Käthe Kollwitz lived at Kollwitzstrasse 56 with her husband for many years. She was evacuated in 1943, and the house was bombed later that year, destroying many prints and drawings. A plaque marks the new house.
Experience North Mitte and Prenzlauer Berg
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STAY Circus Hotel This eco-friendly hotel offers comfortable rooms, a decent in-house bar and restaurant and friendly service, all right on buzzy Rosenthaler Platz. M3 ⌂ Rosenthaler Strasse 1 ∑ circus-berlin.de ¡¡¡ Ackselhaus and Blue Home This discreet hotel is set inside a beautifully restored 19th-century property, and has individually designed rooms and suites, plus a pleasant garden. O2 ⌂ Belforter Strasse 21 ∑ ackselhaus.de ¡¡¡ |
This green square is named after the German artist Käthe Kollwitz (1867–1945), who once lived nearby. It was here that the socially engaged painter and sculptor observed and painted the daily hardships of the working-class people living in overcrowded tenements. One of her sculptures stands on the square, now the social hub of the district, with a Thursday organic farmers’ market, cool bars, restaurants and shops that extend into the surrounding streets. Käthe Kollwitz’s work can be seen at the Käthe-Kollwitz-Museum.
This small Jewish Cemetery is hidden behind thick walls on Schönhauser Allee, but the serene atmosphere, with tall trees and thick undergrowth, is a welcome oasis. The cemetery was laid out in 1827, though the oldest gravestone dates back to the 14th century. It was Berlin’s second-largest Jewish cemetery after the Jüdischer Friedhof Weissensee
Among the many prominent Berliners resting here are the painter Max Liebermann; Giacomo Meyerbeer, the composer and musical director of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden; and the author David Friedländer (1750–1834). The lapidarium, built in 2005, displays rescued gravestones from this and other historic Jewish cemeteries in Berlin.
t Haunting figure from the Jewish memorial
Spandauer Vorstadt is an area north of the Spree river. It’s known for great shopping and nightlife.
t The Baroque tower of the Sophienkirche
A narrow passageway and a picturesque gate take you through to this small Baroque church. Founded in 1712 by Queen Sophia Luisa, the wife of Frederick I of Prussia, this was the first parish church of the newly developed Spandauer Vorstadt area, which had been growing steadily since the Middle Ages. Johann Friedrich Grael designed the tower, which was built between 1729 and 1735. In 1892 the building was extended to include a presbytery, though the church still retains its original Baroque character.
A modest, rectangular structure, Sophienkirche is typical of its period, with the tower adjoining the narrower side elevation. The interior still contains a number of its original 18th-century furnishings, including the pulpit and the font.
Several gravestones dating from the 18th century, have survived in the small graveyard surrounding the church.
An otherworldly group of figures in bronze stands on Grosse Hamburger Strasse, bearing witness to the extermination of the street’s Jewish community. On this spot once stood a Jewish home for the elderly which, during World War II, served as a detention centre for many thousands of Berlin Jews who were condemned to death in the camps at Auschwitz and Theresienstadt.
Until the years leading up to World War II, Grosse Hamburger Strasse was one of the main streets of Berlin’s Jewish quarter. It was home to several Jewish schools, the old-people’s home and the city’s oldest Jewish cemetery, established in 1672.
At No. 27 stands a Jewish school founded in 1778 by Moses Mendelssohn. Rebuilt in 1906, the building was reopened as a Jewish secondary school in 1993. The empty space once occupied by house No. 15–16, destroyed by World War II bombing, is now an installation, The Missing House by Christian Boltanski, with plaques recording the names and professions of the former inhabitants of the house.
Experience North Mitte and Prenzlauer Berg
Hackescher Höfe
Renovated Art Nouveau shopping complex.
Alte Schönhauser Strasse
Extension of Schönhauser Allee.
Neue Schönhauser Strasse
Small street packed with boutiques, caf é s and eateries.
Mulackstrasse
Elegant side street, home to many local design stores.
Steinstrasse
Parallel to Mulack-strasse, with many shops and cafés.
t Café Cinema, a legendary bohemian meeting place in Haus Schwarzenburg
The Haus Schwarzenberg complex is a cool and grungy hangover from the early 1990s. Its crumbling, postwar façades are splattered with colourful street art – some by famous local artists like El Bocho and Miss Van. Its courtyard consciously eschews high-end boutiques and cafés in favour of an edgy bar, a street-art shop and gallery and the Monsterkabinett: a collection of moving mechanical monsters built by the owners, a nonprofit artist collective. The complex also hosts a trio of notable, small museums that explore local resistance to the Nazis. The Gedenkstätte Stille Helden (Silent Heroes Memorial Centre) commemorates people who risked their lives to hide or rescue persecuted Jews. One such man was Otto Weidt, a German entrepreneur who saved a number of his blind, Jewish employees at his workshop, which is now the Museum Blindenwerkstatt Otto Weidt (Museum Otto Weidt’s Workshop for the Blind). It displays photographs and back-stories of Weidt, his family and his workers, and visitors can still see the room where Jewish families were hidden. The third museum, the Anne-Frank-Zentrum, offers an engaging and eclectic look at the famous teenager’s life.
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# Times vary, see website for details ∑ monsterkabinett.de
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# 10am–8pm daily ∑ gedenkstaette-stille-helden.de
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# 10am–8pm daily ∑ museum-blindenwerkstatt.de
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# 10am–6pm Tue–Sun ∑ annefrank.de
Formerly a customs road and Berlin’s northern border around 1800, Torstrasse is now a main thoroughfare connecting Prenzlauer Allee and Friedrichstrasse. Although it is a busy, noisy and sometimes polluted street, Torstrasse has its charms and has been almost completely transformed from a largely working-class bohemian area into a more appealing location, particularly for young urbanites. The 19th-century residential buildings lining the street have been gentrified to make way for cool bars, trendy cafés, gourmet restaurants, art galleries and fashion shops. “Soto”, the area south of Torstrasse, has the highest concentration of independent designers and brand outfitters in the city.
t Colourful residential buildings on Torstrasse
The area around Sophienstrasse and Gipsstrasse was first settled at the end of the 17th century. In fact, Sophienstrasse was once the main street of Spandauer Vorstadt. The area underwent extensive restoration during the 1980s that was designed to preserve its small-town character. Today, the narrow lanes and three-storey buildings are reminiscent of Prague’s Old Town. It was one of the first parts of East Berlin in which renovation was chosen in preference to large-scale demolition and redevelopment. Now these modest but charming 18th-century Neo-Classical buildings are home to a number of different arts and crafts workshops, cosy bars, unusual boutiques, a puppet theatre and interesting art galleries.
One building with a particularly eventful history is Sophienstrasse No. 18. The house was erected in 1852, although its striking and picturesque terracotta double doorway dates from the time of its extensive restoration, undertaken in 1904 by Joseph Franckel and Theodor Kampfmeyer on behalf of the Crafts Society. Founded in 1844, the Crafts Society moved its headquarters to Sophienstrasse in 1905. On 14 November 1918 the very same house was used as the venue for the first meeting of the Spartacus League, later to become the Communist Party of Germany.
The main door of Sophienstrasse No. 21 leads into a row of interior courtyards running up as far as Gipsstrasse.
The year the Craftsman Association House at Sophienstrasse No. 18 was constructed.
Located in the square named after it, Zionskirchplatz, this Protestant church was built between 1866 and 1873 – a tranquil oasis in the middle of this lively district. Both the square and the church have always been centres of political opposition. During the Third Reich, resistance groups against the Nazi regime congregated at the church, and when the Communists were in power in East Germany, the alternative “environment library” (an information and documentation centre) was established here. Church and other opposition groups active here played a decisive role in the transformation of East Germany in 1989–90.
t Soaring tower of the Neo-Romantic Zionskirche
t Outside dining at Nola’s am Weinberg
Alte Schönhauser Strasse is one of the oldest streets in the Spandauer Vorstadt district, running from the centre of Berlin to Pankow and Schönhausen. In the 18th and 19th centuries this was a popular residential area among wealthy merchants. During World War II, however, its proximity to the neighbouring Jewish district of Scheunenviertel, devastated by the Nazis, decreased its popularity considerably.
For a long time, bars, small factories, workshops and retail shops were the hallmark of this neighbourhood. Small private shops survived longer here than in most parts of Berlin, and the largely original houses maintained much of their pre-1939 atmosphere. Much has changed, however, since the fall of the Berlin Wall. Some of the houses have been restored, and many old businesses have been replaced by fashionable shops, restaurants and bars, making it one of the most expensive retail areas in the city. Throughout the district, the old and the new now stand side by side. One poignant example is at Neue Schönhauser Strasse No. 14. This interesting old house in the German Neo-Renaissance style was built in 1891 to a design by Alfred Messel. The first-floor rooms were home to the first public reading room in Berlin, while on the ground floor was a Volkskaffeehaus, a soup kitchen, with separate rooms for men and women. Here the poor of the neighbourhood could get a free bowl of soup and a cup of ersatz (imitation) coffee.
Experience North Mitte and Prenzlauer Berg
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EAT Yam Yam Popular with local fashionistas, this canteen-style restaurant uses organic Korean vegetables and hot spices for owner Sumi Ha’s cha chang myun and bibimbap. M3 ⌂ Alte Schönhauser Strasse 6 # Noon–11pm Mon–Thu (to midnight Fri & Sat), 1pm–11pm Sun ∑ yamyam-berlin.de ¡¡¡ Nola’s am Weinberg This Swiss-themed restaurant serves fondue as well as risotto dishes and excellent brunches. It has a lovely summer terrace overlooking the pretty am Weinberg park. M2 ⌂ Veteranen Strasse 9 # 10am–1am daily ∑ nola.de ¡¡¡ Rutz A star in Berlin’s gourmet scene, Rutz is a Michelinstarred venue offering dishes based on local recipes served with a creative twist. K3 ⌂ Chausseestrasse 8 # Opening times vary, see website for details ∑ rutz-restaurant.de ¡¡¡ Metzer Eck In its heyday, this traditional eatery was a meeting point for Prenzlauer Berg’s GDR bohemian luminaries. It still has oodles of character and serves cheap, simple dishes like meatballs and Bockwurst. N2 ⌂ Metzer Strasse 33 # 4pm–1am Mon–Fri, 6pm– 1am Sat ∑ metzer-eck.de ¡¡¡ |
Prater has been one of Berlin’s best-known entertainment institutions for more than a century. The building, along with its quiet courtyard, was constructed in the 1840s and later became the city’s oldest and largest beer garden. It now houses a restaurant, serving Berlin specialities, and stages a variety of pop, rock and folk concerts and theatre shows.
Mendelssohn's rabbi and mentor, David Hirschel Fraenkel, is also buried at Alter Jüdischer Friedhof.
t Leafy avenue in the Alter Jüdischer Friedhof
The Old Jewish Cemetery was established in 1672 and, until 1827 when it was finally declared full, it provided the resting place for over 12,000 Berliners. After this date Jews were buried in cemeteries in Schönhauser Allee and in Herbert-Baum-Strasse. The Alter Jüdischer Friedhof was destroyed by the Nazis in 1943, and in 1945 the site was turned into a park. Embedded in the original cemetery wall, a handful of Baroque masebas (or tombstones) continue to recall the past. A maseba stands on the grave of the philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, erected in 1990 by members of the Jewish community.
This synagogue is one of the few reminders of old Jewish life in Berlin, and one of the few in Germany left almost intact during the Nazi regime. Built in 1904, the red-brick synagogue has a basilica-like nave with three aisles and certain Moorish features. Due to its location inside a huge tenement area, Nazi SA troops did not set it on fire during the Kristallnacht pogrom on 9 November 1938, when hundreds of other synagogues were razed to the ground. The synagogue welcomes visitors to its public services.
The unofficial symbol of this district is a 30-m- (100-ft-) high water tower, standing high on the former mill hill in the heart of Prenzlauer Berg. It was here that some of the windmills, once typical in Prenzlauer Berg, produced flour for the city’s population. The distinctive brick water tower was built in 1874 by Wilhelm Vollhering and served as a reservoir for the country’s first running water system. In the 1930s, the basement served as a makeshift jail, where Nazi SA troops held and tortured Communist opponents. This dark period is marked by a plaque.
t The Wasserturm, with its brickwork cladding
This vast Neo-Gothic, industrial red-and-yellow-brick building was once Berlin’s most famous brewery, Schultheiss, built by architect Franz Schwechten in 1889–92. Now housing the Kulturbrauerei (culture brewery), the huge complex with several courtyards has been revived as a cultural and entertainment centre, with concert venues, restaurants and cafés, and a cinema, as well as artists’ ateliers. A popular Christmas market is also held here in December.
Inside the Kulturbrauerei, the Museum Alltagsgeschichte der DDR (Museum of Everyday Life in the GDR) features both permanent and temporary exhibitions on the former East Germany. Don’t miss the reconstructed flat, or the “Trabi-Tent”, a typically ingenious East German solution to a caravan holiday with no caravan.
Experience North Mitte and Prenzlauer Berg
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SHOP Prenzlauer Berg is mostly known today for its laid-back cafés and a great selection of independent food shops, fashion boutiques and bookshops. Goldhahn und Sampson O1 ⌂ Duncker - strasse 9 # 8am–8pm Mon–Fri, 9am–8pm Sat ∑ goldhahnundsampson.de Thatchers N1 ⌂ Kastanien - allee 21 # 11am–7pm Mon–Sat ∑ thatchers.de Saint George's English Bookshop O2 ⌂ Wörther Strasse 27 # 11am–8pm Mon–Fri (to 7pm Sat) ∑ saintgeorgesbookshop.com |