Scheunenviertel
The Scheunenviertel (Barn Quarter) is one of Berlin’s oldest, most charismatic neighbourhoods. Embark on an aimless wander and you’ll constantly stumble upon enchanting surprises: here an idyllic courtyard or bleeding-edge gallery, there a fashion-forward boutique or belle époque ballroom. Since reunification, the Scheunenviertel has also reprised its historic role as Berlin’s main Jewish Quarter.
The Sights in a Day
MMake your way to Nordbahnhof S-Bahn station to start the day with an in-depth study of the Berlin Wall at the Gedenkstätte Berliner Mauer. Follow Bernauer Strasse east to Brunnenstrasse, then either walk south past galleries, boutiques and cafes, or hop on the U8 for the one-stop ride to Rosenthaler Platz and lunch at District Môt.
RSpend the afternoon rambling around the Scheunenviertel and sourcing Berlin fashions and accessories in the Hackesche Höfe and along Alte Schönhauser Strasse, Neue Schönhauser Strasse, Münzstrasse, Rosenthaler Strasse and their side streets. Get your art fix at KW Institute for Contemporary Art and follow up with a strong cuppa in its courtyard Café Bravo. Interested in Berlin’s Jewish community? Swing by the Neue Synagoge and the Alter Jüdischer Friedhof.
NMake dinner reservations at Katz Orange or Pauly Saal for modern German fare. Grab a cocktail at Butcher's, then hit the dance floor at the endearingly retro Clärchens Ballhaus.
Top Sight
x Best of Berlin
Eating
Shopping
Getting There
g Bus The 142 runs along Torstrasse.
S-Bahn Hackescher Markt station (S5, S7, S9) puts you in the thick of the Scheunenviertel. The S1, S2 and S25 stop at Nordbahnhof and Oranienburger Strasse.
j Tram The M1 links key spots within the Scheunenviertel and goes up to Prenzlauer Berg.
U-Bahn Weinmeisterstrasse (U8) is the most central station. Rosenthaler Platz (U8) and Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz (U2) are closer to Torstrasse and the northern Scheunenviertel.
Top SightsGedenkstätte Berliner Mauer
Few streets have played such a pivotal role in Cold War history as Bernauer Strasse. The Berlin Wall ran along its entire length, with one side in the east, the other in the west. Extending for 1.4km and integrating an original Wall segment, this memorial strives to explain how all the elements of the Wall and the death strip fit together, how the border fortifications were enlarged and perfected over time and what impact they had on the daily lives of people on both sides of the wall.
MAP
GOOGLE MAP
Berlin Wall Memorial; 
%030-467 986 666; www.berliner-mauer-gedenkstaette.de; Bernauer Strasse btwn Schwedter Strasse & Gartenstrasse; 
hvisitor center 9.30am-7pm Apr-Oct, to 6pm Nov-Mar, open-air exhibit 8am-10pm, documentation centre 10am-6pm Tue-Sun ; 
dNordbahnhof, Bernauer Strasse, Eberswalder Strasse
y Top Tips
AThe visitor centre has free maps and screens a short introductory film.
AEnjoy sweeping views of the memorial from the viewing tower near Ackerstrasse.
AA 15-minute remembrance service for the Wall victims is held in the Chapel of Reconciliation at noon Tuesday to Friday.
5 Take a Break
The friendly if tourist-oriented Ost-West Cafe (
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; %030-4677 6016; www.ost-west-cafe.de; Brunnenstrasse 53; mains €4-7; h8am-10pm; 
bBernauer Strasse) serves simple international dishes amid Cold War-era-themed decor. It's about 600m from the Gedenkstätte Berliner Mauer, up Bernauer Strasse, on the corner of Brunnenstrasse.
Don’t Miss
National Monument to German Division
The central memorial consists of a 70m section of original wall bounded by two rusted steel flanks. Behind it is a reconstructed ‘death strip’ complete with a guard tower, a security patrol path and the lamps that bathed it in fierce light at night.
Berliner Mauer Dokumentationszentrum
This recently revamped exhibit uses photographs, recordings and archival documents to provide a historical overview of Wall events.
Kapelle der Versöhnung
The simple but radiant Chapel of Reconciliation stands on the spot of an 1894 brick church detonated in 1985 to make room for a widening of the border strip.
Window of Remembrance
A wall of photographic portraits gives identity to the would-be escapees who lost their lives at the Berlin Wall. The parklike area surrounding the installation was once part of the adjacent cemetery.
Nordbahnhof ‘Ghost Station’
The Wall divided the city’s transportation system. Three train lines that originated in West Berlin had to travel beneath East Berlin before returning to the western side. At heavily guarded 'ghost-stations', trains slowed but did not stop; one of them, today's S-Bahn station Nordbahnhof, has an exhibit on the subject.
Tunnel 29
A highlight between Brunnenstrasse and Schwedter Strasse is a display on the world-famous Tunnel 29, which ran for 135m below Bernauer Strasse and helped 29 people escape from East Berlin in September 1962.
1Top Sights
1Sights
5Eating
Sights
1Hackesche HöfeHISTORIC SITE
Thanks to its congenial mix of cafes, galleries, boutiques and entertainment venues, this attractively restored complex of eight interlinked courtyards is hugely popular with the tourist brigade. Court I, festooned with patterned art nouveau tiles, is the prettiest. Court VII leads off to the romantic Rosenhöfe, a single courtyard with a sunken rose garden and tendril-like balustrades.
(%030-2809 8010; www.hackesche-hoefe.com; enter from Rosenthaler Strasse 40/41 or Sophienstrasse 6; bWeinmeisterstrasse, jM1, dHackescher Markt)
1Neue SynagogeSYNAGOGUE
The original New Synagogue, finished in 1866 in what was then the predominantly Jewish part of the city, was Germany's largest synagogue at that time. It was destroyed in WWII and rebuilt after the Berlin Wall fell. Now this space doubles as a museum and cultural centre documenting local Jewish life.
(%030-8802 8300; www.centrumjudaicum.de; Oranienburger Strasse 28-30; adult/concession €5/4; h10am-6pm Mon-Fri, 10am-7pm Sun, closes 3pm Fri & 6pm Sun Oct-Mar; bOranienburger Tor, dOranienburger Strasse)
1Sammlung BorosGALLERY
This Nazi-era bunker shelters one of Berlin's finest private collections of contemporary art. Advertising guru Christian Boros acquired the behemoth in 2003 and converted it into a shining beacon of art. Book online (months ahead, if possible) to join a guided tour (also in English) of works by such hot shots as Wolfgang Tilmanns, Olafur Eliasson and Ai Weiwei and to pick up fascinating nuggets about the building's colourful past as a tropical-fruit warehouse and techno and fetish club.
(Boros Collection; %030-2759 4065; www.sammlung-boros.de; Reinhardtstrasse 20; adult/concession €12/6; htours 3-6.30pm Thu, 10am-6.30pm Fri, 10am-4.30pm Sat & Sun; bOranienburger Tor, Friedrichstrasse, jM1, dFriedrichstrasse)
1Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für GegenwartMUSEUM
Berlin's main contemporary art museum opened in 1996 in an old railway station, whose loft and grandeur are a great backdrop for this Aladdin's cave of paintings, installations, sculptures and video art. Changing exhibits span the arc of post-1950 artistic endeavour – Conceptual Art, Pop Art, Minimal Art, Fluxus – and often feature seminal works by such key players as Andy Warhol, Cy Twombly, Joseph Beuys and Robert Rauschenberg.
(%030-266 424 242; www.hamburgerbahnhof.de; Invalidenstrasse 50-51; adult/concession €10/5; h10am-6pm Tue, Wed & Fri, 10am-8pm Thu, 11am-6pm Sat & Sun; bHauptbahnhof, Naturkundemuseum, dHauptbahnhof)
1Museum für NaturkundeMUSEUM
Fossils and minerals don’t quicken your pulse? Well, how about the world's largest mounted dino? The 12m-high Brachiosaurus branchai is joined by a dozen other Jurassic buddies, some of which are brought to virtual flesh-and-bone life with the help of clever ‘Juraskopes’. Other crowd favourites include an ultrarare archaeopteryx and, hopefully soon, the world's most famous dead polar bear, Knut.
(Museum of Natural History; %030-2093 8591; www.naturkundemuseum-berlin.de; Invalidenstrasse 43; adult/concession incl audioguide €6/3.50; h9.30am-6pm Tue-Fri, 10am-6pm Sat & Sun; bNaturkundemuseum)
1Jüdische MädchenschuleHISTORIC BUILDING
A 1920s former Jewish Girls' School reopened in 2012 as a cultural and culinary centre in a sensitively restored New Objectivity structure by Alexander Beer. Three renowned Berlin galleries – Eigen+Art Lab, CWC and Michael Fuchs – and the Museum The Kennedys have set up shop in the former classrooms, while the ground floor has the Jewish deli Mogg & Melzer (
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; %030-330 060 770; www.moggandmelzer.com; Augustrasse 11-13; mains €7-15; h8am-late Mon-Fri, 10am-late Sat & Sun; jM1, dOranienburger Strasse) and the Michelin-starred Pauly Saal.
(www.maedchenschule.org; Augustrasse 11-13; hhours vary; bOranienburger Tor, jM1, dOranienburger Strasse)
1Alter Jüdischer FriedhofCEMETERY
What looks like a small park was in fact Berlin’s first Jewish cemetery, destroyed by the Nazis in 1943. Some 12,000 people were buried here between 1672 and 1827, including the philosopher Moses Mendelssohn. His tombstone (not the original) stands representative for all the six-feet-under residents.
(Grosse Hamburger Strasse; jM1, dHackescher Markt)
1KW Institute for Contemporary ArtGALLERY
In an old margarine factory, nonprofit KW helped chart the fate of the Scheunenviertel as Berlin’s original post-Wall art district. It still stages ground-breaking shows reflecting the latest – and often radical – trends in contemporary art. Free tours (with reduced admission) run Thursday at 7pm.
KW's founders also inaugurated the Berlin Biennale (www.berlinbiennale.de) in 1998. The courtyard Café Bravo (
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; %030-2345 7777; www.bravomitte.de; Augustrasse 69; h9am-8pm Mon-Wed, Fri & Sat, to 9pm Thu, 10am-8pm Sun; dOranienburger Strasse) makes for a stylish coffee break.
(%030-243 4590; www.kw-berlin.de; Augustrasse 69; adult/concession €6/4; hnoon- 7pm, to 9pm Tue; bOranienburger Strasse, jM1, dOranienburger Tor)
UnderstandJewish Berlin
Since reunification, Berlin has had the fastest-growing Jewish community in the world. It is diverse: most members are Russian Jewish immigrants but there are also Jews of German heritage, Israelis wishing to escape their politically frustrating homeland and American expats lured by Berlin’s low-cost living and limitless creativity. Today there are about 13,000 active members of the Jewish community, including 1000 belonging to the Orthodox congregation Adass Yisroel. However, since not all Jews choose to be affiliated with a synagogue, the actual population is estimated to be at least twice as high.
Community Roots
Records show that Jews first settled in Berlin in 1295, but throughout the Middle Ages they had to contend with being blamed for any kind of societal or economic woe. When the plague struck (1348–49), rumours that Jews had poisoned the wells led to the first major pogrom. In 1510, 38 Jews were publicly tortured and burned for allegedly stealing the host from a church because a confession by the actual (Christian) perpetrator was deemed too straightforward to be true.
Financial interests, not humanitarian ones, motivated the Elector Friedrich Wilhelm to invite Jewish families expelled from Vienna to settle in Berlin in 1671. To his credit, he later extended the offer to Jews in general and also allowed them to practise their faith – which at the time was still considered a privilege throughout Europe.
The Last Century
By the late 19th century, many of Berlin’s Jews, numbering about 5% of the city's population, had become thoroughly German in speech and identity. When a wave of Hasidic Jews escaping the pogroms of Eastern Europe arrived around the same time, they found their way to today’s Scheunenviertel, which at that time was an immigrant slum with cheap housing. By 1933 Berlin’s Jewish population had grown to around 160,000 and constituted one-third of all Jews living in Germany. The well-known horrors of the Nazi years sent most into exile and left 55,000 dead. Only 1000 to 2000 Jews are believed to have survived the war years in Berlin, often with the help of their non-Jewish neighbours.
Eating
5Pauly SaalGERMAN€€€
Regionally hunted and gathered ingredients steer the seasonal menu of Michael Hoepfl, who needed only one year to coax a star from the Michelin testers for his earthy gourmet cuisine. Try the Pomeranian entrecôte amid 1920s inspired decor spiced up with provocative artwork.
(%030-3300 6070; www.paulysaal.com; Augustrasse 11-13; 2-/3-/4-course lunch €34/46/59, 4-/7-course dinner €68/97; hnoon-2pm & 6-9.30pm, bar to 2.30am Tue-Sat; bOranienburger Tor, jM1, dOranienburger Strasse)
5Katz OrangeINTERNATIONAL€€€
With its gourmet organic farm-to-table menu, feel-good country styling and swift and smiling servers, the 'Orange Cat' hits a gastro grand slam. It will have you purring for Duroc pork that's been slow-roasted for 12 hours giving extra-rich flavour. The setting in a castle-like former brewery is stunning, especially in summer when the patio opens.
(%030-983 208 430; www.katzorange.com; Bergstrasse 22; mains €18-26; h6-11pm; bRosenthaler Platz, jM8)
5Chèn ChèVIETNAMESE€€
Settle down in the charming Zen garden or beneath the hexagonal chandelier of this exotic Vietnamese teahouse and pick from the small menu of steaming pho (soups), curries and noodle dishes served in traditional clay pots. Exquisite tea selection and small store.
(%030-2888 4282; www.chenche-berlin.de; Rosenthaler Strasse 13; dishes €7-11; hnoon-midnight; 
v; bRosenthaler Platz, jM1)
5District MôtVIETNAMESE€
At this colourful mock-Saigon street-food parlour, patrons squat on tiny plastic stools around wooden tables where rolls of toilet paper irreverently stand in for paper napkins. The small-plate menu mixes the familiar (steamy pho noodle soup, papaya salad) with the adventurous (stewed eel, deep-fried silk worms).
(%030-2008 9284; www.districtmot.com; Rosenthaler Strasse 62; dishes €8-19; hnoon-1am Sun-Thu, to 2am Fri & Sat; bRosenthaler Platz, jM1)
5SusuruJAPANESE€
Go ye forth and slurp! Susuru is Japanese for slurping and, quite frankly, that’s the best way to deal with the oodles of noodles at this soup parlour, which looks as neat and stylish as a bento box.
(%030-211 1182; www.susuru.de; Rosa-Luxemburg-Strasse 17; mains €6.50-9; h11.30am-11.30pm; 
Wv; bRosa-Luxemburg-Platz)
5SchwarzwaldstubenGERMAN€€
In the mood for a Hansel and Gretel moment? Then join the other 'lost kids' for satisfying southern German food amid tongue-in-cheek forest decor. Thumbs up for the Spätzle (mac and cheese), Maultaschen (ravioli-like pasta) and giant schnitzel, all best washed down with a crisp Rothaus Tannenzäpfle beer, straight from the Black Forest.
(%030-2809 8084; Tucholskystrasse 48; mains €7-14; h9am-midnight; jM1, dOranienburger Strasse)
5Muret La BarbaITALIAN€€
This wine shop–bar-restaurant combo oozes the kind of rustic authenticity that instantly transports cognoscenti to the Boot. The food is hearty, inventive, and made with top ingredients imported from the motherland. All wine is available by the glass or by the bottle (corkage fee €9.50).
(%030-2809 7212; www.muretlabarba.de; Rosenthaler Strasse 61; mains €9-19; h10am-midnight Mon-Fri, noon-midnight Sat & Sun; bRosenthaler Platz, jM1)
Local LifeRosenthaler Platz: Snack Central
For feeding hunger pangs on the quick and cheap, choices could not be greater than around Rosenthaler Platz U-Bahn station. Our three faves are Rosenthaler Grill und Schlemmerbuffet (
GOOGLE MAP
; %030-283 2153; Torstrasse 125; dishes €2.80-7; h24hr; bRosenthaler Platz, jM1, 12) for Oscar-worthy doner kebabs, Rosenburger (
GOOGLE MAP
; %030-2408 3037; Brunnenstrasse 196; burgers €3-6; h11am-3am Sun-Thu, to 5am Fri & Sat; bRosenthaler Platz, jM1, 12) for freshly made burgers, and CôCô (
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; %030-2463 0595; www.co-co.net; Rosenthaler Strasse 2; sandwiches €5-6.50; h11am-10pm Mon-Thu, to 11pm Fri & Sat, noon-10pm Sun; bRosenthaler Platz, jM1, 12) for bulging banh mi (Vietnamese sandwiches).
Drinking
6Clärchens BallhausCLUB
Yesteryear is right now at this late, great 19th-century dance hall where groovers and grannies hoof it across the parquet without even a touch of irony. There's different sounds nightly – salsa to swing, tango to disco – and a live band on Saturday.
(%030-282 9295; www.ballhaus.de; Augustrasse 24; h11am-late, dancing from 9pm or 9.30pm; jM1, dOranienburger Strasse)
6Butcher'sBAR
Channelling PDT in New York, cocktail whisperer David Wiedemann has created a furtive libation station in a former butchershop entered via a red British phone booth tucked into a sausage parlour called Fleischerei. Drinks are expertly mixed and the ambience is refined, even if meat hooks, a leather bar and blood-red light play upon the place's early incarnation.
(www.butcher-berlin.de; Torstrasse 116; h8.30pm-late Tue-Sat; bRosenthaler Platz, jM1)
6Kaffee BurgerCLUB
Nothing to do with either coffee or meat patties, this sweaty cult club with lovingly faded Commie-era decor is a fun-for-all concert and party pen with a sound policy that swings from indie and electro to klezmer punk without missing a beat.
(www.kaffeeburger.de; Torstrasse 60; bRosa-Luxemburg-Platz)
6Amano BarBAR
This glamour vixen at the budget-hip Hotel Amano, with its marble bar, cubistic furnishings and warm chocolate hues, attracts chatty sophisticates with original libations that verge on cocktail alchemy. In summer, the action expands to the rooftop terrace.
(%030-809 4150; www.bar.hotel-amano.com; Augustrasse 43; h5pm-late; bRosenthaler Platz, jM1)
Local LifeHaus Schwarzenberg
The last holdout in the heavily gentrified area around the Hackescher Markt, Haus Schwarzenberg (
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; www.haus-schwarzenberg.org; Rosenthaler Strasse 39; jM1, dHackescher Markt) is an unpretentious, authentic space where art and creativity are allowed to flourish beyond mainstream and commercial needs. Festooned with street art and bizarre metal sculptures, its courtyards lead to studios, offices, the Monsterkabinett ‘amusement park’, the edgy-arty bar Eschloraque Rümschrümp, an arthouse cinema and a trio of exhibits dealing with Jewish persecution during the Third Reich.
Entertainment
3Chamäleon VarietéCABARET
A marriage of art-nouveau charms and high-tech theatre trappings, this intimate 1920s-style cabaret in an old ballroom presents classy variety shows – comedy, juggling acts and singing – often in sassy, sexy and unconventional fashion.
(%030-400 0590; www.chamaeleonberlin.com; Rosenthaler Strasse 40/41; jM1, dHackescher Markt)
3Friedrichstadt-PalastCABARET
Europe’s largest revue theatre has a tradition going back to the 1920s and is famous for glitzy-glam Vegas-style productions with leggy showgirls, a high-tech stage, mind-boggling special effects and plenty of artistry.
(%030-2326 2326; www.palast.berlin; Friedrichstrasse 107; bOranienburger Tor, jM1)
UnderstandScheunenviertel: From Hay to Hip
The Scheunenviertel’s odd name (Barn Quarter) hearkens back centuries to the days of wooden houses, frequent fires and poor fire-fighting techniques, which is why the Prussian king ordered all barns containing flammable crops to be stored outside the city walls. In the early 20th century, the quarter absorbed huge numbers of poor Eastern European Jewish immigrants, many of whom were annihilated by the Nazis. After the war the Scheunenviertel gradually deteriorated into a down-at-heel East Berlin quarter, but it has catapulted from drab to fab since reunification. Now a creative-class darling, its cafes and bars brim with iPad-toters, sassy fashionistas and skinny stray artists.
Shopping
7BonbonmachereiFOOD
The aroma of peppermint and liquorice wafts through this old-fashioned basement candy kitchen whose owners use antique equipment and time-tested recipes to churn out such tasty treats as their signature leaf-shaped Berliner Maiblätter.
(%030-4405 5243; www.bonbonmacherei.de; Oranienburger Strasse 32, Heckmann Höfe; hnoon-8pm Wed-Sat Sep-Jun; jM1, dOranienburger Strasse)
7Ampelmann GalerieSOUVENIRS
It took a vociferous grassroots campaign to save the little Ampelmann, the endearing fellow on East German pedestrian traffic lights. Now the beloved cult figure and global brand graces an entire store worth of T-shirts, fridge magnets, pasta, onesies, umbrellas and other knick-knacks.
(%030-4472 6438; www.ampelmann.de; Court V, Hackesche Höfe, Rosenthaler Strasse 40/41; h9.30am-9pm Mon-Sat, 10.30am-7pm Sun; bWeinmeisterstrasse, jM1, dHackescher Markt)
71. Absinth Depot BerlinFOOD, DRINK
Van Gogh, Toulouse-Lautrec and Oscar Wilde were among the fin-de-siècle artists who drew inspiration from the ‘green fairy’, as absinthe is also known. This quaint little shop has over 100 varieties of the potent stuff and an expert owner who’ll happily help you pick out the perfect bottle for your own mind-altering rendezvous.
(%030-281 6789; www.erstesabsinthdepotberlin.de; Weinmeisterstrasse 4; h2pm-midnight Mon-Fri, 1pm-midnight Sat; bWeinmeisterstrasse)
7ButterflysoulfireFASHION
Only at the flagship store of Maria Thomas and Thoas Lindner's avantgarde Berlin fashion label can you get the latest cuts of cleverly geometric and asymmetric shirts, pants, jackets and basics. The eye-candy store also has deals and steals from last season, plus bags by Garnet, jewellery by Bjorg and other hipster items from small fashion-forward labels
(www.butterflysoulfire.com; Mulackstrasse 11; hnoon-8pm Mon-Sat; bRosa-Luxemburg-Platz, Weinmeisterstrasse)