The Gendarmenmarkt is a grand square in Berlin’s Friedrichstadt. It brings together three striking landmarks: the Konzerthaus concert hall with a statue of poet Friedrich Schiller out front, the Neue Kirche (New Church), and the Französischer Dom (French Cathedral). The ensemble forms one of the city’s most elegant urban stages.
Berlin’s Deutscher Dom on the Gendarmenmarkt is often confused with the larger Berliner Dom, but they are different buildings. Completed in 1708, the Deutscher Dom holds no religious services today. Since 1992 it has presented a permanent exhibition on the history of German parliamentary democracy, titled “Paths, Losing Track and Detours.” The displays trace how representation and lawmaking evolved in Germany, with all the progress and setbacks along the way.
Opposite stands the Französischer Dom, home to the Huguenot Museum (Hugenottenmuseum) since 1929. The cathedral was designed to resemble the main Huguenot church in Charenton, France, which was destroyed in 1688. Here, the story of the French Protestants who came to Berlin after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes unfolds through documents, portraits, and everyday objects. The cathedral was noted as closed until 2019.
The museum highlights how Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm welcomed Huguenot settlers, many of whom were skilled artisans and professionals. Their arrival reshaped the city’s economy and culture. In one vivid scene, an artwork in room nine shows Crown Princess Dorothea reacting to a lavish gift of jewels from Pierre Fromery with the words, “But he’s a refugee!” The moment challenges old assumptions about refugees as poor and powerless, revealing the resources and talents many brought with them.
The Huguenot presence also left its mark on local speech. Berliners adopted expressions with French roots, and some became staples of the Berlin dialect. Words like Kinkerlitzchen (linked to the French “quincaillerie,” meaning small hardware or knick-knacks) and Muckefuck (possibly from “mocca faux,” or artificial coffee, though the origin is debated) show this blend of languages in daily life.
Source - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neue_Kirche,_Berlin
The longest stretch of the Berlin Wall still in existence, painted by artists in 1991 and restored in 2009, after years of decay. At Mühlenstraße, next to the river Spree. The murals are painted on the east side of the wall after the fall of Communism; so they are not from the Cold War, during which murals could only be painted on the west side. Make sure not to miss the famous mural of a car seemingly crashing through the wall with Leonid Brezhnev and Erich Honecker kissing above it. It is actually on the back side of the gallery (it is facing away from the street.) It is just inside the entrance of the Eastern Comfort Hostel, near the east end of the gallery.
In 1893 the authorities of Berlin issued the artistic entrance to the National Park Friedrichshain. The fountain of fairy tales was commissioned by the National Park and later designed by Ludwig Hoffmann.
This heritage-protected public bathing beach which opened in 1907 is one of the largest inland lidos in Europe and has a 1275-m-long sand beach, a capacity for up to 30,000 guests and a popular nudist area.
A splendid 15th-century Gothic church with many fine accoutrements.
A cuboid made of concrete. On the front side of the cuboid is a window, through which visitors can see a short film of two kissing men. The video will be changed every two years and will also show kissing lesbians.
150 m high lattice tower with open-air observation deck 124 m above ground.
A beautiful landscape of water canals and vegetation with charming little fish restaurants.
This imposing building houses the Federal German Parliament or "Bundestag" and was completed in 1894 to meet the need of the newly-unified German Empire of the Kaisers for a larger parliamentary building. The Reichstag was intended to resemble a Renaissance palace, and its architect, Paul Wallot, dedicated the building to the German people. The massive inscription in front still reads: "Dem Deutschen Volke" - 'For the German people'. The Nazi leader Adolf Hitler exploited the fire which gutted the Reichstag building in 1933 by blaming the Communists for the arson and for attempted revolution. There is good evidence to suggest, however, that his followers were actually responsible and that this was a manufactured crisis. The iconic photo symbolizing the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany shows a Soviet soldier planting the Soviet flag on top of the building and there are to this day graffiti left by Soviet soldiers on some walls of the Reichstag which were deliberately preserved by the new Germany as a memento of the war. It's perhaps the only national parliament to have traces left by a foreign army deliberately preserved. When German reunification became a reality, the new republic was proclaimed here at midnight on 2 October 1990. The Reichstag building is well-known in the art world thanks to Paris-based Bulgarian artist Christo's mammoth 'Wrapped Reichstag' project in 1995. The entire building was swathed in silver cloth for two weeks that summer.The Reichstag has undergone considerable restoration and alteration, including the addition of a spectacular glass dome designed by the British architect Norman Foster completed in 1999. You can visit the Reichstag building proper and even listen to a parliamentary debate but you need to book on their website sometimes weeks or even months in advance. Fortunately its much easier to visit the glass dome. You can reserve a visiting time and date on their website or in the small building across Scheidmannstrasse, except during the high season you should be able to arrange a time later the same day or the next day. Photo ID or passport is required to make the booking. A passsport is required during your visit. This is a very popular tourist attraction in Berlin and can get quite crowded however it is worth the effort. The helical path up the inside of the dome is a lot of fun and the 360 degree views at the top are splendid.
The Bayerischer Platz is the centre of the Bayerisches Viertel ("Bavarian district", with many streets named after Bavarian cities), which was destroyed a lot more during World War II (about 60%). Somewhere around there Albert Einstein lived once. You’ll find several memorial signs providing information about the Nazi regime's persecution of gays and Jews.
Built 1859-1866 this is one of the most architecturally stunning synagogues in Germany to survive both the Nazi era and the war.
Spectacular building by Mies van der Rohe contains its own collection and temporary exhibitions.