Known locally as “der hohle Zahn” — the Hollow Tooth — Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church stands at Breitscheidplatz as both a landmark and a reminder of Berlin’s turbulent past. Its surviving tower, scarred yet striking, draws the eye amid the modern buildings around it.
The original church was built between 1891 and 1895, designed by architect Franz Schwechten. Thick walls, rounded arches, and simple decoration showed a neo-Romanesque influence, though the surviving fragments make any single style hard to define today.
On 22 November 1943, Allied bombing devastated the structure, leaving only one tower standing. That broken spire became a powerful symbol of the city’s wartime destruction and later reconstruction.
After the war, Berliners faced a difficult choice: demolish the damaged church and rebuild it completely, or preserve the ruins as a memorial. The decision led to a compromise. Architect Egon Eiermann designed a new complex completed in December 1961, while the shattered tower remained.
The ensemble includes four main parts around the old tower: a central worship space, a foyer, a new bell tower, and a chapel. The new octagonal church, famous for its blue stained-glass windows, contrasts boldly with the weathered remains beside it, highlighting the passage from past to present.
Beneath the ruined tower, a small memorial museum displays artifacts from the original church. Mosaics, fragments, and other salvaged details speak to the building’s imperial origins and its transformation into a monument against war. Together, the preserved ruins and the modern structures form one of Berlin’s most recognizable ensembles, keeping history visible in the heart of the city.
Source - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaiser_Wilhelm_Memorial_Church
Includes the Panoramapunkt, the viewing terrace located 101 metres above ground, accessible by Europe's fastest elevator.
This chapel was built on the site of a church built in 1894 which sat on the "death strip" and was thus blown up by the GDR authorities in 1985. The chapel is the site of occasional memorial services for victims of the wall.
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.
The main floor houses the antiquities collection in an ongoing exhibit called "Neue Antike im Alten Museum" (New Antiquities in the Old Museum). Directly through the front door, entering from the Lustgarten (Pleasure Garden, now under reconstruction), there is a domed rotunda with red and white cameos, Greek-style, with statues of the gods. To reach the Hildesheim silver collection, go to the back of the rotunda, turn left, walk through the long gallery and turn left into a small room at the end.
It is the only hemp museum in Germany; you can see the history of hemp, the culture and use of it. You can see hemp grow. There is a cafe downstairs, with an open WiFi access. Everything going on here is legal - including the hemp growing under artificial light (a low THC strain grown with a special permit) - but they do not refrain from political commentary on the legal situation of cannabis in their exhibits.
Places with markets on Wednesdays and Saturdays are popular with locals at Winterfeldplatz. Buy a coffee and browse amongst the stalls; this is a place to unearth hidden gems. Breakfast is served usually until 14:00-15:00.
The only surviving Berlin city gate and a potent symbol of the city. This is the point where Straße des 17. Juni becomes Unter den Linden. The gate was designed by Carl Gotthard Langhans in 1791 and was intended to resemble the Acropolis in Athens. The Brandenburg Gate now symbolizes reunification, after dividing East and West Berlin for decades. This is the site of Reagan's "Mr. Gorbachev open this gate, Mr. Gorbachev tear down this wall" speech.
A domed church at Bebelplatz/Unter den Linden, the oldest (mid-18th century) and one of the biggest Catholic churches in Berlin. Interior was redesigned in a modern style in the 1950s, but there are still many treasure chambers in the basement.
An eerie memorial to victims of the Nazi regime built on the place of a former execution room, where nearly 2900 people where put to death between 1933 and 1945.
From 1941, 12,000 tons of concrete in a 15-m-high and 20-m-diameter cylinder were built to test the load-bearing capacity of the Berlin soils (turns out glacial sands are no good basis for gargantuan architecture) for Albert Speer's Germania buildings. Too massive for later blasting, this is one of the more bizarre remains of the Third Reich.
Take a stroll for a few kilometers along this canal which runs right through the heart of Kreuzberg. It's peaceful and mostly traffic-free, but full of life in summer. Some parts are lined with bars and restaurants with terraces. Sit on a bench or terrace and watch the world go by on a summer evening.
The complex consists of eight interconnected courtyards. Plenty of designer boutiques can be found here.
Germany's national centre for contemporary non-European art. The house is a leading centre for the contemporary arts and a venue for projects breaking through artistic boundaries. This architectural landmark was an American contribution to the international building exhibition INTERBAU 1957 as an embodiment of the free exchange of ideas. Colloquially called Schwangere Auster (Pregnant Oyster).