The former Imperial General Post Office now serves as the Museum for Telecommunication and Post, a place that traces how people have sent messages and shared news across centuries. Inside, rooms once dedicated to official mail routes now hold displays that show the rise of communication from letters to cables, telephones, and early digital tools.
Exhibits present many historical objects, each one tied to a moment in the evolution of communication. Classic post boxes, stamps, sorting equipment, and uniforms show how national mail systems worked behind the scenes. Early telegraphs and switchboards reveal the networks that connected cities long before mobile phones. Vintage telephones, radios, and early computers illustrate changing technology and the growing speed of information.
The museum’s setting adds to the experience. The architecture reflects its past as the Imperial General Post Office, with solid lines, large halls, and details that point to an era when post and telegraph were vital public services. Walking through the corridors hints at the bustle of clerks, messengers, and operators who once kept messages moving.
Displays track the shift from inked addresses and sealed envelopes to signal wires and wireless transmission. Visitors can compare tools from different ages, seeing how each new invention changed speed, reach, and style. The result is a clear timeline that connects the everyday act of sending a message to the wide networks that carry it.
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.
Includes the Panoramapunkt, the viewing terrace located 101 metres above ground, accessible by Europe's fastest elevator.
A remarkable medium-sized classical castle by the famous K.F. Schinkel built 1820 to 1824, also called "Humboldtschlösschen", because Alexander and Wilhelm von Humboldt (and their family) lived here once. Still privately owned.
Official residence of the (largely ceremonial) President of Germany since 1994. Only Roman Herzog (president 1994-1999) actually lived here, his successors have preferred a quiet apartment on the outskirts of Berlin, but this is where the president will usually host guests and do public events. Guided tours are possible, but plan to book up to nine months ahead and be prepared for having to reschedule if the president decides to hold an event on short notice which preempts tours.
The museum’s treasures include the sculpture collection with works of art from the middle ages to the 18th century. The Bode museum is best known for its Byzantine art collection and the coin cabinet.
Became famous from the film named after this street. During the Cold War, the street was split, with one section belonging to East Berlin and one to West Berlin.
The old town of Köpenick is surrounded by water. Especially noteworthy are the Köpenick Palace which houses a museum of applied art and the Neogothic town hall.
Museum of Contemporary Art located in former Hamburger Bahnhof train station. Big halls filled with artworks made since 1960s. In 2004 Rieckhallen, former Lehrter Bahnhof, was opened and now provides exhibition space for the Friedrich Christian Flick Collection. Free public guided tours (in English): Sa and Su at 12:00.
This museum describes the procedures applied by the East German secret police. Every Friday to Monday, there is a guided tour in English at 15:00 (5€).
The meeting point of one of the leading oppositions against the GDR regime and is a great Neogothic church. Also the only ecumenical Lord's supper with Protestants and Catholics together took place in the Gethsemanekirche (2003).
The Bendlerblock building complex has long held ties to the German military, first serving as the offices of the Imperial German Navy and today housing the Berlin offices of the Ministry of Defense. It was here where, on 20 July 1944, Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg and other officers led a coup that sought to remove Hitler and the Nazis from power. They failed and were summarily executed in the courtyard, where a memorial stands for these men who are considered German heroes by many. Inside the building you'll find the German Resistance Memorial Center, a permanent exhibit dedicated to the July 20 plot and other individuals in the German resistance.
Huge technical museum, on a former railroad depot, featuring from ancient water and wind mills to computer pioneer Konrad Zuse's inventions, a collection of old to new vehicles of all types -bicycles, boats, trains, etc - and the interactive Spectrum science center with various hands-on experiments. There's an actual C-17 "Candy Bomber" airplane hanging on its façade. The railroad and aeronautical sections are hard to beat.
The town hall of Berlin is known as such because it is made of red brick, not due to its former political persuasion. There are nice Prussian rooms inside, which are worth a look.
Also known as "der hohle Zahn" (the Hollow Tooth), this church in Breitscheidplatz is a memorial to Kaiser Wilhelm, and one of Berlin's most famous landmarks. Thick walls and plain decor mark it as neo-Romanesque, but with what's left of the Gedächtniskirche, it's tough to distinguish it as any one style. Allied bombing left only one tower standing on 22 November 1943, but a new location for worship designed by Egon Eiermann was completed in December 1961 (it's the octagonal structure with blue stained glass windows). There is a small memorial museum beneath the tower filled with artifacts from the original church, which was built from 1891-95 to architect Franz Schwechten's specifications.Controversy arose after the war over the various options presented by the half-ruined cathedral - should it be torn down completely and rebuilt? Or should the destroyed sections be left standing as a memorial? The four major sections of the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche (central space, foyer, new tower and chapel) surround the ruined tower of the old church bridge and show the time gap between old and new. Mosaics and other remnants from the old church serve as a monument against war.
Museum established in 1888, with a collection of 3,500 instruments.