Spandau Citadel stands on the site of a 12th-century castle, transformed between 1560 and 1590 into a formidable fortress following Italian military design. Thick bastions, angular walls, and a strategic riverside position show how Renaissance engineers reshaped medieval defenses for the age of cannon.
Within the citadel, the round Juliusturm gained fame far beyond its walls. After the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, part of the vast French indemnity was stored here in physical gold coins. The tower became a national symbol of financial security, so much so that “Juliusturm” entered German everyday language as a term for a large reserve fund. Most of the remaining gold was later sent back to France following Germany’s defeat in World War I, yet the nickname lived on well into the 1960s.
Today, the citadel hosts several museums that trace different strands of Berlin’s story. One explores the local history of the town of Spandau, from medieval origins to modern industry. Another focuses on monumental public art in Berlin, shedding light on sculptures, memorials, and the political eras that shaped them. A third looks at artillery, linking the citadel’s architecture to the evolving technology it was built to resist.
Source - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spandau_Citadel
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.
Nice church near Unter den Linden/Museum Island, finished in 1830 by Schinkel in English Neogothic style. Nice exhibition inside (neoclassical statues and an exhibition about Schinkel's life and work upstairs).
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).
This abandoned amusement park with its iconic large Ferris wheel opened in the German Democratic Republic in 1969. After its closing in 2002 the rotting theme park and its apocalyptic atmosphere became a target of international media coverage, amongst others by the New York Times. In 2016 it was announced that the venue will be restored and reopened as an art and culture park.
Want to feel like one of the angels in Wim Wenders' classic film Der Himmel über Berlin (a.k.a. Wings of Desire)? Climb to the top of Gold-Else, as the statue of Victory on the top of the Victory Column is known. Just don't jump off if you're not actually an angel. Unfortunately there is no elevator, so be prepared for 285 steps to the platform at 50.7 m.Else was built to commemorate Prussian military prowess in the wars against Denmark (1864), Austria (1866) and France (1870-71), and moved to her present location by the Nazis. Five roads run into a traffic circle called Grosser Stern, in the centre of which is the Siegessäule. Else is visible from much of the city district known as Tiergarten. At the base of the statue are reliefs of war scenes representing the conflicts which this monument memorializes. The Allies forced Germany to take those panels down in 1945, but they were remounted in 1984 and 1987. It also served as a backdrop for a speech by then senator Obama in 2008, after his request to speak in front of Brandenburger Tor caused a political debate in Germany.
The largest zoo in the world, both in terms of number of species (1500) and animal population (14,000). It is especially famous for its pandas. The Elephant Gate (Budapester Straße), one of the two entrances and next to the Aquarium, is a traditional photo stop for most visitors because of the architecture.
In this house the surrender of Germany was signed on May 9th, 1945, ending WWII in Europe. This museum describes the history of the war between Germany and the Soviet Union between 1941 and 1945 and the GDR/German-Russian relationship ever since. Historic rooms, permanent exhibition and special exhibits.
Designed by Hans Poelzig in 1929, it is the first self-contained broadcasting house in the world and it is still in use today.
The city's Protestant cathedral and the burial place of the Prussian kings. You can climb to the top and get a view of the city.
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.
This aeronautical experimental park on the grounds of Germany's first air field Johannisthal consists of a group of several individual technical monuments such as the walkable Großer Windkanal (High-speed wind channel, 1932–34), the Trudelturm (Fatty tower), a vertical wind tunnel for spinning tests (1934–36), the Schallgedämpfter Motorenprüfstand (Sound-insulated engine test bed, 1933–35) and the Isothermische Kugellabore (Adlershofer Busen, Isothermal spheric laboratories, 1959–1961), which are about 500 metres away from the other monuments.
Built by Hitler for the 1936 Olympic Games, this is one of the better examples of Nazi neoclassical architecture (laying claim to the legacy of Rome, fasces and all) and is still used for sporting events. At those Olympics, African-American athlete Jesse Owens won four gold medals, a party-spoiler for Aryan superiority. It's the home of soccer team Hertha BSC - they were relegated in 2023 and now play in 2. Bundesliga the second tier. In 2024 this stadium hosted games in the UEFA Euro Finals, including the final itself. For a glimpse of the Olympiastadion in its original state, seek out Leni Riefenstahl's movie Olympia - clips are shown in the Kinemathek and elsewhere.