From Wikitravel

Berlin Mitte is one of Berlin's oldest districts and represents the "centre" (Mitte) of the city. Most of the main sights are to be found within the Mitte district, once the centre-piece of East Berlin (before 1989 and the fall of the Berlin Wall) but now undergoing a major revival after years of neglect. The area around Unter den Linden is Berlin's primary boulevard and represents the very core of the central Berlin Mitte district.

Contents 1 Understand 1.1 Orientation 2 Get in 2.1 Public transport 3 See 3.1 Landmarks 3.2 Museums and Galleries 4 Do 5 Buy 6 Eat 7 Drink 8 Sleep 8.1 Budget 8.2 Splurge

Understand

Orientation

The Mitte district was in 2001 condensed from three districts into one larger district known as "Mitte." This district can be divided into several neighborhoods and sub-districts in order to help traveller's traversing this district:

• Mitte:
  • Unter den Linden- prime boulevard
  • Museuminsel See (Museum Island)
  • Nikolaiviertel
  • Scheunenviertel

The Scheunenviertel is located on the south by the River Spree and the Hakescher Markt, on the north by the east-west course of the Torstrasse, on the east by Rosa Luxemburg Platz and by the northern extension of Friedrichstrasse to the west. The area takes its name (the "Barn Quarter") from the move in 1672 by the Great Elector of all the hay barns out of the fire-prone city centre. After this time the area became a refuge for Jews fleeing persecution and pogrom in Russia and Poland - by the 19th century, Scheunenviertel had emerged as the centre of the Berlin Jewish community.

• Tiergarten
• Wedding

Get in

Mitte regains it's position as the transfer point when in June 2006 the brand new main station (Hauptbahnhof) will be open. In future allmost all short- and long-haul trains will arrive and depart from this station.

Public transport

Mitte is served by most S- and U-Bahn lines and has several stations. Some of the most importants are:

• Alexanderplatz - for the old centre of East Berlin, now about to experience a major revival
• Friedrichstrasse - for Unter den Linden
• Unter den Linden - for Brandenburger Tor and Reichstag
• Stadtmitte - for Gendarmenmarkt
• Klosterstrasse - for Nikolaiviertel
• Tiergarten - for the Tiergarten park, the flea market on the Strasse des 17th Juni and the Siegessäule (Victory coloum)

See

Landmarks

• The Berliner Dom (Berlin Cathedral) [1] is the city's Protestant cathedral and the burial place of the prussian kings

• the Reichstag [2] - this imposing building houses the Federal German Parliament or "Bundestag" and was originally 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. When German reunification became a reality, the new republic was proclaimed here at midnight 2 October 1990. The Reichstag has undergone considerable restoration and alteration, not least the addition of a spectacular glass dome designed by the British architect Norman Foster. 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.

• Fernsehturm/Alexanderplatz

The Fernsehturm's nickname, Telespargel (television-asparagus) does not come close to expressing how this huge monument to tacky 20th-century culture dominates the sweeping, open square.

This 368-meter high metal vegetable (it's a TV tower) sprouted from the concrete 1965-69 during a particularly hideous Soviet-inspired architectural era in the East. During certain times of day, sunlight reflecting from the top caused a large cross-shaped light to shine down on the city. Called the Rache des Papstes (Pope's revenge) by nominally atheist East Berliners, the light-cross was an ironic result of socialist architecture. Rumor has it the architect was deprived of more than his next commission after that fiasco.

At night, the Fernsehturm sometimes appears to be shooting light beams from the tower section, giving the impression it's a Death Star a la Star Wars.

• Siegessäule (Tiergarten) (Victory Column). 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. Else was moved to her present location by the Nazis, but was originally built to commemorate Prussian military prowess in the wars against Denmark (1864), Austria (1866) and France (1870-71). Five roads run into a traffic circle called Grosser Stern, in the center 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.

• Brandenburg Gate (Brandenburger Tor) [3] - 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)

• Pariser Platz - the large square in front of the Brandenburg Gate contains the French and American embassies, as well as the rebuilt Hotel Adlon and the new building of the Academy of Arts.

• Memorial for the Murdered Jews of Europe [4] (Denkmal für die ermordeten Juden Europas) - opened on 10 May 2005, a vast Holocaust memorial designed by the American architect Peter Eisenman and built close to the Brandenburg Gate and Pariser Platz, only a few hundred metres from the site of Hitler's bunker.

• the Russian Embassy (formerly the Soviet Embassy, Sowjetische Botschaft) [5] - a vast wedding cake of a building, built between 1949-1951 in the best Stalinist style and meant to symbolise the dominance of the Soviet Union in East German affairs before 1989

• Opernplatz - Nazi Propaganda Minister Josef Goebbels made Bebelplatz (then called Opernplatz) infamous 10 May 1933 when he used the square across from Humboldt University to burn 20,000 books by "immoral" authors of whom the Nazis did not approve. Their list included Thomas and Heinrich Mann, Arnold Zweig, Kurt Tucholsky and Sigmund Freud. Today a monument is the reminder, though it blames Nazi students for the episode.

When entering the square it's easy to miss the monument. Look dead center: the monument is underground. A piece of plexiglass allows the viewer to look underground into a large, white room, filled with entirely empty, blank white bookcases. The absence of books reminds the viewer just what was lost here: ideas. But the event did reveal things to come, as Author and philosopher Heinrich Heine, whose books were burned, said in 1821: "This was only the foreplay. Where they burn books, they will also burn people". He was correct.

• Neue Wache ("New Guardhouse") [6] - originally erected in 1818 to a classicaly-inspired design by Karl Friedrich Schinkel as a guardhouse for the imperial palace, since 1993 this compact building has housed a small, but extremely powerful war cenotaph, the Central Memorial of the Federal Republic of Germany, continuing its use under East German rule as the primary "Memorial to the Victims of Fascism and Militarism". The interior of the Doric column-fronted building is intentionally empty, but for a small but moving sculpture by Käthe Kollwitz depicting a mother cradling a dead child. The statue is positioned beneath a round hile in the ceiling, exposing the figures to the rain and snow.
• the Neue Synagoge (New Synagogue) and the Centrum Judaicum (Jewish Centre) [7], Oranienburger Strasse 30
• the Alter Jüdischer Friedhof (Old Jewish Cemetery), Grosse Hamburger Strasse
• World time clock (Weltzeituhr) - Built in 1969, this 16-ton, communist-era clock is one of Berlin's main meeting points. Each of its 24 sides corresponds to one of Earth's 24 time zones and have the names of some of the world's most important cities written on.

Museums and Galleries

Based on plans of the famous architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel in 1822 and starting constructions from 1830 onwards the tiny island in the river Spree was developed as an Museum island by the prussian emperors. There are five museums today on that island that mainly focus on archaeologic and art of the 19th century. After the reunification all museums were restored and came back to shine.

• Pergamon Museum (Museuminsel) [8] - The Pergamon Museum is an exercise in exhaustion when plowed through in a short time. Even a whole day here can be considered "short." There are three huge collections housed within this grand building: the Collection of Classical Antiquities, the Museum of Near Eastern Antiquities and the Museum of Islamic Art. The Pergamon Museum was the last museum built on Museumsinsel (Museum Island) and was intended to house the great acquisitions brought back to Germany by archaeologists of the eighteenth and nineteenth century. Schliemann and his forerunners revolutionized the archaeology world with their precise and increasingly scientific methods. It was their methodology and documentation that began to separate those in the archaeological profession from mere grave-robbers of centuries past! In fact, the adventuresome exploits of Indiana Jones could have been based on some of these men, and the Pergamon Museum is a result of their efforts. Start in the museum's best-known attraction, the Pergamonsaal. The Pergamon Altar (165 BC), from the eponymous Asia Minor city-state, is three stories high and served as the entrance gate to an entire complex. It is astounding both because of its size and extremely precise detail, especially in a frieze which shows the gods battling giants. The entire room is the same color as the building?s stone, making the details on the frieze section stand out even more. Facing the stairs, on the left hand side of the room there is a small-scale model of the altar which allows the viewer to see where the frieze segments would have originally been mounted. A 1:300 scale model of Pergamon city is located on the right side of the room.
  • The Voderasiatische Museum (Museum of the Ancient Near East) [9] -
  • Part of the Antikensammlung (Collection of Classical Antiquities) [10] - the most spectacular part of which is the reconstructed temple of Pergamon. There is also the perhaps even greater Ish-Tar gate of Babylon, from centuries BC, which is reconstructed together with a strech of the procession way.
• Altes Museum (Museuminsel)

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.

• the Alte Nationalgalerie (Museuminsel) (Old National Gallery) [11] - specialising in 19th century painting and sculpture; Monet, Manet, Cézanne, C. David Friedrich and other important 18th and 19th century artists are well-represented.

• The Bodemuseum (Museuminsel) [12] is closed until 2006 for renovations and usually exhibits byzantic arts and impressive coin collection

• Hanf Museum Berlin, (Mitte) Mühlendamm 5 (Bus 142, Bushaltestelle 'Mühlendammbrücke', everything else near Alexanderplatz), 030 / 242 48 27 (info@hanfmuseum.de), open Tue-Fr: 10-20, Sa/So: 12-20, Mo closed; 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 wavelan access. 3,- Euro, Kids under 10 go free, tours are possible; http://www.hanfmuseum.de

• The Neptunebrunnen bronze fountain by Reinhold Begas. It was erected in 1891 as a present from the city of Berlin to the Kaiser. It stands between the Marienkirche and the Rotes Rathaus, Berlin?s 5th town hall, built in 1869. This is one of the nicer Neptune statues in Europe, and there are many. Neptune, trident in hand, presides over the square supported by sea-nymphs with webbed feet carrying him on a seashell. Denizens of the deep (a seal, an alligator, snakes and turtles, among others) spray water at him in homage while languishing mer-ladies pour water into the fountain, clutching sea-nets overflowing with marine bounty.

The Rotes Rathaus, which is the town hall, is so called because it is made of red brick, not due to its former political persuasion. There are nice preussian rooms inside, which are worth a look.

Looking back in time, it becomes easier to appreciate Alexanderplatz's importance to Berlin. Historically the square was called Ochsenplatz or Ochsenmarkt (Ox-Place or Market), and the southern segment known as Paradeplatz. The section nearer the old town wall housed a wool and meat market until the nineteenth century and the southern section was used to exercise horses. The square was renamed in 1805 when Tsar Alexander I came to town to make a mutual-defense pact with Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm III against Napoleon. Five streets which radiate out from the square like spokes are named after their intended destinations (Schönhauser, Prenzlauer, Greifswalder, Landsberger, and Frankfurter Allees - "allee" is another word contributed to the German language by its seventeenth-century French settlers, meaning boulevard.)

In 1882 Alexanderplatz gained a train station, cementing its importance as a transportation center. Four years later, north of the station, Berlin?s first large department store, the Zentral-Markthalle opened. The "Berolina," a 7.5 meter high statue by Emil Hundreiser which symbolized Berlin until it was melted down for its copper during World War II, was installed nearby in 1895, close to the then-central police station. All the hustle and bustle would soon come to an end - luckily, doctor and sometime novelist Alfred Döblin immortalized the square in a memoir titled Berlin Alexanderplatz in 1929 before everything came crashing down. Literally.

During World War II almost everything in Alexanderplatz was bombed out, crashed into or otherwise destroyed.

• The Gemäldegalerie (Tiergarten) (Painting Gallery) [13], Kulturforum, Matthäikirchplatz (Stauffenbergstraße 40), tel 030-2662101, fax 030-2662103, open Tu- Su 10 am - 6 pm, Th 10 am - 10 U-Bahn / S-Bahn Potsdamer-Platz, Bus 129, 341 (Potsdamer Brücke), 148, 348, (Kulturforum), 200 (Philharmonie), 248 (Potsdamer Platz) - The Gemäldegalerie contains an astounding array of paintings, including works by Rembrandt, Rubens, Botticelli, Raphael, Titian, Goya, Velasquez and Watteau. The collection contains works from the old Bodemuseum on Museuminsel in the East, now closed, and the former Gemäldegalerie in Dahlem. Its strong points are German paintings of the 13-16th centuries, Netherlandish painting of the 15th and 16th centuries, Flemish paintings of the 17th century, and miniature paintings of the 16th-19th centuries. In the newer section of the museum, designed by architects Heinz Hilmer and Christoph Sattler, there is enough space to display 1,150 masterpieces in the main gallery and 350 in the studio gallery - of the almost 2,900 pieces in the European painting collections. Established in 1830, the newly built gallery from 1998 is situated at the Kulturforum complex and has about 7,000 sq m of exhibition space (a complete tour of the 72 rooms covers almost 2 km)
• The Kunstgewerbemuseum (Tiergarten) (Museum of Applied / Decorative Arts) [14], Kulturforum, Matthäikirchplatz (Tiergartenstrasse 6), tel 030-2662902, fax 030-2662947, open Tu - Fr 10 am - 6 pm, Sa - Su 11 am - 6 pm, U-Bahn / S-Bahn Potsdamer-Platz, Bus 129, 341 (Potsdamer Brücke), 148, 348, (Kulturforum), 200 (Philharmonie), 248 (Potsdamer Platz) - the oldest museum of its kind in Germany which, despite great losses during the World War II, still possesses one of the world's primary collections of European applied art. There are two sections to the collection: one located at the Kulturforum in Tiergarten, the other at Köpenick Palace (re-opened 27th May 2004)
• Nikolaikirche Berlin's oldest church (1230) is a 3-nave hall church. It is located in the center of an area destroyed by bombs in the war which was then turned into a faux "old town" by the East German authorities called Nikolaiviertel. The area is more a hodge-podge of relocated buildings than an authentic reproduction, and the newly-built 1988 apartments that attempt to "harmonize" with the older buildings are embarrassing. The church itself is one of the only structures that was renovated rather than rebuilt. It is best known for a sandstone sculpture called the Spandauer Madonna (1290), but there are other interesting pieces here. When the church was destroyed in 1938 and rebuilt in the 1970s, the communist officials intended to use it as a museum, which did not open until 1987. The museum includes sacred textiles and religious sculpture from the fourteenth to the sixteenth centuries. The Nikolaikirche is the showplace of the Nikolaiviertel, which isn't saying much.

Do

• Love Parade [15], when over a million ravers and spectators descend on the area. Trucks laden with sound systems roam up and down the park, gathering at dusk at the Siegesäule for a final free giant concert.
• During summertime you can enjoy an open-air cinema in front of the Altes Museum, showing alternative movies (most of them in original language). It's very wise to buy tickets for the "Sommerkino" in the afternoon if you don't want to join at long queue at night with the chance of not getting a ticket.
• Sony Centre [16]
• Potsdamer Platz Arkaden

Buy

Eat

City East

• Brecht Keller - Famous basement restaurant in former house of Brecht with Austrian inspired kitchen (receipts from Helene Weigel), reservations essential!, Chausseestr. 125 T: 030-2823843
• Brasserie Ganymed - Good french cuisine direct at the terasse of the river and close to the theaters, Schiffbauerdamm 5,10117 Berlin, T: 030-28599046
• Kasbah - Moroccan restaurant cafe and bar, Gipsstraße 2, 10119 Berlin, telephone: 030 - 27 59 43 61
• SUSURU stylish new japanese restaurant specialises in Udon-dishes - japanese noodles in a tasty soup.Be prepared to get a bit slurpy with your soup - it adds to the flavour! Rosa-Luxemburg Str. 17, telephone: 030 - 2 11 11 82

Gendarmenmarkt

• VAU 1 Michelin star, 17 points from Gault Millau, reservations essential, very famous with politicians (reservations essential!!!)
• Aigner Haute cuisine mixture with influences from Berlin and Vienna (reservations essential!!!)
• Lutter & Wegner Berlin cuisine in top style, since 1811 own sparkling, red and white wine selections, waiters wear white gloves

Drink

Sleep

Budget

• Mitte's Backpacker [17] - Chausseestr. 102, 10115 Berlin (Mitte), Tel. 28 39 09 65, Fax 28 39 09 35, info@backpacker.de, 2-Bed Rooms start at €22 per person, Sleeping hall starts at €13, U-Bahn Zinnowitzer Str. This hostel boasts a super central location, only 10 minutes from all the main sights of the city. The theme rooms are astonishing!
• David's - Cozy Backbacker Hostel [18], Bredowstr. 35, 10551 Berlin (Tiergarten), Tel. 3 93 53 59, Fax 39 03 84 20, reservation@hostel-berlin.org, 2-Bed Rooms start at €15 per person, Sleeping hall starts at €9, U-Bahn Birkenstraße
• Lette'm Sleep [19] - Lettestr. 7, 10437 Berlin (Prenzlauer Berg), Tel. 44 73 36 23, Fax 44 73 36 25, info@backpackers.de, 2-Bed Rooms start at €24 per person, Sleeping hall starts at €15, U-Bahn Eberswalder Straße

Splurge

• InterContinental Berlin Hotel [20] Located in heart of the government quarter and host to most visiting presidents, close to the historical center and just a few steps away from the renowned shopping district of Kurfürstendamm. Excellent restaurant and benchmark for all hotels in town

• Hotel Adlon`[21], Unter den Linden 77 (Pariser Platz, Unter den Linden), Phone: +49 (0)30 2261-0, Fax: +49 (0)30 2261-2222 Email: Adlon@Kempinski.com, cf. -`Managed by the Kempinski chain and is famous for the best and most expensive hotels in Germany. The Adlon is their flagship hotel in Berlin (the place where Michael Jackson almost dropped his baby out of the window)and try to establish it at the 1st address in town.

• Hyatt[22] Located direct at the Potsdamer Platz within walking distance to major attractions. One of the best business hotels in town. During the Berlinale film festival the hotel to stay because all locations are in walking distance.

• Maritim pro arte [23] Good location corner of Friedrichstrasse and Unter den Linden. One of the best breakfasts and popular with wealthy tourists. Has a good spa and nice pool. Internet and discounted rates start from 110 Euro per night

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