New Guardhouse in Berlin

5 May 2021 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Berlin Reading Time:  14 minutes

© Ansgar Koreng/cc-by-sa-3.0-de

© Ansgar Koreng/cc-by-sa-3.0-de

The Neue Wache (English: New Guard) is a listed building on Unter den Linden boulevard in the historic centre of Berlin, Germany. Erected from 1816 to 1818 according to plans by Karl Friedrich Schinkel as a guardhouse for the Royal Palace and a memorial to the Liberation Wars, it is considered as a major work of Prussian Neoclassical architecture. A Victoria relief by Johann Gottfried Schadow and five General statues by Christian Daniel Rauch, referring to the Warrior statues on Schlossbrücke, also belong to the ensemble. Since 1993, the Neue Wache has been home to the Central Memorial of the Federal Republic of Germany to the Victims of War and Tyranny.   read more…

Chapel of Reconciliation in Berlin

9 November 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Berlin Reading Time:  9 minutes

© Immanuel Giel

© Immanuel Giel

The Chapel of Reconciliation (German: Kapelle der Versöhnung) is a place of worship in Berlin, Germany. It stands on the site of the old Church of Reconciliation (German: Versöhnungskirche), on Bernauer Strasse in the Mitte district. The church was completed in 1894 as an imposing brick-built building by the architect Gotthilf Ludwig Möckel, in the Gothic revival style. It sustained some damage in the Second World War, and still had a deactivated American bomb in the basement discovered during its reconstruction in 1999, but the church survived the war.   read more…

Simon Dach Street in Berlin

21 October 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Berlin Reading Time:  7 minutes

© Bernt Müller/cc-by-sa-2.0/de

© Bernt Müller/cc-by-sa-2.0/de

Simon-Dach-Straße is a street that was laid out towards the end of the 19th century and is located in Berlin’s Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg district, Friedrichshain. In 1903 it was named after the German song writer Simon Dach. Together with the neighboring roads Wühlischstraße, Boxhagener Straße, Krossener Straße and Gabriel-Max-Straße, it forms the area known as Simon-Dach-Kiez, which has developed into the preferred tourist mile since the 2000s. Numerous clubs, restaurants, hotels and guest houses as well as trendy bars have settled in the areas mentioned.   read more…

Berlin State Opera

4 September 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Berlin, Opera Houses, Theaters, Libraries Reading Time:  19 minutes

© Marek Śliwecki/cc-by-sa-4.0

© Marek Śliwecki/cc-by-sa-4.0

The Berlin State Opera (German: Staatsoper Berlin) is a listed building on Unter den Linden boulevard in the historic center of Berlin. It was erected by order of Frederick the Great from 1741 to 1743 according to plans by Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff in Palladian style. Damaged during the Allied bombing in World War II, the former Royal Prussian Opera House was rebuilt from 1951 to 1955 as part of the Forum Fridericianum square. Nicknamed Lindenoper, it is “the first theater anywhere to be, by itself, a prominent, freestanding monumental building in a city.”   read more…

Rocco Forte Hotel de Rome in Berlin

1 September 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Berlin, House of the Month, Hotels Reading Time:  7 minutes

Rocco Forte Hotel de Rome © Beek100/cc-by-sa-3.0

Rocco Forte Hotel de Rome © Beek100/cc-by-sa-3.0

The Rocco Forte Hotel de Rome is a luxurious hotel in the Mitte neighborhood of Berlin in the district of the same name. It belongs to the Rocco Forte Hotels, is located at Behrenstraße 37 on Bebelplatz and was opened in October 2006. The name of the hotel is reminiscent of the Grand Hotel de Rome, which until 1910 stood around 400 meters away. The St. Hedwig’s Cathedral and the State Opera Unter den Linden are in the immediate vicinity. The Hotel de Rome belongs to the hotel organization The Leading Hotels of the World.   read more…

Alexanderplatz in Berlin

10 February 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Berlin Reading Time:  5 minutes

World Clock © Diego Delso/cc-by-sa-4.0

World Clock © Diego Delso/cc-by-sa-4.0

Alexanderplatz is a large public square and transport hub in the central Mitte district of Berlin. The square is named after the Russian Tsar Alexander I and is often referred to simply as Alex, which also denotes the larger neighbourhood stretching from Mollstraße in the northeast to Spandauer Straße and the Rotes Rathaus in the southwest.   read more…

Topography of Terror in Berlin

27 January 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Berlin Reading Time:  12 minutes

© Manfred Brückels/cc-by-sa-3.0

© Manfred Brückels/cc-by-sa-3.0

The Topography of Terror (German: Topographie des Terrors) is an outdoor and indoor history museum in Berlin, Germany. It is located on Niederkirchnerstrasse, formerly Prinz-Albrecht-Strasse, on the site of buildings which during the Nazi regime from 1933 to 1945 was the SS Reich Main Security Office, the headquarters of the Sicherheitspolizei, SD, Einsatzgruppen and Gestapo.   read more…

Beisheim Center at Potsdamer Platz in Berlin

10 January 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Berlin, Hotels Reading Time:  7 minutes

Potsdamer Platz with Beisheim Center buildings in front © Michael J. Zirbes

Potsdamer Platz with Beisheim Center buildings in front © Michael J. Zirbes

The Beisheim Center is a building complex on Potsdamer Platz in Berlin‘s Tiergarten district. With the completion and opening of the Beisheim Center on January 10, 2004, the development of Potsdamer Platz and thus the largest project of the Berlin urban redevelopment was completed. The building is 70 meters high, with the metal tip on the roof it is 82 meters high. Otto Beisheim had it built for 463 million euros.   read more…

Portrait: Architect, city planner, painter, furniture and stage designer Karl Friedrich Schinkel

25 December 2019 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: Architecture, Berlin, Portrait Reading Time:  16 minutes

Schinkel in 1836 © Carl Joseph Begas

Schinkel in 1836 © Carl Joseph Begas

Karl Friedrich Schinkel was a Prussian architect, city planner, and painter who also designed furniture and stage sets. Schinkel was one of the most prominent architects of Germany and designed both neoclassical and neogothic buildings. His most famous buildings are found in and around Berlin.   read more…

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