What is probably Berlin’s most attractive square has something for (almost) all the senses: a fine architectural ensemble consisting of the Konzerthaus, Deutscher Dom and Französischer Dom, classical music and high-end gastronomy. Gendarmenmarkt was laid out over 300 years ago as a marketplace, and later took its name from the “gens d’armes”, a royal cavalry regiment. Many Huguenots, Protestants who had fled from France, settled in this quarter. In the early 18th century they built their own church on the north side of the square. As a counterpart to it, a second church was built at the same time for Prussian Protestants. Both churches are dominated by massive domes, which gave them their present-day names: – the French Dom and the German Dom..

When leaving the Adlon, you have a view of the “reception parlour” of old Berlin: laid out in the 18th century as a parade ground and square in front of the city gate, Par- iser Platz gained its name when Prussian troops entered Paris in 1814. It soon became one of the highest-class residential addresses in the city. After devastation in World War II, the square was a patch of wasteland in the GDR era and part of the border between East and West. Since reunification, it has been reconstructed in its old dimensions without exact restoration of the previous historical architecture. Now such prominent buildings as the embassy of the United States, the Academy of Arts and the DZ Bank by star architect Frank Gehry stand here.

Don’t be surprised to see long queues of people standing in front of the Reichstag building every day. Most visitors to the seat of the German parliament, the Bundestag, come with one purpose, to enjoy the view of the city from Norman Foster’s glass dome and to look down into the chamber of the Bundestag below. The Reichstag itself, designed by Paul Wallot and completed in 1894 for the parliament of the German Empire, reflects the history of Germany as few other buildings do. Severely damaged in the Second World War, the Reichstag was rebuilt in a simpler fashion in the 1960s without the dome, which had been blown up in 1945, and no longer took centre stage in German life. After reunification it finally regained its historic role, when a Bundestag representing the whole of Germany assembled here for its inaugural session on 20 December 1990.

Just as Potsdamer Platz was synonymous with the vibrant life of the German capital in the Golden Twenties, today it epitomises the new metropolis Berlin. On a site where war damage and the Wall left behind a huge area of wasteland a new chapter began some years ago: the names of companies such as Sony, Debis and Daimler shine out above office high-rises of stone, steel and glass at the sides of the broad thoroughfare of Potsdamer Strasse. Cinemaxx, an IMAX cinema, a casino, a musical theater, restaurants, night clubs and multistorey shopping mall called Potsdamer Platz Arkaden in Daimler-City attract visitors from across the world. In the Sony Center with its 26-storey, semi-circular curving tower and tent-like roof there are further attractions: the Filmmuseum and the Kaisersaal of the old Grandhotel Esplanade.  For a breathtaking panorama of Berlin, take the fastest passenger lift in Eurpe to the viewing deck of the Kollhoff-Tower opposite. Here you can learn about the history of the site in an open-air exhibition.

Don’t miss the place that is known to many from thrillers and spy novels, or from films such as James Bond’s “Octopussy” and John le Carré ́s “The Spy Who Came in from the Cold”. Today only a guard hut and a sign serve as reminders of a border crossing point that was once heavily guarded and is at the centre of many spy stories: from 1961 to 1990 the American-controlled Checkpoint Charlie was the only point at which foreigners could pass from West to East Berlin.

THE HEADQUARTER OF TERROR

 A remarkable place of memorial: a site on Niederkirchnerstrasse that was occupied during the “Third Reich” by the most important organs of National Socialist persecution and terror: the headquarters of the Geheime Staatspolizei (Gestapo), the Reich leadership of the SS, Sicherheitsdienst (SD; Security Service) of the SS and the Reichssicherheitshauptamt (Reich Security Office). The permanent exhibition informs visitors about these institutions and the crimes they committed across Europe, and a circuit of the excavations takes in 15 stations that tell the history of the site . Here you also pass the longest section of the Berlin Wall that survives in the city centre.

If you prefer to follow in the footsteps of the Hohenzollern ruling family, you can enjoy one of the most magnificent Baroque palaces and parks in Germany. Originating in 1695 as a pleasure palace for Electress Sophie Charlotte, it became an impressive residence with splendidly furnished rooms and apartments. Within, Baroque rooms in their original form, with art and furnishings from many centuries, are open to visitors. Masterpieces of French Rococo painting, including famous works by Watteau, adorn the royal apartments in Knobelsdorff’s New Wing. After viewing the palace, stroll through its garden, where the Baroque parterre adjoins an 18th-century English landscape park.

The square that has been known as Alexanderplatz since Tsar Alexander I. paid a visit in 1805. It used to be one of the busiest squares in the city, and a famous Berlin novel by Alfred Döblin was named after it. Converted to a socialist-style space during the GDR years, it has been undergoing a thorough transformation for several years now. A lot has changed already: trams now cross the square again, the Centrum Warenhaus (today Galleria Kaufhof) and the Berolinahaus have been restored, the surface of the square, including the Brunnen der Völkerfreundschaft (Fountain of Peoples’ Friendship) and the Weltzeituhr (World Clock) have been renewed.  At 365 metres the TV tower  which opened in 1969, is Germany’s tallest structure. When visibility is good you can see 40 kilometers from the revolving panorama café.

This walk continues across the river Spree to the quarter around the courtyards named Hackesche Höfe. This district takes its name from barns (Scheunen) that were once filled with hay and straw, and were moved by Friedrich Wilhelm, the Great Elector, outside the city walls. In what used to be Berlin’s backyard ,a district vividly described by Alfred Döblin in his novel “Berlin Alexanderplatz”, galleries, fashion boutiques, other small shops, restaurants, cafés and theaters have  now been established. The finest buildings include the Hackesche Höfe, a complex of eight courtyards covering 10,000 square metres which has been returned to its original planned use dating from 1900 with craft shops, retail stores, places of entertainment and homes.

Admiring the most beautiful woman in Berlin and a city gate from the “Seven Ancient Wonders of the World” – part of the programme when visiting a museum ensemble that is unique in the world. Whether you are interested in the fine arts, historic architecture or history, on Museumsinsel (Museum Island), where treasures from 6,000 years of history are presented, you will find something to like.
Since the museum complex was added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage in 1999, restoration has been proceeding step by step . By 2025–26 it is intended that the masterplan for the island will have been fully implemented . The architectural autonomy of the separate buildings will remain, but a new entrance building and an Archaeological Promenade will connect them and allow visitors to perceive them as one museum complex.

From the Lustgarten the eye is drawn to the Neo- classical façade of the Alten Museums. With its portico of 18 columns this building – conceived by Schinkel as the counterpart to the Stadtschloss – is the overture to Museum Island and home to the collection of antiquities. Behind it lies the Neues Museum and to the east the temple-like Alten Nationalgalerie, wich presents 19th-century sculpture and paintings. Both are the work of Friedrich August Stüler, a pupil of Schinkel.

The James-Simon-Galerie between Kupfergraben and the Neues Museum will be the new entrance building.The work of the architect David Chipperfield , it takes up the motif of Stüler’s colonnades, thus relating to the neighboring Pergamonmuseum and blending harmoniously into the historic ensemble.