Berlin
The city I felt in love with
Berlin, the German capital, dates back to the 13th century. Elements reminiscent of the city's turbulent 20th-century history include the Holocaust Memorial and the graffitied remains of the Berlin Wall. After being divided during the Cold War, the 18th-century Brandenburg Gate became a symbol of reunification. The city is known for its artistic atmosphere and modern geographical sites, such as the Berlin Philharmonic, built in 1963, gold in color and with a panel design that comes off its ceiling.
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Alexanderplatz
Alexanderplatz in Berlin Mitte is one of the best-known public squares in Berlin – and it’s certainly the biggest. Named after Tsar Alexander I, who visited the Prussian capital in 1805, most people simply call it Alex. Alexanderplatz is also popular as a film location. Many scenes of the series Babylon Berlin are set at Alexanderplatz Berlin Germany. In The Bourne Supremacy Bourne meets an agent under the world clock at Alexanderplatz.
Up to the 1850s, Alexanderplatz was a military parade and exercise ground, as well as a place where local farmers sold their produce. It became a major transport junction when the railway station opened in 1882.
The construction of the central market hall in 1886 and the Tietz department store between 1904 and 1911 made the square the city’s main shopping centre. It gained literary fame around the world with Alfred Döblin’s 1929 novel Berlin Alexanderplatz. -
Berliner Dom
This is the Berliner Dom, the famous cathedral of the city. Here you can see me too, that was first time that I visited the capital. I really felt in love with it. The inauguration of this representative building took place in 1905.
During the Second World War, the cathedral was badly damaged. The German Democratic Republic (GDR) did not begin reconstruction until 1975. In 1993, four years after reunification, the work was completed. Finally, in 2008, the cross on the dome, which had deteriorated, was replaced by a new golden cross. The old cross now stands in one of the cathedral cemeteries at Liesenstrasse 6. -
East Side Gallery
At 1316 metres long, the open-air art gallery on the banks of the Spree in Friedrichshain is the longest continuous section of the Berlin Wall still in existence.
Immediately after the wall came down, 118 artists from 21 countries began painting the East Side Gallery, and it officially opened as an open air gallery on 28 September 1990. Just over a year later, it was given protected memorial status.
In more than a hundred paintings on what was the east side of the wall, the artists commented on the political changes in 1989/90. Some of the works at the East Side Gallery are particularly popular, such as Dmitri Vrubel’s Fraternal Kiss and Birgit Kinders’s Trabant breaking through the wall. They are not just a popular subject for postcards – you’re sure to want to photograph them yourself.