The Potsdamer Platz

After reunification, Germany had the unique opportunity to rebuild a complete city district in the heart of the city. In 1991, architects Hilmer and Sattler won the "Potsdamer Platz / Leipziger Platz urban design competition". Their concept was based on the model of the "European city" which consciously opted for dense high-rise structures. In 1993, work began on the buildings for the DaimlerChrysler quarter based on the master plan by Piano and Kohlbecker. This was performed by top international architects, such as Piano, Rogers and Isozaki. On the biggest construction site in Europe, a new urban centre was built from scratch in five years. Helmut Jahn's Sony Center with its futuristic flair, which was completed in 2000, strongly contrasts with the DaimlerChrysler quarter. Early in 2004, the noble Beisheim Center was opened at Lenné-Dreieck. [link]

The Memorial to the murdered jews of Europe

The Memorial was designed by New York architect Peter Eisenman. To complement the Memorial, the architect has designed an underground Information Centre in the southeastern corner of the field of stelae, accessible via two flights of stairs or a lift.
»The enormity and scale of the horror of the Holocaust is such that any attempt to represent it by traditional means is inevitably inadequate ... Our memorial attempts to present a new idea of memory as distinct from nostalgia ... We can only know the past today through a manifestation in the present.« (Peter Eisenman, 1998)

Checkpoint Charlie

During the Cold War, Checkpoint Charlie was one of the gates of the Berlin Wall located in the city centre of Berlin, Germany (for foreigners there was only one more: the Friedrichstrasse U-Bahn station). The wall was erected on 13 August 1961; the GDR (East German) gate in that wall facing Checkpoint Charlie was soon reinforced to prevent East Germans leaving. During the remainder of the Cold War, Checkpoint Charlie became a synonym for both separation, and - for the East Germans - freedom. The Berlin wall fell in 1989 and Germany was reunified in 1990. [link]

Topographie des Terrors

"A very moving exhibition that is very much a part of the education process of understanding the lessons of the Holocaust. The Nazi terror and outcome of prejudice and bigotry is very clear. This exhibit should be seen by young people to demonstrate for the future the importance of respekt, tolerance for minorities and the importance of democratic, pluralistic societies."
Edward B. O'Donnell, U.S. ambassador [link]

Martin-Gropius building is the most important exhibition hall in Berlin.

The imposing museum was built after the plans of Martin Gropius and Heino Schmieden in 1881. Originally it was conceived to be a museum of crafts. It was erected in the style of an Italian renaissance building and contains an impressing atrium, which is the centre of the exhibition.
Mosaics with allegories of all times and emblems of German towns decorate the spaces between the windows.  Today the Martin-Gropius-Bau is the setting of many temporary exhibitions of international rank. [link]