BERLIN TRAVEL GUIDE

Berlin Travel Guide
Brandenburger Tor & Pariser Platz
The best known of Berlin’s symbols, the Brandenburg Gate stands proudly in the middle of Pariser Platz, asserting
itself against the hyper-modern embassy buildings that now surround it. Crowned by its triumphant Quadriga
sculpture, the famous Gate has long been a focal point in Berlin’s history: rulers and statesmen, military parades
and demonstrations – all have felt compelled to march through the Brandenburger Tor.
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For more on historical architecture in Berlin (see Historic Buildings)
Top 10 Sights
1
Brandenburger Tor
Since its restoration in 2002, Berlin’s symbol is now
lit up more brightly than ever before. Built by Carl G
Langhans in 1789–91 and modelled on the temple
porticos of ancient Athens, the Gate has, since the 19th
century, been the backdrop for many events in the city’s
turbulent history.
2 Quadriga
The sculpture, 6 m (20 ft) high above the Gate, was
created in 1794 by Johann Gottfried Schadow as a
symbol of peace. As a model for the laurel-crowned
goddess of peace in the chariot, Schadow used his niece,
who subsequently became famous throughout Berlin.
3
Hotel Adlon Berlin
Completed in 1997 and now favoured by visiting
dignitaries, Berlin’s most elegant hotel is a reconstruction
of the original Hotel Adlon. This legendary hotel,
destroyed in World War II, was host to the rich and
famous, including Greta Garbo, Thomas Mann and Charlie
Chaplin (see Famous Hotels) .
4
DG Bank
This modern building, designed by the American
architect Frank Owen Gehry, combines the clean lines
of Prussian architecture with some daring elements.
5
Akademie der Künste
The new building, erected between 2000 and 2005
by Günter Behnisch and Manfred Sabatke, incorporates
behind a vast expanse of windows the ruins of the old
art academy, which was destroyed in World War II. Today
it is the home of the Academy of the Arts of the Province
of Berlin-Brandenburg.
6
French Embassy
In 1999–2001, an elegant new building was
constructed by Christian de Portzamparc, on the site of
the old embassy, which was destroyed in World War II.
Its colonnades and tall windows, a homage to the former
French Embassy palace, are particularly remarkable and
worth seeing.
7
Palais am Pariser Platz
This complex by Bernhard Winking, a successful
modern interpretation of Neo-Classical architecture, is
slightly hidden to the north of the Brandenburger Tor. It
is worth venturing inside where you will find a café, a
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restaurant and a souvenir shop around a pleasantly
shaded courtyard.
8 Eugen-Gutmann-Haus
With its clean lines, the Dresdner Bank, built in the
round by the Hamburg architects’ team gmp in 1996–7,
recalls the style of the New Sobriety movement of the
1920s. In front of the building, which serves as the Berlin
headquarters of the Dresdner Bank, stands the famous
original street sign for the Pariser Platz.
9
Haus Liebermann
Josef Paul Kleihues erected this building at the north
end of the Brandenburger Tor in 1996–8, faithfully
recreating an earlier building on the same site. The house
is named after the artist Max Liebermann, who lived
here. In 1933, watching Nazi SA troops march through
the Gate, he famously said: “I cannot possibly eat as
much as I would want to puke out.”
10
American Embassy
The last gap in the line of buildings around Pariser
Platz will be closed by 2006. A dispute between the
embassy and the Berlin Senate delayed building for
several years: an entire street was to be moved to satisfy
the USA’s security requirements. But in the end, the
historical street stayed where it was.
3
Highlights