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Architectural
Masterpieces |
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Berlin’s legacy of artistic innovation and chaotic political change has created a spectacular mix of |
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buildings. Neoclassical and baroque masterpieces line the streets of the historical center. Unex- |
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pected turns into East and West Berlin neighborhoods display competing efforts towards post- |
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World-War-II reconstruction. Bombastic structures of kings and dictators, relics from tyrannical |
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dictator-ships, startle one’s attention. In many places, mundane buildings stand side-by-side |
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with some of the most daring experimental structures of modern times. |
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Our tour of Berlin’s architecture offers and excellent overview of Berlin’s world-renowned buildings, |
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following a route carefully crafted by Berlin architects. |
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Recommended tour duration: 3-4 hours. |
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Selected Highlights: |
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• Potsdamer Platz, innovative ultra-modern architecture, Berlin’s sole skyscrapers, which transformed the skyline of an area |
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that was bombed during World War II, and lay desolate just west of the Berlin wall for the entire period of the city’s division. |
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• Cultural Forum, including the magnificent works of architecture greats, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe at the New National Gallery |
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and Hans Scharoun’s stunning asymmetric Philharmonie, modeled after a circus tent, with its unique pentagonal concert hall. |
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• Karl Schinkel, the leading architect of the Prussian state and the unanimous master of Neo Classicism, his restored buildings |
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in the city center – the Old Museum, New Guard House, and the Theatre House to name a few - are studied around the |
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world. |
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• Plattenbau, the unique architectural style of the GDR socialist government. It transformed the neighborhoods of East Berlin. |
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The monumental block steel structures may appear today as monotone, but they were popular and highly sought after by |
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GDR citizens due to their flowing warm and cold water, central heating and bathrooms in the apartments. |
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• The Reichstag, an in-depth look at the innovative new designs for the German Parliament Building, designed by the |
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British Architect Sir Norman Foster. |
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• Berlin Embassies, from the ironic British Embassy designed by Michael Wilford,’ to the astonishing design talent displayed |
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by Rem Koolhaas at the Netherlands Embassy. Berlin’s 150 foreign missions have led the way in architectural experimentation. |
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• Jewish Museum, designed by American architect Daniel Libeskind with its zinc-clad exterior, the building seen from above |
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forms a silver lightning bolt "reviving what was destroyed," and commemorating the void left by the former Jewish Berlin. |
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• Reichsbank, the building built in 1940 housed the national bank of the Nazi state was a testimony to the early monolithic |
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grandiosity of Nazi architecture. |
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• DZ Building, tastefully meeting the building codes of Berlin’s famous Pariser Platz, this work by contemporary legend |
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Frank O Gehry throws off all constraints for its interior design. A four-story structure resembling an enormous prehistoric |
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horseâs head, it rests at the center of the conference hall. The architect refers to mesmerizing structure as |
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“the finest form I have ever made.” |
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