Potsdammer Platz in Berlin’s Mitte district may look and feel like a busy intersection filled with tall buildings, cinemas and shops. But like much of Berlin its significance runs much deeper; in many ways Potsdamer Platz physically embodies the city’s unification, the principals of urban renewal and Germany’s renaissance. During the belle époque, Postsdamer Platz was an elegant thoroughfare. It was flanked by graceful grand hotels and palaces and was a popular meeting place for the elite. By the 1920s it had taken on a ‘Times Square’ ambiance, with cabarets, beer halls, neon lights and lots of lots of traffic. Appropriately, Potsdamer Platz can also lay claim to Europe’s first traffic lights which were controlled manually by traffic policemen: a replica of one can be seen today in the same spot where it first stood. WW2 of course put an end to all this of course, and most of Potsdamer Platz was destroyed during the Allied air raids. During the Cold War, the Berlin wall ran straight through it, with a wide strip being occupied by the infamous ‘No Man’s Land’. When the wall came down in 1990 local authorities were quick to contact top tier architects for this stellar ...

Berlin is full of historically significant architecture, both old and new. But perhaps none reaches the same emotive heights, nor manages to fuse both classical and contemporary elements, quite like the Reichstag. As most history students know, the Reichstag is the seat of the German Bundestag, or federal government. The original building dates from 1884 and from here on in it became the stage for many of Germany’s most dramatic events. In 1916 it was inscribed with the iconic words Dem Deutschen Volke (‘To the German people’), much to the displeasure of King Wilhelm II. Soon after he abdicated, Germany was proclaimed a republic from one the Reichstag’s windows. However Germany’s years of democracy were short lived. In 1933 the Reichstag suffered a severe fire. Although it origins were never clear, Hitler and the salient NSDAP party seized the opportunity and blamed a communist, kick-starting the horrors of WW2. In divided Germany, the country had two seats of power: one in West Berlin and the other in Bonn. But after 1990 when many of Germany’s institutions were moved back to Berlin, it was decided that the Reichstag would again house the Bundestag, The British architect Sr. Norman Foster was given ...

The remodeled Neues Museum is the first stage of prolific British architect David Chipperfield’s master plan for Berlin’s ‘Museum Island’ in the Mitte District. The neo-classical Neues Museum was built between 1841-1850 by Friedrich August Stüler. From its earliest history the museum has been renowned for its collection of Egyptian art; antiquities that were bought by Prussian adventurers during the age of exploration. One of its overall highlights is a delicate (and much photographed) bust of Queen Nefertiti, whose original colour and form has been preserved since the Amarna period The Neues Museum was severely bombed during WW2 and most of its remaining collection moved to other museums for safekeeping. The building however was left to the elements until 1997, when David Chipperfield won an international competition to make the Neues new again. The project was completed in late 2009 and immediately praised as a modern masterpiece: not just in large-scale restoration but also in re-thinking museum layout and design. Chipperfield carried out the project within the framework of the Charter of Venice, which demands respect and reverence for historical nuance. The original sequence of the rooms was restored and where interventions were made they didn’t compete with original materials ...

In the Mitte district of Berlin, there are always places to eat and drink at all times of the day and night, set to a backdrop of Berlin’s greatest historical sights and more contemporary iconic buildings and monuments. Typical places that serve German food are Tacheles, Obst and Gemuese, Café Silberstein, and Café Orange, which has a stunning interior décor complemented by high ceilings and opulent chandeliers. Together with the best of German food there is also a choice of Italian dishes. Mitte, Berlin, is considered by many Berliners as the real centre of the city and there are many restaurants and eateries that offer the very best in German food, such as: • Café Restaurant Berlin, in Gleimstrasse 24, which presents a traditional German breakfast and a variety of German regional dishes throughout the day and evening; • Schinkel-Klause is located at Unter den Linden, 5, and is a German restaurant within the Opera House. Typical dishes on the menu include Berliner Weisse and Berliner Eisbein, with the quantity of food on the plate is eye-wateringly big; • Brecht Keller is at Chausseestrasse, 125, and is a renowned basement restaurant in the former home of the famous writer, Brecht. Some of the ...