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Berlin : History & Culture

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  • The Haus am Checkpoint Charlie, next to the former crossing point for the Alllied forces, has an exhibition on the history of the Berlin Wall and the various means people used in trying to escape from East to West Berlin, ranging from a hot-air balloon to a car with a false floor. Only a replica of the control hut remains of the former border.

  • The only Russian-Orthodox church in Berlin, the Church of Christ’s Ascension is known for its green onion domes. Services are still held in Russian, following Orthodox rituals.

  • Dahlem Museums

    These four museums in south Berlin, dedicated to foreign cultures and peoples, feature one of Germany’s best ethno-cultural collections. The Ethnological Museum holds around one million items from around the world, especially artistic and cult objects from Africa, as well as exhibits from North-American Indians. Full-scale wooden huts and boats from the island populations of the South Pacific as well as a large collection of ceramic and stone sculptures from the Mayas, Aztecs and Incas are particularly impressive. The Museum für Ostasiatische Kunst, focusing on 1,000 years of Far-Eastern culture, displays mainly objects in porcelain and lacquer from Korea, China and Japan. The shiny green jade exhibits from ancient China are just as amazing.

  • Some of Berlin’s most attractive villas, dating back to the 19th century, are found in the streets surrounding the Grunewald S-Bahn station. Especially worth seeing are Nos. 15 and 11 in Winklerstraße, the latter of which was built by Hermann Muthesius in the style of an English country mansion. Villa Maren, at No. 12 next door, is a beautiful example of the Neo-Renaissance style. The villas on Toni-Lessler-Straße and on Furtwänglerstraße are also worth a detour.

  • The history of technology and crafts is the theme of this fascinating museum, located in the grounds of a former station. In a new building, visitors can learn about developments in aviation and admire 40 planes, including a Junkers Ju 52 and a “raisin bomber”, the type of plane used for the Berlin airlift. Old ships and steam locomotives bring back the days of the Industrial Revolution.

  • Many celebrities have found their final resting place in this charming cemetery, dating back to 1762. To the left of the entrance are the graves of Heinrich Mann (1871–1950) and Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956); further along stand the pillar-like tombstones of the philosophers Johann Gottlieb Fichte (1762–1814) and Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831). On Birkenallee (left off the main path) you can see the graves of master builder Karl Friedrich Schinkel (1781–1841) and the architects Friedrich August Stüler (1800–65) and Johann Gottfried Schadow (1764–1850).

  • The composer (1809–47), a grandson of Moses Mendelssohn, was also the conductor of the Staatskapelle (state orchestra) at the opera house in Unter den Linden. His grave is found in one of the cemeteries in front of the Hallesches Tor in Kreuzberg.

  • At 66 m (216 ft) high, this Baroque tower, which dates back to 1701–5, is a magnificent ornamental structure for the church serving Berlin’s Huguenot community.

  • This small brick church was built by Karl Friedrich Schinkel in 1824–30, in the Neo-Gothic style. Originally it was meant to serve the German and French communities of the Friedrichswerder district. Today, the Schinkel Museum is based here.

  • Before 1939, this was one of the most important Jewish streets, with several Jewish schools, the oldest Jewish cemetery in Berlin and an old people’s home. The latter achieved tragic fame during the Nazi period – the SS used it as a detention centre for Berlin Jews before transporting them to the concentration camps. A simple monument commemorates thousands of Jews who were sent to their death from here. To the left of the home is a Jewish school, on the site of an earlier school founded in 1778 by the Enlightenment philosopher Moses Mendelssohn (1729–86). To the right of the monument is the Jewish cemetery, where some 12,000 Berlin Jews were buried between 1672 and 1827. In 1943, the Nazis almost completely destroyed the cemetery. Only a few Baroque tombs, or masebas , survived; these are now embedded into the small original cemetery wall. The place presumed to be Moses Mendelssohn’s tomb is marked by a new monument.

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