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The open-air museum at Düppel is a reminder of the fact that Berlin once consisted of a series of villages, with one of the oldest settlements dating back to the 13th century. The lively museum is animated by actors, who are dressed and act out daily life as it would have been during the Middle Ages. There are fascinating live demonstrations of ancient crafts such as bread-baking, pottery and basket-weaving. Plants are grown as in medieval times for their various uses.

Berlin’s largest synagogue, built originally in 1859–66, was demolished in World War II but completely reconstructed in 1988–95. Its magnificent dome is visible from afar (see Central Berlin: Scheunenviertel) .

The New Synagogue, built in 1859–66, was once the largest in Europe. In 1938, it managed to survive “Reichskristallnacht” thanks to the vigilance of a brave guard, but it was damaged by bombs during World War II. Behind the Moorish façades are a prayer room and the Centrum Judaicum.

Berlin’s oldest sacred building, the Church of St Nicholas was built in 1230, in the Nikolaiviertel. The present church, with its red-brick twin towers, dates from around 1300. It is particularly famous for the portal on the west wall of the main nave, created by Andreas Schlüter. It is adorned with a gilded relief depicting a goldsmith and his wife. The church was rebuilt in 1987 and today houses parts of the municipal museum.

Nollendorfplatz and neighbouring Winterfeldtplatz are right in the centre of Schöneberg. The former square has always been a focal point for the gay scene in Berlin, and a plaque at U-Bahn station Nollendorfplatz commemorates approximately 5,000 homosexuals killed in concentration camps by the Nazis. Today, gay life is concentrated more in the surrounding streets. Before World War II, Nollendorfplatz was also a centre of entertainment. The Metropol-Theater, today a discotheque, then boasted Erwin Piscator as its innovative director. And next door lived the writer Christopher Isherwood, whose novel formed the basis of the famous musical “Cabaret”.

Like no other street, Oranienburger Straße, in the centre of the old Scheunenviertel, symbolizes the rise and fall of Jewish culture in Berlin. Traces of its Jewish past are visible all along the street, such as the Neue Synagoge and several Jewish cafés and restaurants (see Restaurants & Cafés) . Some 18th- and 19th-century buildings bear witness to the street’s former splendour – the Postfuhramt (see Central Berlin: Scheunenviertel) , for example, or the house at No. 71–72, built in 1789 by Christian Friedrich Becherer for the Grand Lodge of the Freemasons of Germany.

Oranienstraße is the heart of Kreuzberg. It is the wildest, most colourful and most unusual street of the district, where alternative shops and pubs jostle for space with doner kebab take-aways and Turkish greengrocers. All aspects of life and politics in Kreuzberg are centred around this road.

The richly ornamented Postfuhramt (post office transport department) dates back to the 19th century. It is now an exhibition hall for alternative photography and art shows and a centre for performance art.

The seat of the Deutscher Bundestag, the German parliament, with its spectacular cupola, is a magnet for visitors (see Reichstag) .