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The Museum of Natural History – one of the largest of its kind – has the world’s largest dinosaur skeleton: a brachiosaurus found in Tanzania. Also displayed are fossils, meteorites and minerals (see Museums) .

A visit to the historical museum village of Düppel is like time travel back to the Middle Ages. Children can watch activities such as sowing, harvesting and feeding (see Grunewald & Dahlem) .

Museum Island, a UNESCO World Heritage Sight, is one of the most important complexes of museums in the world, holding major arts collections and imposing full-scale ancient structures. Based here are the Pergamonmuseum, the Alte Nationalgalerie (the old national gallery), Bodemuseum and Altes and Neues Museum. The Neues Museum will reopen in 2008 (see Pergamonmuseum) .

The green Neo-Baroque fountain, dating from 1895, depicts the sea god Neptune. He is surrounded by four female figures, symbolizing Germany’s Rhine, Weichsel, Oder and Elb Rivers.

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.

To the north of Sanssouci palace park rises the Baroque Neues Palais. One of Germany’s most beautiful palaces, it was built in 1763–9 for Frederick the Great according to designs by Johann Gottfried Büring, Jean Laurent Le Geay and Carl von Gontard. The vast two-storey structure comprises 200 rooms, including the Marmorsaal (marble hall), a lavishly furnished ballroom, and the Schlosstheater, where plays are once more performed today. Frederick’s private chambers are equally splendid, especially his study furnished in Rococo style, the upper gallery with valuable parquet flooring and the Oberes Vestibül, a room clad entirely in marble.

Helmut Newton (1931–2004), the world famous photographer, has finally returned to his home city. This new museum presents his complete works and centres on two shows called “Sex and Landscapes” and “Us and Them”, which show his early fashion and nude photography as well as photos of the famous, rich and beautiful since 1947.

Potsdam’s most attractive church was designed by Schinkel in 1830 in an early Neo-Classical style. Its giant dome is particularly striking.

Around the medieval Nikolaikirche (see Churches & Synagogues) , the small Nikolaiviertel with its narrow nooks and crannies, Old Berlin restaurants and souvenir shops is one of the most charming parts of the city. The area extending between the banks of the Spree River and Mühlendamm was razed to the ground in World War II. The East German authorities restored it after the war – unfortunately not always successfully: some houses were covered in prefabricated façades.

Knoblauchhaus was one of few to escape destruction. Dating from 1835, it was the former home of the Knoblauch family (Neue Synagoge was designed by architect Eduard Knoblauch). Today it houses a museum depicting everyday life in Berlin, and includes a fully furnished apartment in the Biedermeier style.