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It was from this Town Hall, on 26 June 1963, that the US President John F Kennedy made his famous speech, declaring “I am a Berliner” and expressing his commitment to the freedom of West Berlin.

Once Kreuzberg’s prettiest square, Mehringplatz was destroyed in World War II and is today surrounded by modern residential buildings.

Tempelhof, built in 1939 by Ernst Sagebiel and then Germany’s biggest airport, survives as the largest Fascist structure in Europe. In front of it, a monument, nicknamed “the starving claw”, recalls the airport’s role during the Berlin Airlift in 1948–9.

This square is dominated by the Gothic-style artists’ house Bethanien. A former hospital, it is today used as studio space by experimental artists.

Pedestrians and cyclists can cross to the other side of the Spree River from Kreuzberg to Friedrichshain on this red-brick bridge, one of Berlin’s loveliest, which was erected in 1894–6.

One of Berlin’s most important publishing houses was based in this Art Nouveau corner house in the former newspaper district.

Numerous celebrities lie buried in the four cemeteries, including the composer Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy. Also the writer E T A Hoffmann, whose work inspired Offenbach to write The Tales of Hoffmann .

The former pumping station is open for visits; the sculptures in the garden once decorated the Siegesallee (alley of triumph).

Kreuzberg in the raw: social misery tucked away in between new buildings in the Turkish heart of the district.

In 1947–90, the magnificent supreme court, built in 1909–13, was used as Allied Control Council.