Germany (Lonely Planet, 6th Edition) - Andrea Schulte-Peevers [75]
UNTER DEN LINDEN
Berlin’s most splendid boulevard (Map) extends for about 1.5km east of the Brandenburger Tor with grand old buildings lining up like soldiers for inspection. First up, though, is the historical ribbon’s newest tourist attraction, Madame Tussauds (Map; 4000 4600; www.madametussauds.com/berlin; Unter den Linden 74; adult/child 3-14yr €18.50/13.50; 10am-7pm, last admission 6pm). Sure, it’s an overpriced haven of kitsch and camp, but where else can you cuddle up with Robbie Williams or hug Barack Obama?
High-brow types will likely prefer to steer straight towards the Deutsche Guggenheim (Map; 202 0930; www.deutsche-guggenheim.de; Unter den Linden 13-15; adult/concession/family €4/3/8, Mon free; 10am-8pm Fri-Wed, 10am-10pm Thu), a small, minimalist gallery spotlighting top-notch contemporary artists, such as Eduardo Chillida and Gerhard Richter.
Opposite, the Alte Staatsbibliothek (Old State Library; Map; Unter den Linden 8) counts the original sheet music of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony among its treasures. Next up is the Humboldt Universität (Map), Berlin’s oldest university where Marx and Engels studied and the Brothers Grimm and Albert Einstein taught. It occupies the palace of Prince Heinrich, brother of King Frederick the Great, whose pompous equestrian statue stands on Unter den Linden outside the university.
It was Frederick who created the ensemble of stately structures framing Bebelplatz (Map), the site of the first big official Nazi book-burning in May 1933. Beneath a glass pane at the square’s centre Micha Ullmann’s Empty Library commemorates the barbaric event. Surrounding the square are the baroque Alte Königliche Bibliothek (Old Royal Library; Map; 1780), now part of the university; the Staatsoper Unter den Linden (State Opera; 1743, Click here); and the copper-domed St Hedwigskirche (Map; 1783).
Just east of here, the perkily turreted Friedrichswerdersche Kirche ( 2090 5577; Werderscher Markt; admission free; 10am-6pm) is now a museum of 19th-century German sculptures with works by all of the period’s heavyweights. Schinkel groupies should report upstairs to the exhibit on the man’s life and accomplishments.
For more Schinkel, return to Unter den Linden and the neoclassical Neue Wache (Map; admission free; 10am-6pm). Originally a Prussian guardhouse, it’s now an antiwar memorial whose austere interior is dominated by Käthe Kollwitz’s emotional sculpture Mother and her Dead Son.
If you’re wondering what the Germans have been up to for the past 2000 years, pop next door into the excellent Deutsches Historisches Museum (German Historical Museum; Map; 203 040; www.dhm.de; Unter den Linden 2; adult/under 18yr €5/free; 10am-6pm). A startling highlight is the big globe that originally stood in the Nazi Foreign Office with bullet holes where Germany should be. In the courtyard, Andreas Schlüter’s baroque mask sculptures of dying soldiers make a strong case against war. High-calibre temporary exhibits take up a strikingly geometrical annexe, called IM Pei Bau, named for the architect that designed it.
GENDARMENMARKT
Berlin’s most graceful square was once a thriving market place and derives its name from the Gens d’Armes, a Prussian regiment recruited from French Huguenot immigrants. Local Huguenots worshipped at the Französischer Dom (French Dome), where the small Hugenottenmuseum (Map; 229 1760; adult/concession/family €2/1/3.50; noon-5pm Tue-Sat, 11am-5pm Sun) now chronicles their story. The elegant structure is a spitting image of the Deutscher Dom (German Dome, Map) opposite, home to a hopelessly academic exhibit on German democracy. Completing the trio is Schinkel’s beautiful Konzerthaus Berlin. Plenty of luxury hotels and fancy restaurants are nearby, as is the sleek new Emil Nolde Museum (Map; 4000 4690; www.nolde-stiftung.de; Jägerstrasse 55; adult/concession incl audio-guide €10/5; 10am-7pm), which presents a rotating