Germany Tours: Berlin

A tour of Germany is hardly complete without a visit to the nation's capital.

General Information

Together with Bremen and Hamburg, Berlin is one of three cities in Germany that are also a state (so-called "city states"). Berlin has 3.4 million inhabitants, making it the third largest city in the EU. Nearly 5 million people live in the Berlin-Brandenburg metropolitan area.

History

Unlike other European capitals, Berlin is a young city that only grew in importance with the rise of Prussia to a European power in 1815. Yet there is hardly a city that affected – and was affected by – 20th history more than Berlin. Brandenburg Gate, a neoclassical structure adorned by the Quadriga, was intended as a victory gate through which Prussian soldiers would return to Berlin after vanquishing their enemies. When Prussia was defeated by Napoleon only a few years after the gate's construction, the Quadriga was removed to Paris. After its return in 1914 it was considered a symbol of national destiny. The Nazis staged an eerie, torchlight procession through the gate after seizing power in 1933. Twelve years later the heavily damaged gate became one of the sector borders between East and West Berlin. The sealed gate was then a symbol of the Iron Curtain bisecting Europe from the Baltic Sea to the Mediterranean Sea. Fittingly, the Cold War ended with ecstatic celebrations on the wall around the Brandenburg Gate.

Capital of Germany

After successively serving as the capital of the Kingdom of Prussia, the German Empire, the Weimar Republic and the Third Reich, Berlin was named the capital of East Germany after the end of World War II. The capital of West Germany was moved to Bonn. After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and reunification in 1990, Berlin became the official capital of united Germany, although many government ministries remained in Bonn. Berlin has only been the official seat of the German government since 1999, when nearly all departments were moved to the capital.

Tourist Attractions

Key tourist sites in Berlin include the newly built and renovated government buildings, in particular the Reichstag (Parliament Building), the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, which has been preserved in a partially destroyed state since World War II, and the Marienkirche, the church with the highest steeple in Berlin. Travelers on vacation in Berlin should not (and cannot) miss the Brandenburg Gate, and enthusiasts of modern architecture may want to take in the recently completed Central Train Station near the government complex.