One of Berlin's most
photographed locations, Brandenburger Tor or Brandenburg Gate, once marked the
impenetrable boundary between East and West Berlin.
Built in 1791, Brandenburger Tor has often been a center stage for Berlin's
militant political rallies, including the memorable celebrations in November
1989, when the Berlin Wall was torn down. This imposing 18th-century structure
has endured several symbolic reincarnations. Intended by its architect Carl
Gotthard Langhans to be a symbol of peace, the gate was crowned by the
Quadriga, a four-horse chariot driven by the winged goddess of victory, a
couple of years later, turning it into a monument to Prussian militarism. It
was incorporated into the Berlin Wall when it was raised in 1961. It was the
backdrop of the celebrations in 1989 when the wall fell. Now traffic flows
freely through the gate, now a symbol of the city’s reunification.
Checkpoint Charlie
Museum
The Checkpoint Charlie
Museum is all that remains of the
famed tower that symbolized East-West tension during the Cold War. The tower
itself was unceremoniously moved away a few months after the border reopened.
In 2001, a replica guardhouse was returned to the site. The original is in the Allierten
Museum in Zehlendorf. The museum is
interesting with its display of ingenious devices employed in escape attempts
from the former East Germany.
A cinema shows films on
the Third Reich and the Cold War era, and the museum also details the history
of the Berlin Wall. It
doesn't make it any easier to comprehend that this nondescript urban landscape
was one of the critical pressure points in the global stand-off between East
and West, and the scene of 80 deaths.
Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtnis-Kirche
The original Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church was bombed into rubble during
World War II. The ruins of the old church have been integrated into the new
one, built during the 1950s. The
reconstructed church is dominated by blue stained glass and features some
beautiful work by Chagall. There is a small museum depicting the history of the
church, its destruction, and rebirth.