Page 505 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Europe

BERLIN  503

4 Potsdamer Platz The first building to go up
  Potsdamer Platz. was the Philharmonie (Berlin
Philharmonic concert hall), built
Before the onset of World War II, to an innovative design by Hans
Potsdamer Platz was one of the Scharoun in 1961. Most of the
busiest and most densely built- other plans for the Kulturforum
up areas of Berlin. Most of the were realized between 1961
area’s landmarks ceased to exist and 1987. With many museums
after the bombing of 1945, and and galleries, the area attracts
the destruction was completed millions of visitors every year.
when the burned-out ruins The Kunstgewerbemuseum
were finally pulled down to (Museum of Arts and Crafts)
build the Berlin Wall. holds a rich collection of
Since the mid-1990s, a new decorative art and crafts dating
financial and business district from the early Middle Ages to
has sprung up on this the modern day. Goldwork is
empty wasteland, which very well represented, and
once divided East and the museum takes
West Berlin. The huge great pride in its late
complex comprises Gothic and A tranquil stretch of water in Berlin’s
not only office Renaissance silver. 19th-century Tiergarten
buildings, but The Gemäldegalerie 6 Tiergarten
also a concert hall, a fine art collection is
multi-screen cinema, in a modern building  Tiergarten, Bellevue. @ 100, 200.
and the Arkaden designed by Heinz
shopping mall. Hilmer and Christopher Situated at the center of the city,
The first finished Sattler. Works by German the Tiergarten is the largest park
structure was the Silver and ivory tankard from Renaissance artists, in Berlin occupying a 210-ha
Daimler-Benz- the Kunstgewerbemuseum including Albrecht (520-acre) area. Once a hunting
Areal office block, Dürer and Hans reserve, the forest was trans-
designed by Holbein, dominate formed into a landscaped park in
Renzo Piano and Christoph the exhibition space, but the 1830s. A triumphal avenue
Kohlbecker. To the north lies there are also pieces by van was built at the end of the 19th
the impressive Sony-Center Dyck, Rembrandt, Raphael, century, lined with statues of the
complex, by Helmut Jahn. Velázquez, and Caravaggio. nation’s rulers and statesmen.
Housed in a striking building World War II inflicted huge
5 Kulturforum with a flat steel roof over a glass damage on the Tiergarten,
including the destruction of the
hall, the Neue Nationalgalerie
  Potsdamer Platz. Tel 030-266 contains mainly 20th-century triumphal avenue. Replanting
3666. Kunstgewerbemuseum: Open art, but begins with artists of the has restored the garden, and
Tue–Sun. Closed first Tue after Easter, late 19th century, such as Edvard many of its avenues are now
Whitsun, Oct 1, Dec 24, 25 & 31. & Munch and Ferdinand Hodler. lined with statues of national
7 Gemäldegalerie: Open Tue–Sun. Paintings from the Die Brücke celebrities, including Goethe.
Closed first Tue after Easter, Whitsun, movement include pieces by To the east of the
May 1, Dec 24, 25 & 31. & 7 Neue Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Karl Tiergarten is the Holocaust
Nationalgalerie: Open Tue–Sun. & 7 Schmidt-Rottluff. The museum is Denkmal. Designed by architect
shut until 2020 for a revamp; key Peter Eisenman, this wave-
The idea of creating a new works will be shown elsewhere. like monument represents
cultural center in West Berlin the overwhelming scale of
was first mooted in 1956. the Holocaust.

The Philharmonie, with the later addition of the Kammermusiksaal (1984–7) in front, part of the Kulturforum

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