Informations about Berlin and sights
Berlin is the capital of the Federal Republic of Germany, a city with a population of 3.5 million and an approximate site of 344 square miles.
The city is located in the heart of the German state of Brandenburg, one of the states of the former German Democratic Republic that were reunited with Germany's western states on October 3, 1990.
Berlin itself was split into four parts until the very same day since World War II, of which three belonged to Western and one to Eastern Germany
Nowadays the metropolis of Berlin is one of Europe's "en-vogue"-cities and features everything you may expect from a mayor European capital.
But it also has a very rich and complex history that dates back to its foundation in the 13th century. It suffered severely in the various wars that swept through Europe in its history, especially in the 30-Years-War from 1618 to 1645, when nearly a third of the city was destroyed and, of course, in World War II.
Until today most of the people in Europe and the World remember Berlin as the divided city it was from 1945 to 1990, and even more after 1961 after the construction of the infamous Berlin Wall.
Even today, almost two decades after the reunification of the city and the demolishing of the Berlin Wall,
it left its marks in the City. Visitors in Berlin can review the history of the Berlin Wall for example at the special museum at Checkpoint Charlie, the most famous crossing point between East Berlin and West Berlin during the Cold War.
Of course the Berlin Wall Museum is not the only important museum in the city. Some of Germany's most renowned museums can be found on Berlins Museum Island, an island in the Spree River in the centre of the city. There you find the "Old Museum" with its world-famous Antikensammlung, the Prussian collection of antiques, the "New Museum" (to be fully reconstructed in 2009) which will be a home again for a collection of pieces from pre-historian and Egyptian Age. Art-Lovers will be lucky to enjoy the "Old National Gallery" and the "Bode Museum", which was formerly known as the Emperor Frederic Museum. Last but of course not least there is the "Pergamon Museum" to be found on the Museum Island, one of the most important museums for Middle Eastern and Antique Greek History in the World.
Berlin's most famous landmark for sure is the Brandenburg Gate, THE symbol for the division of Germany, Europe and the World in the decades after World War II.
Other famous landmarks include the TV Tower, the Reichstag, home of Germany's parliament, the Potsdam Square or the famous Kurfüstendamm. And of course there is much more to see in Berlin concerning architecture, modern as well as classical, boulevards and squares than can be mentioned in this short introduction.
Berlin also offers a large variety of places for those who love nature. In the middle of the city there is the "Großer Tiergarten", a park area that is almost double the size of London's famous Hyde Park and that is Germanys second-largest inner-city park area, only to be superceded by Munich's "English Garden".
The "Zoologischer Garten" gives visitors the possibility to see the largest number of species in all zoos worldwide.
Sports enthusiasts will surely not want to visit Berlin without taking a look at the Olympic Stadium, home of the Olympic Games in 1936.
