Travel Reviews
Berlin, Germany: a cultural guide
Annabel Simms offers an essential cultural guide to Berlin, a city that pulsates with youthful energy, and pays tribute to its past.
“Poor, but sexy” is how Berlin’s charismatic mayor described his post-reunification city in 2003. It’s certainly cheaper than London or Paris, and it’s bubbling with a vibrant mix of international artists, immigrants and young visitors from all over Europe, attracted by its progressive cultural scene, easy-going attitude, buzzing nightlife and low rents. Some of Europe’s finest museums are clustered on the Unesco-listed Museum Island in central Berlin, all within easy walking distance so you don’t even need to use the excellent public transport system.
The interesting thing about Berlin is how the bones of the past keep sticking out of its eclectic mix of architectural styles. The soaring Fernsehturm – the television tower – in Alexanderplatz recalls East Berlin’s modernist aspirations and Golden Else, the nickname of the figure on the Victory column in the Tiergarten, was put up in 1873 to commemorate Prussian victories.
And, of course, there is the Brandenburg Gate, where I noticed a row of white crosses lining the road. Yes, the taxi driver confirmed, those were memorials to people who had died trying to cross the Wall. He slowed down to show me the double row of cobblestones in the road that now marks where the Wall once stood.
Every building and barren space, old or new, has a story. Outside Friedrichstrasse station was a poignant sculpture of children clutching suitcases.The words, “Züge in Leben, Züge in den Tod” (Trains to life, trains to death) and the dates, 1938-1945, told me everything.