Brandenburg Gate
The arch where Germany was split apart and then stitched back together.
Duration
20 min – 45 min
Best time
Early morning, or after dark
Open
Every day
Entry price
Free
The gate was completed in 1791 on the model of the Athenian Propylaea, as a gate of peace. Napoleon carried the quadriga off to Paris in 1806; it came back in 1814, and the Iron Cross and Prussian eagle were added to it then.
From 1961 to 1989 it stood inside the death strip between the two walls, unreachable from either side: which is what made it the symbol of the division, and then, on 22 December 1989, of the reopening.
Getting there
S-Bahn and U-Bahn to Brandenburger Tor; the exit opens onto Pariser Platz. The Reichstag is five minutes north on foot.
What to bring
- Headlamp
Rules on site
People dressed as soldiers offer photographs on the square and then demand several tens of euros: this is not official, and it is banned. The square closes for demonstrations and ceremonies.
Other places in Berlin
East Side GalleryThirteen hundred metres of Wall left standing and painted by a hundred and eighteen artists.
Reichstag domeA glass dome above the debating chamber, where you literally walk on top of Parliament.
Museum IslandFive museums on an island in the Spree, including the bust of Nefertiti and the Ishtar Gate.
- Memorial to the Murdered Jews of EuropeTwo thousand seven hundred and eleven concrete stelae of uneven height, crossed by losing your way in them.