Berlin/Alexanderplatz
Alexanderplatz and its surroundings, part of the central Mitte district of Berlin, represents the old heart of Communist Berlin and is currently projected for a major redevelopment.
Get in
By U-Bahn
Alexanderplatz is the U-Bahn interchange for lines U2, U5 and U8.
- Alexanderplatz (U2) - for central access to the district
- Klosterstrasse (U2) - best for the Nikolaiviertel
By train / S-Bahn
Alexanderplatz is served by S-Bahn lines 3, 5, 7 and 9
- Alexansderplatz
- Hakescher Markt
- Jannowitzbrücke
See
Landmarks
- Berlin TV Tower (Fernsehturm). =>. U-Bahn or S-Bahn Alexanderplatz (further directions are superfluous, you can't miss the tower!). The second highest building in Europe at 368.03m tall (originally 365m tall so that every child in the DDR could easily say how tall it was). It has a rotating restaurant in the ball with spectacular views of the city. It's a 60's design classic inside and has a sort of James Bondesque feel about it. Prices in the restaurant are more than at street level but still reasonable compared to most places - expect to pay about €15 a head min. The staff are notoriously brusque.
: Legend has it... that the reflected cross that is visible on the ball on a sunny day is 1. a curse from the pope - as money earmarked for the Catholics of the DDR was spent on the tower and 2. that the atheist communist government debated what to do about the cross - i.e. coat the ball, change the tiles etc, until some mentioned that it wasn't a cross at all but really a great plus sign for socialism.
- Rotes Rathaus (Red Town Hall)
- Marienkirche
- Nikolaiviertel
- *Nikolaikirche. Berlin's oldest church (1230) is a 3-nave hall church. It is located in the center of an area destroyed by bombs in the war which was then turned into a faux "old town" by the East German authorities called Nikolaiviertel. The area is more a hodge-podge of relocated buildings than an authentic reproduction, and the newly-built 1988 apartments that attempt to "harmonize" with the older buildings are embarrassing. The church itself is one of the only structures that was renovated rather than rebuilt. It is best known for a sandstone sculpture called the Spandauer Madonna (1290), but there are other interesting pieces here. When the church was destroyed in 1938 and rebuilt in the 1970s, the communist officials intended to use it as a museum, which did not open until 1987. The museum includes sacred textiles and religious sculpture from the fourteenth to the sixteenth centuries. The Nikolaikirche is the showplace of the Nikolaiviertel, which isn't saying much.
- World time clock (Weltzeituhr) - Built in 1969, this 16-ton, communist-era clock is one of Berlin's main meeting points. Each of its 24 sides corresponds to one of Earth's 24 time zones and have the names of some of the world's most important cities written on.
Museums and Galleries