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Brandenburg Gate One of Berlin`s most photographed sites, the Brandenburg Gate was once the boundary between East and West Berlin. The Wall came down in 1989 and the gate - long a symbol of division - became the very epitome of German reunification. The gate is the only remaining one of the 18 that once graced Berlin. It was designed by Carl Gotthard Langhans in 1791 in neoclassical style and crowned by an ornate sculpture representing the goddess Victory. She was spirited away to Paris in 1806 by Napoleon after his occupation of Berlin, and returned trimphantly in 1814, freed from the French by a gallant Prussian general. Political groups from various ideological corners hijacked the pliable Brandenburg Gate as the backdrop for their rallies and processions until 1961, when the wall was built and the gate sealed off in no-man`s-land. In 1989, after the dissolution of the border, the area was reopened to the public. Today, traffic passes freely under the gate and enterprising scammers have long been selling hunks of Berlin Wall concrete, most of dubious authenticity. If the Berlin Wall was ever reconstructed from the fragments sold to tourists it could probably enclose the whole of Germany. In October 2002 the Gate was reopened after two years of restoration. If you need some time out, sit and contemplate peace in the Raum der Stille (Room of Silence) in the gate`s north wing. Checkpoint Charlie Museum Checkpoint Charlie, the pre-fabricated monitoring tower that the Allies hoisted into position after the erection of the Berlin Wall, was a potent symbol of the Cold War. It was named `Charlie` after the military lingo for the third letter, `c` (alpha, bravo, charlie...), as it was the third Allied checkpoint. It was unceremoniously craned away a few months after the border reopened in 1989. In 2001, a replica guardhouse was returned to the site (the original is in the Allied Museum in Zehlendorf). Also returned was a copy of the famous sign that warned in English, Russian, French and German `You are now leaving the American sector`. Before the replicas were returned, the site was one of the many unnerving places in Berlin where recent history has been utterly effaced. The renovated museum nearby is interesting (if overpriced), with its display of ingenious devices employed in escape attempts from the former East Germany. It doesn`t make it any easier to comprehend that this nondescript urban landscape was one of the critical pressure points in the global stand-off between East and West, and the scene of 80 deaths. To the west of the museum is the East Side Gallery, a surviving chunk of real wall, preserved by the city authorities and decorated by local artists. Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtnis-Kirche This church is one of Berlin`s most famous historic landmarks. It was bombed by the British in late 1943 in a fierce raid that left only the broken west tower standing. Engulfed by the commercialism of west Berlin, this is another of the historical anomalies that pop up all over Berlin. The reconstructed church is dominated by blue stained glass and features some beautiful work by Chagall. Don`t be so moved as you emerge into the light that you`re bowled over by swooping rollerbladers or lurking bums shaking you down for a fist full of euros. Kulturforum For more art and culture than you can poke a stick at, head to Kulturforum. This cluster of top-notch museums and concert venues is just west of the booming Potsdamer Platz quarter. Things kick off with the Berliner Philharmonie, a concert hall with otherwordly acoustics, and the adjacent smaller Chamber Music Hall. Standing a bit forlorn within the modern music complex is the neo-Romanesque confection of
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