{"id":6563,"date":"2016-10-19T10:25:14","date_gmt":"2016-10-19T08:25:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oeb.global\/OEB_Newsportal\/?p=6563"},"modified":"2016-10-24T16:48:46","modified_gmt":"2016-10-24T14:48:46","slug":"berlin-world-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oeb.global\/oeb-insights\/berlin-world-city\/","title":{"rendered":"Berlin, world city"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"blog-berlin-move\"<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

For over 100 years Berlin has, whether it liked it or not, been at the centre of European history. Situated in the middle of a great plain stretching from the Pyrenees to the Urals, this German capital with its Slavic name was always the place where East meets West. Today\u2019s Berlin is more multicultural than ever, welcoming people from all over the world, something we at OEB\u00a0are justly proud of.<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As we prepare ourselves to receive more than 2,000 delegates from over 50 countries, we at the news service have put together a guide to Berlin with an international flavour. This year attendees will get a chance to celebrate Berlin\u2019s global influences at The Occupied Party<\/a>; meanwhile, if you\u2019ve got a few hours to spare or are staying on for the weekend after the Conference, there\u2019s a huge number of things to see in town. From the famous to the obscure, here are some of the sites that bear witness to Berlin\u2019s cosmopolitan history.<\/p>\n

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  1. A French church<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Gendarmenmarkt<\/a> is one of Berlin\u2019s prettiest squares, with the steps of the concert hall on one side and the twin cupolas at either end marking the French and German churches. The domed towers were built on the instigation of Frederick the Great in 1785 but the French church, to the north of the square, is older, dating back to the time when the Huguenots, fleeing persecution in their native France, settled in Berlin.<\/p>\n

    Gendarmenmarkt: U2 Hausvogteiplatz<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. A worldwide celebrity<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Berlin has something of a reputation for being one big construction site. If you visit the Museum Island at the moment you may notice<\/a> the latest building project taking shape: the Humboldt-Forum, built within three reconstructed fa\u00e7ades of the Baroque palace that once occupied this site. This is but the latest Berlin institution dedicated to Prussian scientist and explorer Alexander von Humboldt<\/a>, who was so widely travelled and universally loved at one time that he possibly has more things named after him than anybody else (including an ocean current, some of the moon, several ships, a penguin, a squid, at least four mountain ranges and a sizeable chunk of Nevada). You can also visit his family home here, Schloss Tegel, with its lakeside grounds.<\/p>\n

      Humboldt-Forum is on the Schlossplatz, a few minutes\u2019 walk from U2 Hausvogteiplatz<\/p>\n

      Schloss Tegel: U6 Alt-Tegel<\/p>\n

        \n
      1. A world first<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        There\u2019s some things, however, you won\u2019t find anywhere in the world other than Berlin and exhibition houses dedicated to interactive technology is one of them. Opened in 2014, The Game Science Center<\/a> Berlin is the first museum of its type in existence, 300m2<\/sup> of space dedicated to interactive exhibits that let you \u201ctouch the future\u201d. We will be organising a visit ourselves on the Friday after the Conference; all those interested please meet at the registration desk at 17:30.<\/p>\n

        Game Science Center: U6 Kochstra\u00dfe; entrance fee \u20ac14<\/p>\n

          \n
        1. International, The<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          We said international, and what\u2019s more international than\u2026 international communism? Karl-Marx-Allee<\/a> is the monumental socialist avenue of Berlin\u2019s Mitte, a feast of wedding-cake-style architecture (if you like that sort of thing) with a few space-age glassy modernist constructions thrown in. Here you\u2019ll find Caf\u00e9 Moskau, instantly recognisable by the Sputnik on the roof. It is one of seven \u201cnationality restaurants\u201d once run by the East German state to give people a taste of other cultures, many of them situated along the Allee, including Caf\u00e9s Budapest, Warschau and Bukarest.<\/p>\n

          Caf\u00e9 Moskau: U5 Schillingstra\u00dfe<\/p>\n

            \n
          1. Sunny Bohemian villages<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

            The German for \u201cThat\u2019s all Greek to me\u201d is \u201cFor all I know that\u2019s Bohemian villages!\u201d (F\u00fcr mich sind das alles B\u00f6hmische D\u00f6rfer<\/em>). Berlin has its own such village: B\u00f6hmisch-Rixdorf, a charming little neighbourhood sandwiched between the busy thoroughfares of Sonnenallee and Hermannstra\u00dfe in Neuk\u00f6lln. Dating back to 1737, when protestant refugees from what is now the Czech Republic settled in the area, the low village houses clustered around a small church make a surprising contrast to the backs of the five-storey blocks on either side. The village atmosphere continues inside many of the businesses; here you\u2019ll find old Berlin-style bars, junk shops and a restaurant that sells 1m-wide pizzas (but only to groups of 6). North of here is the Sonnenallee<\/a>, one of the main middle-eastern areas of Berlin. Suitably named, the Sonnenallee is (by the way) perfectly aligned towards sunrise on the winter solstice, like a neolithic tomb, meaning that it\u2019s a particularly beautiful place on a sunny winter morning.<\/p>\n

            B\u00f6hmisch-Rixdorf (Richardplatz): U7 Karl-Marx-Stra\u00dfe<\/p>\n

              \n
            1. Forgotten museums<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

              Berlin\u2019s central museums are too well known to mention here. Out in Dahlem, however, you\u2019ll find a set of less visited (often astonishingly empty) museums. The Ethnological Museum<\/a>, with half a million objects, has one of the largest collections of artefacts from outside Europe in the world, and was founded by well-travelled polymath and father of ethnography Adolf Bastian. It is due to move to the new Humboldt-Forum soon along with its neighbour, the Museum of Asian Art<\/a>. In the same area you\u2019ll also find the Museum of European Cultures<\/a> and the Botanical Gardens<\/a>.<\/p>\n

              Dahlem Museen: U3 Dahlem Dorf<\/p>\n

                \n
              1. Mediaeval world<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                Well OK, so you might want to do something German, and this one\u2019s as German as they come. Nikolaiviertel<\/a> is a bizarre East German toytown, a recreation, half in timber and stone, half in concrete, of a small part of the destroyed centre of Berlin around the Nikolaikirche. Descriptions of it vary from \u201cweird\u201d or \u201cdisturbing\u201d to \u201ckitschy\u201d, but you\u2019ll find some interesting (actually quite weird, disturbing and kitschy) 16th<\/sup>-century sculptures in the church. If you fancy some traditional Berlin cuisine, this is the place to go. Bear in mind that traditional Berlin cuisine is pickled knuckle<\/a>. There\u2019s a reason why the D\u00f6ner Kebab was \u201cinvented<\/a>\u201d here\u2026<\/p>\n

                Nikolaiviertel: U2 Klosterstra\u00dfe<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

                For over 100 years Berlin has, whether it liked it or not, been at the centre of European history. Situated in the middle of a great plain stretching from the Pyrenees to the Urals, this German capital with its Slavic name was always the place where East meets West. Today\u2019s Berlin is more multicultural than […]<\/p>\n

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