The Brandenburg Gate, Berlin’s most famous landmark, is over 200 years old.
- Until 1989, it symbolized the division of Berlin and Germany-today it is a national symbol of unity.
- The structure is the only remaining city gate in Berlin.
- Built in 1789-91, designer Carl Gotthard Langhans modeled it after the Propylaeum in Athens, making it the first significant example of Berlin classicism.
- When the Berlin Wall still stood, the Gate stood alone and isolated. Today it is once again integrated into the recently designed Pariser Platz, a pedestrian area.
Close to the Brandenburg Gate is the Bundestag, the German seat of Parliament, in the Reichstag Building that was built in the 1890s. This imposing building with monumental facades has a powerful effect on the beholder. Surrounded by a beautiful park and other federal government buildings this complex is the very heart of German democracy as it is in today’s Federal Republic of Germany. Today the building houses some six thousand public servants and tours of the Bundestag reveal the interior renovations and the spectacular glass dome ceiling.
- The Victory Column at Grosser Stern is-after the Brandenburg Gate and the Television Tower-one of the most well known landmarks of Berlin.
- The sixty-nine meter high cylinder has partially the Love Parade to thank for its popularity.
- For many years the parade’s end party was celebrated at the plaza around the Victory Column.
The Victory Column was originally dedicated to acts of war. The monument, built by Johann Heinrich Strack, recalls Prussian victories over Denmark,The Brandenburg Gate in Berlin Austria and France in 1864, 1866 and 1870/71.This is the reason it is decorated with gilded gun barrels.
