What to See and Do in Berlin, Germany

Itinerary for Foundation Art & Design Visit

Contrasts between historical buildings and modern architecture, between the traditional and the modern are what set the city apart from the

rest. The sights of Berlin – from the Brandenburg Gate to the Federal Chancellery – tell the story of an entire nation. Germany's capital is

home to all the major goverment buildings, most notably the historic Reichstag, seat of the German parliament.

Berlin is a city of art, artists and museums. More than 170 museums, including those on the famous museum island, put the treasures of the

world on public display. Culturally minded visitors from all corners of the globe come to Berlin to see performances by leading orchestras –

such as the internationally celebrated Berlin Philharmonic – and to attend ballets and operas at the three major opera houses. A multitude of

theatres specialising in plays, variety, revue and cabaret offer stage entertainment in all its forms.

The famous Kurfürstendamm, grand old Friedrichstrasse and the independent boutiques in and around the Hackesche Höfe offer endless

scope for shopping.

Nowadays, people look to Berlin for the latest trends in lifestyle, music and art. Inspired by this outpouring of creativity, growing numbers of

artists are arriving in the city from around the world, making it one of Europe's most exciting destinations.

Your Itinerary can be used alongside the dedicated

Google Map

that includes locations of each museum or collection and links to their

dedicated websites. I also recommend downloading the current

Berlin In Your Pocket

city guide for your reference.

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_{January 2016}

01.25 Meet: Banbury Campus

01.30 Transfer to London Gatwick Airport by Kings Ferry coach

04.00 Arrive: London Gatwick

6.30 Depart London Gatwick Airport on Easyjet. Flight: EZY5407

9.25 Arrive Berlin Schoenefeld Airport

10.30 Transfer to hotel with Gullivers Bus

11.00 Arrive MEININGER Hauptbahnhof, Ella Trebe Strasse 9, 10557 BERLIN MITTE, Germany, Phone: +49 (0)30 666 36 100

13.00 Meet in hotel foyer for orientation walk of area

13.15

_Reichstag

The Reichstag building in Berlin was constructed to house the Reichstag, parliament of the German Empire. It was opened in 1894 and housed the Reichstag until 1933, when it was severely damaged in a fire supposedly set by Dutch communist Marinus van der Lubbe. During the Nazi era members of the Reichstag continued to assemble as a group in the Kroll Opera House. After the Second World War the Reichstag building fell into disuse. The building was made safe in the 1960s, but no attempt at full restoration was made until after the reunification of Germany when it underwent reconstruction led by internationally renowned architect Norman Foster. After its completion in 1999, it became the meeting place of the modern German parliament, the Bundestag. The design by Sir Norman Foster added a glass dome over the plenary hall. At first the subject of much controversy, the dome has become one of the city’s most recognized landmarks and the roof terrace and dome of the Reichstag Building offer an incomparable view of Berlin’s parliamentary and government quarter.

13.30

_{Brandenburg Gate}

The Brandenburg Gate was commissioned by Friedrich Wilhelm II to represent peace. The Gate was designed by Karl Gotthard Langhans, the Court Superintendent of Buildings, and the main architectural design of this landmark hasn't changed since it was first constructed in 1791. Ironically the gate was incorporated into the Berlin wall during the years of Communist government. The Brandenburg gate is probably the most well-known landmark in Berlin and it now stands as a symbol of the reunification of the two sides of this great city.

13.45 Explore Unter den Linden including KunstHalle, Babelplatz and Neue Wache. See south of Friedrichstrasse for Check-Point Charlie

KunstHalle by Deutsche Bank on Unter den Linden

Open: Daily 10am to 8pm. Admission: 4/3 Euros. Free on Monday

The Deutsche Bank global art program. The “Art works” concept is an integral part of Deutsche Bank’s Corporate Citizenship programme. In line with this motto Deutsche offers employees, clients and the general public access to contemporary art- through its collection at the workplace, in international exhibitions, at the Deutsche Bank KunstHalle in Berlin, as well as through educational programmes.

Exhibition at KunstHalle: Jackson Pollock’s Mural; Energy Made Visible

Babelplatz on Unter den Linden

Bebelplatz was designed in the 18th century as a centre for the arts and science. The square is lined with a number of grand buildings. Unfortunately, the Bebelplatz is sometimes best known for what happened there on May 10, 1933. On that date, the Nazi minister for propaganda and public enlightenment, Joseph Goebbels, organized a nationwide book burning, with more than 20,000 books by Jews, Communists, and Pacifists burned on a pyre in the middle of the Bebelplatz. Today, visitors can peer through a glass plate in the ground and view rows of empty bookshelves, a modern monument to that awful day.

Neue Wache on Unter den Linden

Dating from 1816, the Neue Wache was designed by the architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel and is a leading example of German neoclassicism. Originally built as a guardhouse for the troops of the Crown Prince of Prussia, the building has been used as a war memorial since 1931. After reunification, the Neue Wache became the "Central Memorial of the Federal Republic of Germany to the Victims of War and Tyranny" and the centre of the chamber is now occupied by the enlarged (and consequently also controversial) sculpture "Mother with dead son" by Käthe Kollwitz.

CheckPoint Charlie on Friedrichstrasse

We are not booked-in at the Checkpoint Charlie Museum but you may like to have a look.

Checkpoint Charlie was one of the main gateways for crossing between the two halves of Berlin during the Cold War. The naming of the checkpoints was based on the phonetic alphabet, and as this was the third such checkpoint it was given the name of Charlie. It became a symbol of the Cold War - representing the division of East & West - and was seen as a gateway to freedom for the East Germans.

16.40 Meet in the Main Foyer of the German Historical Museum on Unter den Linden to travel to 12 Apostles for Pizza

Deutsche Historiche Museum - the 'Zeughaus'

Open: Daily 10am to 6pm. Admission: 4 Euro

We are not booked in at the Deutsche Historiche Museum however it is a fabulous mix of old and new architecture... The permanent exhibition in the Zeughaus provides an exhaustive blast through German history from 100BC to the present day. German nationalism becomes the focus once you enter the 19th century and later on more than one room is dedicated to the Nazi era. The DHM has succeeded admirably in looking the past straight in the eye, although the attempt to be impartial means that it is sometimes factual to the extreme. Temporary exhibitions are housed in the gorgeous new Pei building.

17.00

_{12 Apostle Mitte,}

Georgenstraße 2, S-Bahnhof Friedrichstraße, (S-Bahnbögen 177-180), 10117 Berlin Mitte. www.12-apostel.de/en/

Beneath the railway arches this Italian restaurant has over-the-top religious decor and tasty thin-crust pizzas named after the 12 apostles.

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_{January 2016}

8.00 Breakfast

9.25 Meet in hotel foyer for short walk to Museum of Film and Television

10.00

_{Museum of Film and Television - Deutsche Kinemathek}

Open: Tuesday to Sunday 10am to 6pm. Thursday 10am to 8pm Admission: Pre-booked. Booking No: 3268

The Deutsche Kinemathek officially opened in February 1963. Its founding director was Gerhard Lamprecht who over the decades had meticulously put together an extensive collection of films, documents and equipment. The City State of Berlin acquired this collection and then handed it over to the new institution for its preservation and use.

Since its establishment, the Deutsche Kinemathek has indexed everything related to film history and technology, cinema and, to a certain extent, television: film prints as well as other items indispensable for research on film history, e.g. film programs, posters, drawings for set designs and costumes, photos, scripts, personal estates and other documents. The Deutsche Kinemathek had been a museum without an exhibition for years. Since September 2000 – as Filmmuseum Berlin – it has been able to present a part of its collections in the Permanent Exhibition Film. It invites visitors to make a journey, thematically and chronologically arranged, through German film history. Another main focus of the Permanent Exhibition is the relationship between Berlin and Hollywood. Special exhibitions complete the program.

Exhibition: Best Actress Oscars®, Roles and Images

Opportunity to explore the Memorial for the Murdered Jews of Europe, Sony Centre, Potsdamer Platz, Kulturforum including

the Neue Nationalgalerie

Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe

Accessible 24hrs; Information Centre Open: Tuesday 10am to 7pm

The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in the centre of Berlin is the German Holocaust Memorial honouring and remembering the up to six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust. Located between the Brandenburg Gate and Potsdamer Platz, the Memorial consists of the Field of Stelae designed by Peter Eisenman and the subterranean Information Centre.

The final design, approved on 25 June 1999 (»Eisenman II«), envisages around 2,700 concrete slabs (stelae), arranged in a grid pattern. They are 0.95 cm deep and 2.38 m wide and vary only in height. The stelae stand on gently and unevenly sloping ground covering 19,000 square metres. The public is able to enter and walk through the field from all four sides. They experience the wave-like form differently from each different position. The extraordinary design by Peter Eisenman, New York architect of international renown, has undergone several revisions and represents a radical confrontation with the traditional concept of a memorial.

Neue Nationalgalerie

Potsdamer Straße 50, 10785 Berlin

The Neue Nationalgalerie is dedicated to the art of the 20th century. It contains selections from the Nationalgalerie’s diverse collection, which is on show at five further locations: Alte Nationalgalerie, Friedrichswerdersche Kirche, Museum Berggruen, Sammlung Scharf-Gerstenberg and Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwart – Berlin.

2015 marks the beginning of a four-year project of refurbishment and modernisation of the Neue Nationalgalerie. Since it opened in 1968 almost 50 years ago no major work has been done on the building As refurbishment cannot take place during opening hours, the museum will be closed for the duration of works. Nevertheless, I recommend a quick view of this architectural icon designed by Mies van de Rohe.

Opportunity to visit museums to the west of Tiergarten including the Helmut Newton Foundation, or Kathe Kollwitz Museum, or

Museum Berggruen, or Sammlung Scharf-Gerstenberg.

Take the U-Bahn from Potzdamer Platz using line U2 in the direction of Ruhleben…

Museum Fur Fotografie – Helmut Newton Sammlung

Jebensstraße 2, 10623 Berlin; U ‘Zoologischer Garten’

Open: Daily 10am to 6pm Thursdays to 10pm. Closed Monday. Admission: 3-Day-Ticket

According to Helmut Newton’s wishes, this foundation in his home town Berlin, which opened in June 2004, was not to be a "dead museum" but a "living institution". His multi-faceted, innovative and often provocative work is being presented in a series of alternating exhibitions. The Helmut Newton Foundation also exhibits the work of other artists and photographers in order to create a dialogue with Helmut Newton’s oeuvre.

Museum Berggruen

Schloßstraße 1, 14059 Berlin; U ‘Sophie-Charlotte-Platz’

Open: Daily 10am to 6pm. Closed Monday. Admission: 3-Day-Ticket

The Museum Berggruen forms an ideal and natural complement to the collection of modern art held at the Neue Nationalgalerie (currently closed for restoration), most particularly with its singular works by Pablo Picasso, Paul Klee, Henri Matisse, and Alberto Giacometti.

Kathe-Kollwitz-Museum

Fasanenstraße 24, 10719 Berlin; U ‘U ‘Zoologischer Garten’

Open: Daily 10am to 6pm. Admission: 6 Euro reduced 3 Euro

At the end of May 1986, the Berlin painter and art dealer Hans Pels-Leusden, who died in April 1993, opened in a former upper-class home in the Fasanenstraße the privately directed Käthe-Kollwitz-Museum Berlin.

Four decades after the death of Käthe Kollwitz a permanent home for a major part of her complete works has been set up thanks to this generous donation in the town where Käthe Kollwitz lived and worked for more than fifty years.

The Käthe-Kollwitz-Museum Berlin is located in the former first private home built 1871 in Fasanenstraße. Destroyed during the 2nd World War, the building underwent a fundamental restauration during the nineteeneighties.

19.15 Meet in hotel foyer for booked visit to Reichstag. Photographic ID Required

19.45

_{Reichstag Dome}

The current Reichstag dome is a glass dome constructed on top of the rebuilt Reichstag building. It was designed by architect Norman Foster and built to symbolize the reunification of Germany. The distinctive appearance of the dome has made it a prominent landmark in Berlin.

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_{January 2016}

08.00 Breakfast

09.25 Meet in hotel foyer for short walk to BOROS Collection for booked visit

10.00

_{Boros Bunker – BOROS Collection}

Reinhardtstraße 20, 10117 Berlin

The Bunker (also Reichsbahnbunker) in Berlin-Mitte is a listed air-raid shelter. Originally based on plans of the architect Karl Bonatz, it was constructed in 1943 by Nazi Germany to shelter up to 3,000 Reichsbahn train passengers

Christian Boros purchased the bunker for his private collection of contemporary art in 2003. He subsequently had architects Jens Casper and Petra Petersson convert the building into a 32,000-square-foot (3,000 m2_{) exhibition space and build a}

4,800-square-foot (450 m2_{) glass-walled penthouse on the roof.}[4] _{The renovation work was finished in 2007.}

The second exhibition of works from the Boros Collection presents works from the early 90s along with recent acquisitions. All media, such as sculpture, installation, painting, drawing, video and photography are represented in the show. Many of the installations work with sound so that visitors are confronted with various, overlapping sounds on each of the bunker’s five floors. The artworks on display have been installed in the rooms by the artists themselves and work with the space.

The following artists feature in the current show:

Ai Weiwei, Awst & Walther, Dirk Bell, Cosima von Bonin, Marieta Chirulescu, Thea Djordjadze, Olafur Eliasson, Alicja Kwade, Klara Lidén, Florian Meisenberg, Roman Ondák, Stephen G. Rhodes, Thomas Ruff, Michael Sailstorfer, Tomás Saraceno, Thomas Scheibitz, Wolfgang Tillmans, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Danh Vo, Cerith Wyn Evans und Thomas Zipp

13.15 Meet: Neues Museum on Museum Island for booked visit

13.30

_{Neues Museum}

Museum Island

Open: Monday to Friday 9am to 4pm Admission: 3-Day-Ticket

Built from 1841 to 1859, the Neues Museum was designed by Friedrich August Stüler as the second museum on the island in the River Spree. The museum was badly damaged after suffering a series of hits in the aerial bombardment of the Second World War and underwent reconstruction from 2003, overseen by the British architect David Chipperfield. The aim was to restore the building (listed as a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site since 1999) to its original glory while at the same time taking strict conservation requirements into account.

The Egyptian Museum and Papyrus Collection, the Museum of Prehistory and Early History and various artefacts from the Collection of Classical Antiquities have been given a new home in the Neues Museum. Renowned archaeological treasures, such as the bust of Nefertiti and the Egyptian Museum’s entire collection of Armana Art, combine with world-famous exhibits from the Museum of Prehistory and Early History, such as the skull of the Neanderthal from Le Moustier or Heinrich Schliemann’s collection of Trojan Antiquities, to form a unique panorama of the early history of humankind.

Pergamon Museum

Museum Island

Open: Daily 10am to 6pm Thursdays to 10pm. Admission: 3-Day-Ticket

Today, The Pergamon accommodates three separate museums: the Antikensammlung (Collection of Classical Antiquities) occupying the architectural halls and the sculpture wing, the Vorderasiatisches Museum (Museum of the Ancient Near East) and the Museum für Islamische Kunst (Museum of Islamic Art). The monumental reconstruction of archaeological building ensembles – such as the Pergamon Altar, the Market Gate of Miletus and the Ishtar Gate including the Processional Way of Babylon and the Mshatta Façade – has made the Pergamonmuseum world-famous

Alte Nationalgalerie

Open: Daily 10am to 6pm Thursdays to 10pm. Admission: 3-Day-Ticket

The Alte Nationalgalerie is regarded as a comprehensive collection of art of the era between the French Revolution and the First World War, between Classicism and Secessions. The harmonious relationship between the museum building and its collection is unique: designed under the auspices of Heinrich Strack according to plans by August Stüler, the gallery was built in the years 1867 to 1876: the collection it houses today, one of the most beautiful of its kind, originates from the same century. Hence, a tour through the museum offers a profound insight into the art of the 19th century including impressionist and post impressionist painting.

The DDR Museum

Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 1, 10178 Berlin

Open: Daily 10am to 8pm Saturday to 10pm. Admission: Adults: 7 €; Reduced: 5 €; Online tickets from 4 €

The DDR Museum is a museum in the centre of Berlin. The museum is located in the former governmental district of East Germany, right on the river Spree, opposite the Berlin Cathedral. The museum is the 11th most visited museum in Berlin. Its exhibition shows the daily life in East Germany (known in German as the Deutsche Demokratische Republik or DDR) in a direct "hands-on" way. For example, a covert listening device ("bug") gives visitors the sense of being "under surveillance".

Gestalten Space

Sophie-Gips-Höfe, Sophienstraße 21

Gestalten specialize in developing content for aficionados of cutting-edge visual culture worldwide. For Gestalten, visual culture is the output resulting from the interrelationship of design, art, architecture, photography, and other visual disciplines with each other as well as other areas such as popular culture and music. In drawing from a variety of influences and combining them in ways not yet seen before, this work is pushing contemporary creative expression to new frontiers.

TV Tower

Open: 10am to midnight Admission: 11 Euros

From 203 and 207 metres high you can look out over the entire city with its large number of tourist attractions: you can see the Reichstag (Parliament building), the Brandenburg Gate and the Main Railway Station from here, as well as the Olympic Stadium, the Museum Island (Museumsinsel) and the Potsdam Square (Potsdamer Platz).

With almost 1.2 million visitors every year, the Berlin TV tower is one of the most popular attractions for tourists in Berlin.

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_{January 2016}

08.00 Breakfast

09.30 Meet in hotel foyer for short walk to Hamburger Bahnof

10.00

_{Hamburger Bahnof}

Invalidenstraße 50-51, 10557 Berlin

Open: Tuesday to Friday 10am to 6pm. Admission: 3-Day-Ticket.

Museum of Contemporary Art - After a lengthy reconstruction by architect Josef Paul Kleihues, the Hamburger Bahnhof reopened on 2 November 1996 as the "Museum für Gegenwart" (Museum for Contemporary Art). The building was erected in the mid-19th century as one of the first terminal stations of the rail system. The Nationalgalerie's permanent collection at the Hamburger Bahnhof is dedicated to the major directions in art from 1960 to the present, including the changes and redefinitions in painting, the continuation of classical sculpture in object art, the special role of photography and multimedia concepts in video and film.

Exhibition Highlight: Neue Galerie: The Black Years. Histories of a Collection: 1933–1945

November 2015 sees the opening of the "Neue Galerie": a new exhibition space at the Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwart – Berlin, designed with the specific purpose of keeping the Nationalgalerie's modern art collection on public display while the Mies van der Rohe building undergoes renovations. The space will host different modern art exhibitions every six months until the re-opening of the Neue Nationalgalerie. The first of these exhibitions, entitled "The Black Years. Histories of a Collection. 1933–1945" features works from the Nationalgalerie which were either created between 1933 and 1945, acquired by the collection during this period, or seized by the National Socialist regime.

12.30 Meet: Entrance to Natural History Museum on Invalidstrasse for 20 minute walk to the Berlin Wall Memorial

13.00

_{Berlin Wall Memorial Visitors Centre}

Nordbahnhof S-Bahn station.

The monument, whose two steel walls enclosed a preserved 70-meter long section of the original border fortifications, was officially dedicated on August 13, 1998. Its inscription reads:

“In memory of the division of the city from August 13, 1961 to November 9, 1989 and in commemoration of the victims of Communist tyranny.”

16.00

_{Berlinische Galerie}

Alte Jakobstraße 124-128, 10969

Open: Wednesday to Monday 10 am to 6 pm. Admission: 3-Day-Ticket

Combining elements of the national gallery, with its international focus, and the city museum, with its emphasis on cultural history, the Berlinische Galerie collects, researches, and exhibits works from 1870 until the present. Themes include the secessionists and the Jungen Wilden group, Fluxus and Dada, New Objectivity and expressionism, the Russians in Berlin, the avant-garde in architecture and photography, Berlin during the Nazi regime, the city in ruins, East- and West-Berlin, the formation of the metropolis. Creative contemporary scenes are also included. Along with the permanent collection, the spacious industrial hall has plenty to offer: temporary exhibitions, movies, music, lectures, archives, a library, a study centre with a hall providing presentation facilities for works on paper

Exhibition at Berlinische Galerie: Max Beckman

Within 5 a minute walk of Berlinische Galerie is the Jewish Museum.

Jewish Museum

Lindenstraße 9-14, 10969 Berlin

Open: Tuesday to Sunday10 am to 8 pm. Admission: 3-Day-Ticket

A highlight of Berlin’s modern architecture that holds a museum dedicated to the history of Judaism in Berlin/Germany.

The Jewish Museum Berlin (Jüdisches Museum Berlin) covers two millennia of German Jewish history. It consists of two buildings. One is the old Kollegienhaus, a former courthouse, built in the 18th century. The other, a new addition specifically built for the museum, designed by world-renowned architect Daniel Libeskind. This was one of the first buildings in Berlin designed after German reunification. The museum opened to the public in 2001

Martin-Gropius-Bau

Niederkirchnerstraße 7, 10963 Berlin

Open: Wednesday to Monday 10 am to 7 pm. Admission: 3-Day-Ticket

The Martin-Gropius-Bau (Martin Gropius Building) was built in 1881 as a royal art museum. Today, the building is named after its architect, Martin Gropius, the great uncle of Walter Gropius. Together with Heino Schmieden, Martin Gropius designed the brick building in the style of the Renaissance. It features mosaics and terracotta reliefs and is considered to represent the "Schinkel" style of architecture. The building was damaged severely in late 1945, and only in 1965 was it placed under historical protection owing to in the intervention of Walter Gropius.

The Martin-Gropius-Bau hosts approximately 10 major exhibitions each year in the fields of art, archaeology, photography and cultural history. Representative exhibitions are often carried out in cooperation with Berlin-based and international partners. Several of the exhibitions are designed to introduce the broad general public to major current developments in art and the major cultures in the world. The museum also has a bookstore, a restaurant and café and a space for lectures and films.

Bauhaus Archive

Klingelhöferstraße 14, 10785 Berlin; U ‘Nollendorfplatz’

Open: Wednesday to Monday 10am - 5pm, closed on Tuesday

The Bauhaus Archive/Museum of Design in Berlin is devoted to the research and presentation of the history and influence of the Bauhaus (1919-1933), the most important school of architecture, design and art in the 20th century.The entire spectrum of the school’s activities is represented in the Bauhaus Collection: architecture, furniture, ceramics, metalwork, photography, stage pieces and student work from the preliminary course, as well as works created by the school’s famous teachers, including Walter Gropius, Johannes Itten, Paul Klee, Lyonel Feininger, Vasily Kandinsky, Josef Albers, Oskar Schlemmer, László Moholy-Nagy and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Even today, the ‘Bauhaus Lamp’, the ‘Vasily’ armchair and Bauhaus wallpaper designs are regarded as modern classics.

20.00 Meet in your Room for a Check to ensure it is tidy and ready for you to leave

23.30 Sign-in at Reception

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_{January 2016}

8.00 Breakfast

9.30 Vacate rooms, check-out of hotel and store luggage

10.00 Opportunity for last minute sightseeing, shopping and lunch

15.00 Meet in hotel foyer to collect luggage

15.15 Transfer to Berlin Schonefeld with Gullivers Bus

16.05 Arrive Berlin Schonefeld Airport

18.05 Depart: Berlin Schonefeld on Easyjet. Flight: EZY5414

19.10 Arrive: London Gatwick Airport

19.30 Transfer to Banbury by Kings Ferry Coach