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Photo: Dieter Brügmann, Public domain via Wikimedia Commons
A collection of most important and architecturally impressive cultural institutions, including many museums and galleries, that was built in West Berlin next to the wall separating it from the Berlin historic centre, which remained in the East along with the original cultural institutions of Berlin.
The Kulturforum is a collection of cultural buildings in Berlin. It was built up in the 1950s and 1960s at the edge of West Berlin, south of the Tiergarten, after most of the once unified city's cultural assets had been lost behind the Berlin Wall. The Kulturforum is characterized by its innovative modernist architecture; several buildings are distinguished by the organic designs of Hans Scharoun, and the Neue Nationalgalerie was designed by Mies van der Rohe. Today, the Kulturforum lies immediately to the west of the redeveloped commercial node of Potsdamer Platz.
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Museum of Prints and Drawings
The largest collection of graphic art in Germany.
Museum of Decorative Arts
The oldest museum of its kind in Germany which, despite great losses during the World War II, still possesses one of the world's primary collections of European applied art. There are two sections to the collection: one located at the Kulturforum in Tiergarten, the other at Köpenick Palace.
New National Gallery
Spectacular building by Mies van der Rohe contains its own collection and temporary exhibitions.
Old Master Paintings
The Gemäldegalerie contains an astounding array of paintings, including works by Rembrandt, Rubens, Botticelli, Raphael, Titian, Goya, Velasquez and Watteau. The collection contains works from the old Bodemuseum on Museumsinsel in the East, now closed, and the former Gemäldegalerie in Dahlem. Its strong points are German paintings of the 13-16th centuries, Netherlandish painting of the 15th and 16th centuries, Flemish paintings of the 17th century, and miniature paintings of the 16th-19th centuries. In the newer section of the museum, designed by architects Heinz Hilmer and Christoph Sattler, there is enough space to display 1,150 masterpieces in the main gallery and 350 in the studio gallery - of the almost 2,900 pieces in the European painting collections. Established in 1830, the newly built gallery from 1998 has about 7,000 sq m of exhibition space (a complete tour of the 72 rooms covers almost 2 km).
Berlin State Library - House Potsdamer Straße
Designed by Hans Scharoun.
The Berliner Philharmonie is a concert hall with 2,440 seats in Berlin-Tiergarten (constructed from 1960 to 1963 and designed by Hans Scharoun) and the home of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. It is a famous building with outstanding musicians. Reservations are recommended, but cheaper tickets are usually available 2–4 hours before the concert if not sold out. Every Tuesday (September to June) at 13:00–14:00, there is a free lunch concert; come early. In the winter, late-night concerts (22:30 or 23:00) are a bargain and often have more avant-garde or unconventional formats. The Kammermusiksaal (Chamber Music Hall) was added later in 1984–1987 as a venue for smaller concerts with 1,180 seats. It is linked to the foyer of the Philharmonie. Both buildings are located in the Kulturforum area.