Berlin

Berlin Wall Video

Berlin, capital and largest city of the Federal Republic of Germany. Administratively, Berlin also constitutes one of Germany’s 16 states. Berlin became the capital of Germany in 1871, when the numerous independent kingdoms and principalities of Germany united to form a single nation-state (see German Unification (1871)). The city quickly developed into one of Europe’s major industrial and cultural centers and became the single most important city in Germany.

From 1945 until 1990 Berlin was a divided city. Following the defeat of the Nazi regime in World War II (1939-1945), the victorious Allied Powers—the United States, Britain, France, and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)—divided Germany into four zones, each occupied by one of the Allied Powers. They also divided Berlin, which was in the Soviet sector, into similar zones. The Soviet-controlled sector of the city became known as East Berlin, and the Western-occupied sector became known as West Berlin. In 1949 East Berlin became the capital of the German Democratic Republic (known as East Germany), one of two successor states established in Germany after the war. That same year the capital of West Germany, the other successor state, was established in the city of Bonn. West Berlin remained an urban island surrounded by Communist East Germany. The city became a focus of Cold War tensions between Communist countries led by the USSR and anti-Communist states led by the United States.

EDUCATION AND CULTURE IN BERLIN

Berlin has been a center of scientific research and theory, attracting luminaries such as Swiss physicist Albert Einstein and German physicist Werner Heisenberg. The Humboldt University of Berlin, formerly the University of Berlin (1810), has been the site of important scientific research, and its faculty has included more than 25 Nobel Prize winners. A highly regarded teaching hospital, the Charitè, was founded in Berlin in 1727. Other institutions of higher education include the Technical University of Berlin and the Free University of Berlin, as well as scientific research institutes such as the Max Planck Society and Sciences Center Berlin.

The German State Library, founded in 1661, is on Unter den Linden. It contains nearly 7 million books as well as collections of maps, musical scores, records, and paintings. Located several blocks south of Tiergarten on Potsdamerstrasse, the National Library contains many of the prewar holdings from the historic Prussian State Library.

Berlin has also been home to many important artists, musicians, and architects. Early architectural landmarks in Berlin include the Gothic Church of Saint Nicholas, which was built in the late 14th to early 15th century, and the Charlottenburg summer palace, which houses the Museum of Decorative Arts. In the entrance court to Charlottenburg Palace stands a famous equestrian statue of the 17th-century Great Elector of Brandenburg, Frederick William. Internationally influential architects who have worked in Berlin include 19th-century neoclassical architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel and 20th-century architect Walter Gropius, the founder of the Bauhaus school of architecture.

An exhibition on the history of Germany is housed in the baroque Zeughaus, one of Berlin’s finest buildings on the Unter den Linden, designed by German sculptor Andreas Schlüter and built from 1695 to 1706. Just north of Unter den Linden, the Museum Island contains some of the world’s most important art collections. The Pergamon Museum has excellent displays of Greco-Roman and Asian art. The Bode Museum contains fine examples of ancient Egyptian and Byzantine art. The Old National Gallery exhibits paintings and sculpture from the 18th to the early 20th centuries.

Berlin is also home to another group of famous institutions, including the Painting Gallery, which displays European painting from the 13th to 16th centuries, and the Staatliche Museum, home to the famous 14th-century-bc painted limestone bust of Egyptian queen Nefertiti. A new cultural quarter, located south of Tiergarten, contains the New National Gallery, which houses part of Berlin’s collection of 20th-century Western art.

Musical events take place at the State Opera House, German Opera Berlin, Komische Opera, and Schauspielhaus, a concert hall. Among the city’s many theaters, two have received worldwide accord: the Schaubühne am Lehniner Platz and the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm, which is still home to the Berliner Ensemble, a theatrical group founded by playwright Bertolt Brecht in 1954. Located south of Tiergarten is the Philharmonie Concert Hall, a striking asymmetrical structure that serves as the home of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. The city is the site of an annual International Film Festival and JazzFest Berlin.

RECREATION

Berlin has an extensive system of parks and recreational facilities including the Wannsee (a lake), the beautiful botanical gardens in Steglitz, and the 31-sq-km (12-sq-mi) forest of Grunewald. Tiergarten contains the largest of Berlin’s nearly 50 parks and is home to the city’s enormous Zoological Garden, one of the largest and oldest in the world.

Berlin has about 1,600 sports and recreation groups with about 500,000 participants regulated and administered by a division of the city government. The largest of the many sports clubs is the Berlin Soccer Club. While soccer is clearly the national sport, bicycling, tennis, track and field events, car racing, horse racing, and boxing also enjoy a wide following. Each of the city’s 12 boroughs runs its own recreation facilities. The most famous is the Olympic Stadium, constructed for the 1936 Olympics and still used for many different events.