March 7, 2023

Take a stroll down Berlin’s glamourous Unter den Linden avenue

Visitors can discover Unter den Linden, one of Berlin’s most famous historical avenues, which runs from the Brandenburg Gate to the Humboldt Forum

Unter den Linden Avenue
Its name in German means “Under the Linden trees”. Unter Den Linden links two of Berlin’s most iconic symbols, the Brandenburg Gate and the newly rebuilt City Castle (now Humboldt Forum), which faces the cathedral and Museums Island. To walk along the leafy avenue and marvel at its architecture is to travel back through Berlin’s history. The upper part of the street captures the city’s classical Prussian heritage at its best. The State Opera, the Crown Prince’s Palace, the former arsenal (today’s Museum of German History), the Humboldt University, the Old Library or the Neue Wache -dedicated to victims of all dictatorships- all epitomise classical Berlin. There are also a few buildings which date back to former East Germany. The Westin Grand, for example, was one of the last hotels built in East Berlin. At the other end of the street however, around the Brandenburg Gate, the contemporary architecture reflects the city reconstruction efforts post Berlin reunification…

Humboldt Forum
The Humboldt Forum is inside the Berlin city castle. Today’s building is a reconstruction of the former castle, where Prussian Kings and German Emperors used to reside. While the external facades and the Schlüter Courtyard faithfully reflect the former baroque castle, its structure is certainly more contemporary. The Humboldt Forum has 30,000 m2 of exhibitions, museums, shops and food outlets. Some museums are free of charge such as the former cellar and an exhibition of castle’s old foundations saved after its destruction in the 1950s. A spectacular attraction is ‘Berlin Global’, an interactive exhibition dedicated to the city’s history. The collections of the Ethnological Museum and Museum of Asian Art with 20,000 items are also worth seeing. Visitors can take a stroll around the Humboldt Forum to look at all the memorabilia of its predecessor, the East German Palast der Republik. You can even purchase remaining lamps from the Palace at the Forum’s shop along with many Berlin souvenirs!

Berlin’s Museum Island
Another site on Berlin’s tourism map is Museum Island, a unique model of urban design which has been granted World Heritage status by UNESCO. It started in 1830 with the opening of the Altes Museum showcasing its royal art collections. Over the next 100 years, another five museums have been built on site. Visitors have the chance to view world-famous artworks, including Nefertiti’s bust in the Neues Museum, Pergamon Altar and Babylon’s Ishtar Gates at the Pergamon Museum, the Princesses Group sculpture inside the Old National Gallery, the Old Museum’s rotunda surrounded by Greek and Roman statues or the medieval sculptures of the Bode Museum.

From the ITB Berlin exhibition ground, take a direct S-Bahn S3 to Friedrichstrasse (Unter den Linden) or Hackescher Markt stations (Museum Island) or U-Bahn U2 to Stadtmitte. All sites are between a 5 to 10 minute walk from these stations.