Monuments

What makes a city what it is? Where does it get its unique character? What conveys its identity?
The following pages offer the reader insight into the wealth of architectural and horticultural monuments in Berlin, guiding through those traces of human endeavor over the past decades and centuries which have been preserved in its soil. For it is the historical heritage of a city which significantly determines its character. Although Berlin has undergone constant change and suffered large-scale destruction, much has been preserved, restored and expanded. Much evidence of the past still can be experienced today.
The bulk of Berlin's monuments originate from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The processes of industrialization and urbanization in the last two hundred years, along with Berlin's development from the Prussian residence to the capital of the German Empire and, ultimately, to the current seat of parliament and government, have left the most traces. Although the metropolis has generated metropolitan monuments befitting its status, there are still a surprising number of village sites and pre-industrial buildings preserved as historical monuments, and the Office for the Archeological Monument Preservation is particularly concerned with prehistorical, early historical and medieval relics. The following virtual guided tour shows typical Berlin monuments registered by the state office of historical monuments, including more than a few highlights of city architecture and arts. This tour gradually will be expanded and supplemented with new monuments and information.