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Bellevue Palace
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The cultural offerings in the Berlin district Tiergarten are unmanageably diversified. A multitude of worldwide well-known stage shows reside in this district or come here temporarily. Furthermore, the German- and worldwide most significant collections are located in the museums of this district. The following section shall at least give insight into the most important cultural offerings.
The Blue Man Group finally moved – after its last performance in the Theatre at the Potsdamer Platz in 2007 – to the little Bluemax Theatre at the Marlene-Dietrich-Platz. The program viewable there is combined of parts of the shows in Amsterdam and London.
One of the biggest theatres of Germany with about 1,800 seats is the Theatre at the Potsdamer Platz. Already musicals like “Notre Dame”, “Cats”, “Mama Mia” and “The Beauty and the Beast” have been performed here and lured a countless number of visitors to Berlin. Furthermor, the Theatre is the main venue for the International Film Festivals Berlin, the Berlinale, which is why the building is also known as Berlinale Palace.
Doubtlessly, thanks to its great acoustics, the Berlin Philharmonie in the Herbert-von-Karajan-Straße is the best and most reputable concert hall of the city. However, when the famous artistic director of the establishment and conductor Sir Simon Rattle is listed on the program, the ticket prices are unbelievably high. Nevertheless, you cannot count on poor seats.
One of the most distinctive landmarks of Berlin is the previously mentioned Sony Centre at the Potsdamer Platz in Tiergarten, which with 26.555m² is about four times as big as a football field. Here life, work and leisure play together on a quite extravagant level. That means that various office premises, 201 apartments, a spacious car park, as well as diverse culture and entertainment offerings are located there. Included in the entertainment programmes is mainly the IMAX 3D Cinema. With its 588m² huge silver screen, an optimal arrangement of the luxurious seats and a high-performance system it belongs to the most modern 3D-cinemas of the world. Every visitor receives 3D spectacles, through which the 2-dimensional pictures are assembled to 3-dimensional ones and one gets the feeling of being midst the happening.
Also in the Sony Centre the Deutsche Kinemathek is located – the museum for Film and Television. In the Filmhaus am Potsdamer Platz all considerable collections of film and TV history are exhibited. Furthermore, diverse extra events, special exhibitions, as well as colloquia and film programmes take place there.
The Legoland Discovery Centre in the Cony Centre welcomes the whole family to an unforgettable journey through a 3,500m² huge Lego world. Furthermore, the MINILAND presents – in a scale of 1:45 – the capital in a small format. Additionally, the 4D-cinema makes it possible to let the visitors become a part of a real movie. The Legoland Discovery Centre entails even more exciting entertainment possibilities for its little and older visitiors, such as the LEGO factory and a dragon castle. The end of each visit is rounded off by a huge indoor world, where Lego enthusiasts – no matter which age group – may build and play as much as they want.
The Music Instruments Museum in the Ben-Gurion-Street in Berlin Tiergarten made it its business to collect all kinds of music instruments from the 16th until the 21st century. By now it possesses one of the most representative collections throughout Germany with about 3,200 instruments, which in many cases are even in a playable condition.
The Bauhaus was the most considerable school for architecture, arts and design in the 20th century. In a building designed by the founder Walter Gropius today the Bauhaus-Archive is located – a museum for design (German: Museum für Gestaltung). It further is the most comprehensive collection worldwide, that that is engaged with this epoch.
The picture gallery (German: Gemäldegalerie) in the Stauffenbergstraße in Tiergarten possesses on about 7,000m² a collection of ca. 3,000 pictures and, thus, carries one of the most meaningful collections of European painting between the 13th and the 18th Century. Among those works also those from Van Eyck, Dürer and Rubens can be mentioned.
The Kupferstichkabinett (German for: Print room) at the Matthaikirchplatz meantime possesses the biggest graphical collection throughout Germany and, furthermore, one of the four most meaningful worldwide. The more than 500,000 print graphical works and about 110,000 drawings, pastels, oil sketches and watercolour paintings derive from works of artists, such as Biticelli, Rembrandt, Menzel, Picasso and Warhol.
The most important key data of the German History are demonstrated by museums. The Museum Island forms the northern edge of the Spree Island and the point of origin of the museums landscape Berlin. As one of the most considerable museums complexes worldwide, the Museum Island has been appointed as being an internationally incomparable ensemble and as a world cultural heritage by the UNESCO. Here, also the Bode-Museum, the Pergamonmuseum, the Alte Nationalgalerie and the Alte Museum are located.
The Neue Nationalgalerie in the Potsdamer Straße contains the art of the 20th century of the National Gallery Berlin. The architect and icon of the classical modern Mies van der Rohe created this building in 1968, which today is one of the most important museums at the Kulturforum Berlin.
The political meaning of the district is determined by the here residing government district. This is composed of the about 900m long assembly line Spreebogen. In the west it is defined by the Kanzlerpark on the right side of the river Spree, which is opposite the Chancellery at the left spree side. Further to the east the Paul-Löbe-House is located, followed by the Marie-Elisabeth-Lüders-House (then again on the right side of the Spree). From the birds eye view the Spreebogen seems like a white interlock that is strengthened by the bridges over the Spree.
Since the year 1999 the Reichstag building in Berlin is the place of residence of the German Bundestag. Every five years since 1994 here also the Federal Convention takes place for the election of the Federal President. After several damages, such as the Reichstag fire and the World War II, the work of the architect Paul Wallot from the 1960's on renovated and modernised several times. Between 1991 and 1999 finally a complete renovation took place, where also the famous huge glass dome emerged.
At the western border of the park Tiergarten, at the Spreeweg, the Bellevue Palace is located that has been built in 1786. It is the first official resident of the President of the German Federal Parliament and is located directly at the Spree river side, near the Siegessäule, the Reichstag building and the Brandenburg gate.
A true tourist attraction is also is the listed Victory Column on the so-called “Stern” (German for: Star square) in Tiergarten Berlin. It is also called “Goldlizzie” and has been created in 1864 due to the plans of Heinrich Stracks in the course of the victory of Prussia in the German-Danish War. Today it is the centre of many events, such as the Love Parade. Furthermore, here Barack Obama has delivered his speech in his election campaign for president.
In the huge park Tiergarten, near the Haus der Kulturen, the Carillon Tower is located. It has been donated in 1987 by the Daimler-Benz AG in the course of the 750th Anniversary of the city Berlin. It shall commemorate historic carillons of the Potsdam Garrison Church, which have been damaged during the World War II. This one is a 42m high tower, which has been cased with black granite and is the fourth biggest carillon worldwide with 69 bells. The gamut counts to five and a half octaves and the biggest bell weighs 7.8 tons. Twice a day, 5 minutes long (at 12 and 18 o’clock) the computerized carillon plays – a program paper hangs at the tower. Furthermore, every Sunday from May till September and on holidays the carillonneur Jeffrey Bossing gives his concerts and plays from an attendant play cabin himself.
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