Introduction

Home
Introduction
What's New
Museum Island
Mitte
Germania
Wartime Berlin
Karl-Marx-Allee
Divided City
The New Berlin
Berlin Monuments
Favourite Buildings
Green Berlin
Berlin Panoramas
In the Street
Spandau
Köpenick
Potsdam
Potsdam Palaces
Resources
Email

I have always travelled to Berlin by air. On my first visit I was lucky enough to land at the historic Tempelhof Airport, with its gigantic National Socialist era buildings. Tempelhof was ahead of its time -- the last word in airports. Tempelhof is now closed. But the history and the associations remain.

Berlin -- a city that I had been familiar with since childhood, due to my interest in World War II, and later, in modern European history as well. Hardly ever out of the news, mainly for negative reasons, for most of the 19th and 20th centuries, the reunification of Germany has given Berlin back its status as a major world capital city. It also triggered a staggering transformation in its appearance, as the huge amounts of land occupied by the Berlin Wall and other "security" installations became available, and the Allied occupation forces were finally able to move out. In many respects Berlin had been a backwater for over forty years. Many war-damaged buildings still remained to be restored, and whole areas on both sides of the former border suffered from accumulated neglect.

For a decade central Berlin was a gigantic building site. This is coming to an end. Much of the major reconstruction, and new projects are complete, or nearly so. Others have been scaled back, or abandoned (hopefully only temporarily) due to the precarious economic situation of the country and city. The cost of reunification and reconstruction has been colossal. The newly expanded Federal Republic of Germany put its money where its mouth was. That can never be taken away from it. However, the human cost has also been considerable and controversial. East and West were never going to be united quickly, despite the disappearance of the barriers between them.

Nevertheless, in my limited experience Berlin is a lively, happening city, with a sense of confidence that the new buildings and infrastructure can only symbolise. Anyone who feels themselves to be a European, or even a citizen of the world, should feel at home in "Weltstadt Berlin", and share in the hope that the city is here to stay at last.

Of course, all my experiences are those of a foreign tourist! My photos of Berlin reflect my interest in its history and architecture, nothing more. The Resources page contains a selection of links to websites that I have found of interest, as well as information about other Berlin resources that I have found useful.

John Howard
June 2005