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Haus der Kulturen der Welt
This highly respected cultural centre showcases contemporary non-European art, music, dance, literature, films and theatre, and also serves as a discussion forum on Zeitgeist-reflecting issues. The gravity-defying parabolic roof of Hugh Stubbins extravagant building, designed as th
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Haus der Wannsee
In January 1942 a group of 15 high-ranking Nazi officials met in a stately villa near Lake Wannsee to hammer out the details of the ‘Final Solution’: the systematic deportation and murder of European Jews in Eastern Europe. Today, this exhibit commemorates this sinister meeting and
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Schloss Wilhelmsthal
About 12km northwest of Kassel youll find one of Germanys best-preserved and most beautiful rococo palaces, built by Landgrave Wilhelm VIII as a leisure palace between 1747 and 1761. The magnificent Baroque park-like grounds are free to explore, while the sumptuous interior can be
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Old Jewish Cemetery
About a third of the cemetery’s original tombstones, dating from the 13th century to 1828, survived Nazi depredations; many still lean at crazy angles. Pick up the key at the Museum Judengasse ; you’ll be asked to leave ID as a deposit. Men are requested to wear a head covering. Th
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Jüdisches Museum
In the one-time residence of the Rothschild family, nine centuries of Jewish life in Frankfurt are explored with chronologically arranged artefacts, paintings (including a Matisse confiscated by the Nazis), photographs and documents. Exhibitions also cover religious practices, both
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Schloss Rheinsberg
The towns star attraction is the eponymous Schloss Rheinsberg , prettily set right on Lake Grienerick and surrounded by a sprawling park. Friedrich Wilhelm I purchased it in 1734 for his 22-year-old son, Crown Prince Friedrich, the future Frederick the Great. The prince, who spent
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Törten Estate
The leafy Törten Estate, in Dessau’s south, built in the 1920s, is a prototype of the modern working-class estate. Although many of the 300-plus homes have been altered in ways that would have outraged their purist creator Walter Gropius (patios and rustic German doors added to a m
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Nationalpark Eifel
Wild cats, beavers, kingfishers, bats and owls are just some of the critters you might spot in Eifel National Park, North Rhine–Westphalia’s only national park. It protects about 110 sq km of beech forest, rivers and lakes, and is filled with interesting plants and wildlife. In spr
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Semperoper
One of Germanys most famous opera houses, the Semperoper opened in 1841 and has hosted premieres of famous works by Richard Strauss, Carl Maria von Weber and Richard Wagner. Guided 45-minute tours operate almost daily (the 3pm tour is in English); exact times depend on the rehearsa
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Schloss Wilhelmshöhe
Home to Elector Wilhelm and later to Kaiser Wilhelm II, Wilhelmshöhe Palace (1786–98) at the foot of Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe today houses one of Germany’s best art collections (especially of Flemish and Dutch baroque painting), featuring works by Rembrandt, Rubens, Jordaens, Lucas Cr
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Dokumentation Obersalzberg
In 1933 the quiet mountain village of Obersalzberg (3km from Berchtesgaden) became the second seat of Nazi power after Berlin, a dark period that’s given the full historical treatment at this excellent exhibit. It documents the forced takeover of the area, the construction of the c
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Alter Botanischer Garten
The Old Botanical Garden is a pleasant place to soothe your heels after an Altstadt shopping spree or to see out a long wait for a train away from the grotty Hauptbahnhof. Created under King Maximilian in 1814, most of the tender specimens were moved in the early 20th century to th
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Zugspitze
On good days, views from Germany’s rooftop extend into four countries. The round trip starts in Garmisch aboard a cogwheel train (Zahnradbahn) that chugs along the mountain base to the Eibsee, an idyllic forest lake. From here, the Eibsee-Seilbahn, a super-steep cable car, swings t
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Topographie des Terrors
In the same spot where once stood the most feared institutions of Nazi Germany (including the Gestapo headquarters and the SS central command), this compelling exhibit chronicles the stages of terror and persecution, puts a face on the perpetrators and details the impact these brut
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Asamkirche Maria de Victoria
The Altstadt’s crown jewel is the Asamkirche Maria de Victoria, a baroque masterpiece designed by brothers Cosmas Damian and Egid Quirin Asam between 1732 and 1736. The church’s mesmerising trompe l’oeil ceiling, painted in just six weeks in 1735, is the world’s largest fresco on a
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Europa
The 103m-high Europa-Center was Berlin’s first skyscraper at its 1965 opening, with the giant Mercedes star spinning on its rooftop a symbol of capitalist West Germanys miraculous economic recovery. Today, the aging shopping centre exudes charming retro flair and is enlivened by su
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Musikinstrumenten
The Musikinstrumenten-Museum is packed with fun, precious and rare sound machines from around the world, including Indonesian ceremonial gongs and mechanical musical instruments. Some of them are cranked up regularly during concerts.
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Philharmonie
A masterpiece of organic architecture, Hans Scharouns 1963 iconic, honey-coloured concert venue is the home base of the prestigious Berliner Philharmoniker. The auditorium feels like the inside of a finely crafted instrument and boasts supreme acoustics and excellent sightlines fro
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Burg Rheinstein
In the 1820s, privately owned Rheinstein, 6km downriver from Bingen, became the first Rhine castle to be converted – by Prussian royalty (a branch of the Hohenzollerns) – into a romantic summer residence complete with turrets and battlements. Today, the neo-Gothic interior is furni
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Berliner Dom
Pompous yet majestic, the Italian Renaissance–style former royal court church (1905) does triple duty as house of worship, museum and concert hall. Inside its gilt to the hilt and outfitted with a lavish marble-and-onyx altar, a 7269-pipe Sauer organ and elaborate royal sarcophagi.
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