Charlottenburg District, Berlin

The Europa-Center in Berlin's Charlottenburg district, a 22-story tower block 68 m/282ft high (103 m/340ft including the Mercedes star), was built in 1963-65 on the site of the former "Romanesque Cafe" to the design of K. H. Pepper, and became popularly known to Berliners as "Pepper's Manhattan."Within this huge shopping center -- area 90,000 sq.m/108,000 sq.yd -- are some 100 shops, boutiques and restaurants (including Swiss specialties in the "Mövenpick" and Bavarian cooking in the "Alt-Nürnberg"; the "i-Punkt" restaurant and cafe dansant, with its observation platform providing a magnificent view of the city), the 5-star Hotel Palace, five first-run cinemas, a multi-vision show depicting Berlin's history, the world-famous Stachelschweine (Porcupines) cabaret, the "La vie en rose" revue theater, galleries, the 13 m/43 high "Water Clock" designed by the French professor Gitton, service industries, the Divisional Transport Office (third floor) and the Tourist Information Office (entrance in Budapester Strasse).The globe-shaped fountain with bronze and granite figures, called "Wasserklops" (Meatball in Water) by the Berliners, has stood on Breitscheidplatz since 1983.

Since 1946, Berlin Technical University has replaced the Technical College, which came into being in 1879 following the amalgamation of the Building Academy (1799) and the Commercial Academy (1821). It now has 22 faculties and some 25,000 students. The main building lies on the south side of the Strasse des 17. Juni. Hardenbergstrasse, where the Physics Institute (1985), house of residence and refectory are situated. Farther to the north, between the Landwehrkanal and the River Spree is the old Charlottenburg industrial quarter. In Helmholtzstrasse, on a bend of the Spree, stands the Technical Production Center (PTZ), an impressive building owned jointly by the Berlin Technical University and the Fraunhofer Company, which has been awarded the German Prize for Architecture.

The Berlin Opera House, designed by Fritz Bornemann, was built in 1961 on the site of the old Municipal Opera House of 1912, which was destroyed during the last war. It incorporates some surviving fragments of the earlier building.A modern structure of steel and glass 70 m/230ft long, the Opera House has a windowless facade of concrete slabs designed to keep out street noise. In front of the building is a piece of abstract steel sculpture by Hans Uhlmann, irreverently referred to by the Berliners as the "Kebab Skewer."

The Exhibition and Trade Fair Center in Berlin's Charlottenburg district is located at the foot of the Radio Tower. At present it encompasses an open space of some 45,000 sq.m/54,000 sq.yd plus exhibition halls covering a further 90,000 sq.m/108,000 sq.yd.The first exhibition halls were erected as long ago as the First World War and during the period 1924-26. More halls were added in 1936, followed by new ones after 1945. During 1992 the latest extensions to Halls 21, 22 and 23 were completed.The center of the square containing the halls is relieved by the oval Sommergarten (Summer Garden), with the Palais near the Radio Tower (restaurant).Southwest of the exhibition site, on the far side of Jafféstrasse, stand the Deutschlandhalle (Germany Hall), built in 1957, a large multi-purpose building 140 m/460ft long and 120 m/400ft wide, which can take up to 8,000 visitors (sporting functions, concerts, etc.), and the Ice Sports Arena with room for some 6,000 spectators. On the far side of Masurenallee lies Berlin's Central Bus Station.East of the Messedamm (Fair Embankment) a bridge connects the exhibition site with the International Congress Center (ICC).

After the sudden death of Ernst Reuter in 1953, the popular Chief Burgomaster (Mayor) of Berlin, one of the largest squares in the center of the city was named after him. Reuter was elected as Senior Burgomaster in 1947 but was prevented by a Soviet veto from taking up office until the following year. He led the resistance to the Soviet blockade of Berlin in 1948-49, and became Chief Burgomaster in 1950.The Ernst-Reuter-Platz, situated at the junction of five major streets (Hardenbergstrasse, Bismarckstrasse, Strasse des 17. Juni, Otto-Suhr-Allee, Marchstrasse), is one of the largest squares in Europe, measuring 130 m/140yd by 117 m/130yd. In the center of the square, surrounded by lawns, are two large basins with fountains that are illuminated after dark (from spring to autumn). The highest fountain sends a jet 23 m/75ft into the air but when there is a strong wind the height is automatically reduced.On the north side of the square, in front of the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Technology, is a bronze sculpture by Bernhard Heiliger, "The Flame," set up here in 1963 on the 10th anniversary of Ernst Reuter's death.Around the square are modern buildings occupied by well-known firms and by institutes of the University of Technology.

The uncompromisingly rectangular and undecorated church of Mary Queen of the Martyrs, near the Plötzensee Memorial in Berlin's Charlottenburg district, was built in 1960-63 by the architects Friedrich Ebert and Hans Schädel. It stands as a memorial to those who died between 1933 (Hitler's accession to power) and 1945. Entrance to the church is via a courtyard surrounded by basalt slabs with abstract bronzes of the Stations of the Cross by Otto H. Hajek. On the outside wall of the church proper is a sculpture of the Virgin Mary by Fritz Koenig. The whole of the chancel wall is occupied by a fresco of a celestial vision of Jerusalem by Georg Meistermann. In the crypt-like lower church can be seen a pietà by Fritz Koenig, the sepulcher of the cathedral dean Lichtenberg (actually he is buried in St Hedwig's Cathedral) and of Erich Klausener, the leader of the Catholic movement, together with a symbolic grave for all those victims of the Nazis who were denied a proper burial. Since 1982 an "atonement convent" of Carmelite nuns has adjoined the church.

The Jewish Community House in Berlin's Charlottenburg district was built in 1959 (architects Dieter Knoblauch and Hans Heise) to replace the Synagogue burned down by the Nazis during the infamous "Kristallnacht" of Nov. 9, 1938. In the facade of the new building, restored in 1989, have been incorporated some surviving fragments of the old one, serving as a reminder of the crimes of the Nazi period. In 1986 a statue portraying a Pentateuch Scroll was unveiled in the front courtyard. In addition to the accommodation required for worship, the building contains rooms for meetings, etc., a library and a restaurant. On a bare gray concrete wall is a memorial tablet with the Star of David and an inscription in bronze characters. In the columned hall are inscribed the names of concentration camps and ghettos.A further Jewish Community Center can be found in the Mitte district in East Berlin, near the rebuilt New Synagogue. The Centrum Judaicum also has a library and a cafeteria.

After the Second World War, Plötzensee in Berlin became a symbol of the resistance to National Socialism, for within the walls of the prison here (now an institution for young offenders) some 1,800 men, women and young people of different nations were executed for political reasons between 1933 and 1945.In 1952, the Berlin Senate resolved that the place of execution should become a memorial to the victims of Nazism. The memorial includes the execution shed, with the eight hooks in a roof beam (previously there was a guillotine here as well) on which these victims of Nazi justice were hanged - including no fewer than 89 who were involved in the attempt on Hitler's life on July 20, 1944.Memorial StoneIn front of the shed is a memorial stone with the inscription "To the victims of the Hitler dictatorship of 1933-1945." A stone urn contains earth from all the Nazi concentration camps.

The Abguss Collection of Ancient Sculpture in Berlin is located at Schlossstr. 69b.