Mitte, Berlin

At No. 35 Breite Strasse in Berlin is the four-gabled Ribbeckhaus. Built in 1624 for the noble Brandenburg family of that name, who became immortalized in literature by Theodor Fontane, it is the only remaining Renaissance building in Berlin. It now houses a restaurant.Ribbeckhaus is joined to the Alter Marstall (Old Royal Stables), Berlin's only surviving Early Baroque building. Both buildings are surrounded by the Neuer Marstall (New Royal Stables), built 1896-1901, today used for exhibition purposes by the Academy of Arts.

Sophienkirche, a church endowed by Queen Sophia in 1712, boasts what is undoubtedly Berlin's most beautiful church tower, added in 1734. Buried in the churchyard - part of which is now a playground for local children - are the architect and composer C. F. Zelter (d. 1832; to the left of the church) and the historian Leopold von Ranke (d. 1866; memorial slab on the right in the surrounding wall).

Between Invalidenstrasse, Robert-Koch-Platz, Hermann-Matern-Strasse and Schumannstrasse in Berlin's Mitte district the Charité Infirmary was founded on May 13, 1710 by King Frederick I on an area of 147,000 sq. m/274,000 sq. yd. It has over 2,000 beds and treats about 250,000 patients annually, of which some 30,000 are in-patients. It was originally intended to cope with outbreaks of plague, but since Berlin and district were spared such outbreaks, the institution was gradually converted into a general hospital (rebuilding 1785-97).When Berlin University was founded in 1810 the leaders and teachers of the Charité clinics and institutes were appointed university professors.In the foundation year of the medical faculty 117 students were admitted. Their first dean was Christoph Wilhelm Hufeland who introduced smallpox vaccination.Between 1933 and 1945 138 scientists and doctors of the faculty of medicine were dismissed, persecuted or murdered by the National Socialists.During the Second World War the Charité was severely damaged. In 1982 the new surgical center, a tower block (83.5 m/274ft) with 24 operating theaters, was completed.

Berlin's Nicolai House was built in 1709. It was altered by C. F. Zelter and became the residence of the writer, critic and publisher Christoph Friedrich Nicolai, who also had his bookshop here. Subsequently it became the meeting place of the intellectual elite of the day. Among those who frequented the house were the philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, the sculptor Gottfried Schadow, the writer Anna Luise Karsch and the celebrated draftsman and etcher Daniel Chodowiecki. After Nicolai's death in 1811 the bookshop passed into the hands of his son-in-law Gustav Parthey. In the early months of 1811 the dramatist Theodor Körner lived in the house. In 1814 it became the home of the writer Elise von der Recke, a sister of the reigning Duchess of Courland. In 1892 the bookshop moved to Dorotheenstrasse.Other houses in BrüderstrasseAt No. 33 lived the Danzig architect and sculptor Andreas Schlüter. At No. 10 is the Galgenhaus (Gallows House), built about 1680, where, according to legend, a maid was hanged for stealing a silver spoon, which was later found to have been trodden into the sand by a goat.

The Cemetery for the War Disabled in Berlin's Mitte district was laid out by the side of the Berlin-Spandau ship-canal in 1748. Here lie the remains of numerous well-known officers of the Prussian and German armies. In 1972 part of the cemetery was leveled off, as it lay directly on the border between East and West Berlin. Two of the best-known military men buried here are von Scharnhorst (died 1813, and after whom the ill-fated Second World War battleship was named), and Manfred von Richthofen (died 1918 - better known as the "Red Baron" and famed for his prowess in First World War aerial dog-fights. Unfortunately his grave was one of those flattened in 1972).

The road known as Märkisches Ufer in Berlin extends along the south bank of the River Spree east of Fischerinsel (Fishermen's Island), which was the oldest residential part of medieval Cölln but is now built up with blocks of flats.There are still some old and historically valuable buildings remaining along this road.No. 48 near Jannowitzbrücke was in 1919 the Headquarters of the People's Marine Division, which was the armed branch of the Workers' and Soldiers' Council in the revolutionary struggles of 1918-19.No. 54 Märkisches Ufer is the Berlin Congress Center: tel. 2 78 20.

The French Cemetery in Berlin's Mitte district directly adjoins the Dorotheenstadt and Friedrichswerder cemeteries. The graves include those of Daniel Chodowiecki (died 1801), the engraver who illustrated the first editions of the works of Schiller and Goethe, and Friedrich Ancillon (died 1837), tutor to Frederick William IV.

The German History Museum contains artifacts and documents of German history from the 9th century to present day. There are period rooms highlighting chronologically arranged events.

The Koch Museum commemorates the life and work of Robert Koch in the field of Medical Microbiology. It includes the reading room where he first announced his discovery of the tuberculosis bacillus on March 24, 1882.