Reinickedorf District, Berlin

Tegel Airport in Berlin's Reinickendorf district has had a varied history. At first, around 1870, it was an army shooting range and in 1909 Count Zeppelin landed there in his airship Z3. Later it became a training ground for airship crews and finally a rocket testing site, where Hermann Oberth and Werner von Braun carried out their first rocket trials in 1931. During the Berlin Blockade of 1948-49 it was used by the aircraft bringing in supplies in the famous Berlin air-lift. It was specially extended for that purpose, and the 2,400 m/2,625yd runway, then the longest in Europe, was laid. Later it became a French military airfield, which from 1960 was also used for civil flights.The development of the airport to its present size began in 1969. In October 1974 the new Tegel Airport was inaugurated and became fully operational on Sept. 1, 1975. Further extension in the nineties is being contested on environmental grounds; however, there is a strong lobby in favor of increasing the passenger capacity to 14million a year.Tegel Airport, also known since 1988 under the name of the flight pioneer Otto Lilienthal (a reproduction true to the original of the Lilienthal glider is housed in the main building), has two runways, respectively 2,400 m/2,625yd and 3,000 m/3,280yd long, a hexagonal airport building and fourteen gates, dealing with just under six million passengers each year. The apron can accommodate up to 35 aircraft. There is a restaurant on the third floor of the airport building and an information desk in the main hall. The lost property office adjoins the left luggage section. A visit is recommended to the exhibition of old-fashioned aircraft on the visitors' terraceOn the car-park in front of the airport building stands the "Gateway to the Clouds" sculpture by Heinrich Brummack (1975).

Around 1550, the Elector Joachim II had a country residence at Tegel (in Berlin's Reinickendorf district), later used by the Great Elector as a hunting lodge. In 1765 it passed into the hands of the Humboldt family, whose descendants still own it. This resulted in its being familiarly known as the "Humboldtschlösschen" (Little Humboldt Palace). In 1822-24 it was rebuilt in Neo-Classical style for Wilhelm von Humboldt by Karl Friedrich Schinkel. Schinkel also painted the rooms. The four corner towers were designed by C. D. Rauch. They bear reliefs of the eight ancient Gods of the Wind. The house has been restored and operates as a museum, complete with its valuable period furnishings and fittings, some of which are being returned to Tegel House from museums in East Berlin.From the house, an avenue of lime trees leads to the mausoleum of the Humboldt family, built by Schinkel for Wilhelm von Humboldt after the death of his wife Karoline in 1829. In the center is a granite Ionic column with a copy of Thorvaldsen's "Hope."The park was originally laid out in 1792 as a Baroque garden, but was remodeled by Schinkel 32 years later as a landscaped park. It covers an area of 17.5 hectares/43 acres, and contains some fine old trees. In the northern part is an expanse of typical Brandenburg mixed forest (Nature Reserve).

The Anti-War Museum in Berlin has historical and contemporary exhibits on the suject of war and peace.Exhibits include photos, documents and objects from WW I and WW II. Highlights include chemical warfare, war toys, and an an air-raid shelter.