Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Fernsehturm
Panoramastr. 1a • Daily: March-Oct 9am-midnight; Nov-Feb 10am-midnight • €12.50; you don't need a reservation for the tower, but it
can be handy for the restaurant (in high season) - a VIP ticket (€19.50, available in advance online), enables you to dodge the queues and
has an option for a table reservation •
W
tv-turm.de • U- & S-Alexanderplatz
Overshadowing every building in the vicinity, the gigantic
Fernsehturm
, or TV tower,
just southwest of the Alexanderplatz S-Bahn station, looms over the eastern Berlin
skyline like a displaced satellite on a huge factory chimney. he highest structure in
Western Europe, this 365m-high transmitter was built during the isolationist 1960s,
when the eastern part of the city was largely inaccessible to West Germans, and was
intended as a highly visible symbol of the permanence of East Berlin and the German
Democratic Republic. Its construction was watched with dismay and derision by West
Berliners (and many in the East), who were heartily amused by the fact that sunshine
reflecting off the globe on the tower forms a cross visible even in western Berlin; they
dubbed it the “pope's revenge”, much to the reported chagrin of the old GDR
authorities. Nevertheless, after completion in 1969 the tower soon became a popular
stop-off on the East Berlin tourist circuit.
Having outlasted the regime that conceived it, the Fernsehturm has now become
part of the scenery, and though few would champion it on the grounds of architectural
merit, it does have a certain retro appeal. Along with being an unmissable orientation
point, the tower also provides a tremendous
view
(40km on a rare clear day) from
the observation platform - reached by a very fast lift. Above the platform is
Sphere
, a
restaurant whose key selling-point is that it revolves on its own axis twice an hour. he
tower receives around a million visitors a year and the queues can be long whatever
the weather; if time is short, consider investing in the VIP ticket.
Marienkirche
Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 8 • Daily: April-Oct 10am-8pm; Nov-March 10am-6pm (no visits during services) • Free • U- & S-Alexanderplatz
Once hemmed in by buildings, but now oddly alone in the shadow of the huge
Fernsehturm, the
Marienkirche
is Berlin's oldest parish church. he Gothic
stone-and-brick nave dates back to about 1270, but the tower is more recent,
having been added in 1466, with the verdigris-coated upper section tacked on
towards the end of the eighteenth-century by Brandenburg Gate designer Carl
Gotthard Langhans. his uncontrived combination of architectural styles somehow
makes the Marienkirche one of Berlin's most appealing churches, its simplicity a
reminder of the city's village origins.
he
interior
is an excellent place to escape the increasingly frenetic street life of
the area and listen to a free organ recital (Sat 4.30pm). Near the main entrance at
the western end of the church is a small cross erected by the citizens of Berlin and
Cölln as penance to the pope, after a mob immolated a papal representative on a
nearby marketplace. here are five holes in the cross and, so the story goes, medieval
convicted criminals wishing to prove their innocence could do so by inserting the
fingers of one hand into the holes simultaneously - not too many escaped
punishment, though, as the feat is almost an anatomical impossibility. Just inside
the entrance, look out for the fifteenth-century
Totentanz
, a 22m-high frieze
showing the dance of death. It's very faded, but accompanied by a representation
of how it once looked, with Death shown as a shroud-clad mummy popping up
between people from all levels of society.
he vaulted nave is plain and white but enlivened by some opulent decorative
touches. Foremost among these is Andreas Schlüter's magnificent
pulpit
, its canopy
dripping with cherubs and backed by a cloud from which gilded sunrays radiate.
Complementing this are the white marble altar with a huge triptych altarpiece and
the eighteenth-century organ, a riot of gilded filigree and yet more cherubs, topped
by a sunburst.
