Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The postindustrial jumble of derelict buildings along Revaler Strasse is one of the last al-
ternative compounds in central Berlin. In its earlier life it was a train-repair station, founded
in 1867 as the 'Reichsbahn-Ausbesserungs-Werk' (RAW for short) and in operation until
1994. Since 1999, the graffiti-slathered grounds have been a thriving off-beat sociocultural
centre offering workspace for artists and creatives of all stripes along with clubs and bars, an
indoor skate park and - in summer - a bunker-turned-climbing-wall with attached beer
garden and outdoor cinema.
Flea market
on Sundays.
ARTS CENTRE
URBAN SPREE
Warschauer Strasse,
Warschauer Strasse)
This artistic collective and grassroots gallery for street art, photography and urban art is a
top stop on the RAW compound along Revaler Strasse. Its main facade is a changing canvas
of top street artists, including Nunca, Os Gemeos and M-City. Beer garden, food truck and
lots of events (parties, markets, workshops), especially in summer.
STREET
KARL-MARX-ALLEE
It's easy to feel like Gulliver in the Land of Brobdingnag when walking down monumental
Karl-Marx-Allee (KMA), one of Berlin's most impressive GDR-era relics. Built between
1952 and 1960, the 90m-wide boulevard runs for 2.3km between Alexanderplatz and Frank-
furter Tor and is a fabulous showcase of East German architecture. A considerable source of
national pride back then, it provided modern flats for comrades and served as a backdrop for
military parades.
Some of the finest East German architects of the day (Hartmann, Henselmann, Hopp,
Leucht, Paulick and Souradny) collaborated on KMA's construction, looking to Moscow for
inspiration. There, Stalin favoured a style that was essentially a socialist reinterpretation of
good old-fashioned neoclassicism. In East Berlin, Prussian building master Karl Friedrich
Schinkel would be the stylistic godfather, rather than Walter Gropius and the boxy modern-
ist aesthetic embraced in the West.
Living here was a privilege; in fact, for a long time there was no better standard of living
in East Germany. Flats featured such luxuries as central heating, lifts (elevators), tiled baths
and built-in kitchens; facades were swathed in Meissen tiles.
HISTORIC SITE
CAFÉ SIBYLLE
