BERLIN

HOUSE OF WORLD CULTURES FUNKTURM BRADENBURG GATE BERLINISCHE GALERIE REICHSTAG DOMEBERLIN VICTORY COLUMN PFAUENINSEL CLICK ON ONE OF THESE WORLD RENOWNED MONUMENTS/LANDMARKS TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THEM

HOUSE OF WORLD CULTURES The Haus der Kulturen der Welt ("House of the Cultures of the World") in Berlin is Germany's national centre for the presentation and discussion of international contemporary arts, with a special focus on non-European cultures and societies. It presents art exhibitions, theater and dance performances, concerts, author readings, films and academic conferences on Visual Art and culture. It is one of the few institutions which, due to their national and international standing and the quality of their work, receive funding from the federal government as so-called "lighthouses of culture." The building is located in the Tiergarten park and a direct neighbour of the Carillon and the new German Chancellery. It was formerly known as the Kongresshalle conference hall, a gift from the United States, designed in 1957 by the American architect Hugh Stubbins as a part of the Interbau exhibition. John F. Kennedy spoke here during his June 1963 visit to West Berlin. On May 21, 1980 the roof collapsed killing one and injuring numerous people. The hall was rebuilt in its original style and reopened in 1987 in time for the 750 year anniversary of the founding of Berlin. To Berliners it is also known as the Schwangere Auster ("pregnant oyster"). Outside the entrance, Henry Moore's heaviest bronze sculpture, Large Divided Oval: Butterfly ( ), stands in the middle of a circular basin. Weighing nearly nine tons, it was his final major work, completed just before he died. One of three public Moore sculptures in Berlin (the others being Three Way Piece No.2: The Archer ( ) at the Neue Nationalgalerie and Reclining Figure (1956) at the Akademie der Künste), Butterfly was initially a loan to (then West) Berlin in 1986, but the city council wanted the sculpture permanently, and asked Moore if he would donate it. The letter arrived just before his death and went unanswered. In 1988 it was sold by the Henry Moore Foundation to Berlin for 4.5 million Deutsche Mark (around $2.58 million at the exchange rate of the day), then a huge sum for a public sculpture. The sculpture was eventually badly damaged by a combination of environmental pollution and vandalism, and restored in 2010.[

FUNKTURM The Berliner Funkturm or Funkturm Berlin (Radio Tower Berlin) is a transmitting tower in Berlin, built between 1924 and 1926 by Heinrich Straumer. It is nicknamed "der lange Lulatsch" ("the lanky lad") and is one of the best- known points of interest in the city of Berlin. It stands in the Berlin trade fair ground in the Charlottenburg- Wilmersdorf borough. On September 3, 1926, the radio tower was inaugurated on the occasion of the 3. Große Deutsche Funkausstellung (Great German Radio Exhibition). The tower is now a protected monument

BRANDENBURG GATE The Brandenburg Gate (German: Brandenburger Tor) is a former city gate, rebuilt in the late 18th century as a neoclassical triumphal arch, and now one of the most well-known landmarks of Germany. It is located in the western part of the city centre of Berlin, at the junction of Unter den Linden and Ebertstraße, immediately west of the Pariser Platz. One block to the north stands the Reichstag building. The gate is the monumental entry to Unter den Linden, the renowned boulevard of linden trees, which formerly led directly to the city palace of the Prussian monarchs. It was commissioned by King Frederick William II of Prussia as a sign of peace and built by Carl Gotthard Langhans from 1788 to Having suffered considerable damage in World War II, the Brandenburg Gate was fully restored from 2000 to 2002 by the Stiftung Denkmalschutz Berlin (Berlin Monument Conservation Foundation).[1] During the post-war Partition of Germany, the gate was isolated and inaccessible immediately next to the Berlin Wall, and the area around the gate featured most prominently in the media coverage of the opening of the wall in Throughout its existence, the Brandenburg Gate was often a site for major historical events and is today considered a symbol of the tumultuous history of Europe and Germany, but also of European unity and peace.

BERLINISCHE GALERIE The Berlinische Galerie was founded in 1975 as a society devoted to exhibiting art from Berlin. For the first few years it was based in an office in Charlottenburg, and its exhibitions were displayed at the Akademie der Künste and the New National Gallery among others. In 1978 the Galerie moved into a former landwehr officers' mess (now the Museum of Photography) on Jebensstraße, near Zoo Station. In 1986 it moved again, into the Martin- Gropius-Bau. In 1994 the collection became a public-law foundation. In 1998 the Galerie had to leave the Martin- Gropius-Bau due to reconstruction. After six years without a permanent home, it opened in its new location, in former industrial premises in Kreuzberg, in Built in 1965, the current building was originally a glass warehouse, and took the Galerie a year to renovate.

REICHSTAG DOME The current Reichstag dome is a glass dome, constructed on top of the rebuilt Reichstag building in Berlin. It was designed by architect Norman Foster and built to symbolize the reunification of Germany. The distinctive appearance of the dome has made it a prominent landmark in Berlin.The Reichstag building is a historical edifice in Berlin, Germany, constructed to house the Imperial Diet, of the German Empire. It was opened in 1894 and housed the Diet until 1933, when it was severely damaged in a fire. Wikipedia

THE VICTORY COLUMN The Victory Column (German: About this sound Siegessäule (help·info), from Sieg victory + Säule column) is a monument in Berlin, Germany. Designed by Heinrich Strack, after 1864 to commemorate the Prussian victory in the Danish-Prussian War, by the time it was inaugurated on 2 September 1873, Prussia had also defeated Austria in the Austro-Prussian War (1866) and France in the Franco-Prussian War (1870–71), giving the statue a new purpose. Different from the original plans, these later victories in the so-called unification wars inspired the addition of the bronze sculpture of Victoria, 8.3 metres high and weighing 35 tonnes, designed by Friedrich Drake. Berliners, with their fondness for giving nicknames to buildings, call the statue Goldelse, meaning something like "Golden Lizzy".[1]

PFAUENINSEL Pfaueninsel ("Peacock Island") is an island in the River Havel situated in Berlin-Wannsee, in southwestern Berlin, near the border with Potsdam and Brandenburg. The island is part of the Palaces and Parks of Potsdam and Berlin UNESCO World Heritage Site and a popular destination for day-trippers.[1] Pfaueninsel is also a nature reserve in accordance with the EU Habitats Directive and a Special Protection Area for wild birds. Clearly visible from afar, the white palace on Pfaueninsel was built by Friedrich Wilhelm II in It was designed as the crowning centrepiece at the end of a sweeping vista in the New Garden – as well as a place for the king to relax after his boat trips and spend the night with his beloved Wilhelmine Encke. The palace is characterised by its two circular towers, which are linked by a wrought-iron bridge to create the illusion of a medieval castle

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