2. Tankard made of carved amber
Tankard made of carved amber. Made in Kaliningrad (Königsberg), 1640–1660.
Königsberg was a centre for trade in amber, which was washed up on the Baltic shores. Rare and valuable, amber was prized as a diplomatic gift and traded across Europe. This tankard has the Swedish royal arms set into the cover with white amber. When drained, an amber sun becomes visible on the base.
© The Trustees of the British Museum.

3. Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein (1751–1829), Goethe in the Roman Campagna. Oil on canvas, Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main.
Goethe was the first German author to gain widespread international fame and became a literary celebrity in his lifetime. This oil on canvas portrait was painted in Italy and shows Goethe among the ruins of ancient Rome. The implication is that Goethe will renew the great traditions of antiquity.
© U Edelmann, Städel Museum, ARTOTHEK.

4. Berlin demonstration placard. Germany, 1989.
This home-made placard, cut in the shape of East and West Germany combined and decorated with the colours of the German flag, was carried on a protest march in East Berlin in December In October 1990 the two Germanies finally became one state.
© Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin.

5. Flag of the German Confederation, c. 1850.
The German flag of black, red and gold first appeared in the 1800s. It was – and remains – a symbol of a united, constitutional and republican Germany.
© Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin.

6. Porcelain rhinoceros based on Dürer’s print
Porcelain rhinoceros based on Dürer’s print. Made by Johann Gottlieb Kirchner, Meissen factory, 1730.
Made in the world-famous Meissen factory, this beautiful piece of porcelain renders Albrecht Dürer‘s familiar woodcut in three dimensions.
Porzellansammlung, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden. Photo: Herbert Jäger.

7. 1953 Volkswagen Beetle Export Type 1. National Motor Museum.
The Volkswagen Beetle began life under the Third Reich as the ‘people’s car’, a vehicle for the masses which appealed to Adolf Hitler. It is now one of the most familiar cars in the world – a global icon and symbol of Germany’s post-war economic miracle.

8. Bauhaus cradle, 2014. Original design by Peter Keler, Weimar, 1922.
This cradle, with its simple combination of blue circle, yellow trinagle and red square epitomises the Bauhaus design style. The cradle is still being made today in its traduitional materials of lacquered steel frame and wickerwork.
© The Trustees of the British Museum.

9. Max Lachnit (1900–1972), Dresden Trümmerfrau
Max Lachnit (1900–1972), Dresden Trümmerfrau. Sculpture made of rubble, c
After the Second World War, bands of women began to clear and reconstruct the bombed cities of Germany and Austria and were known as Trümmerfrauen ( ‘rubble women‘). Max Lachnit used marble and basalt rubble collected from the ruins of his hometown Dresden to create this tribute.
© Estate of Max Lachnit. Photo: Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin.

10. Gutenberg Bible 061604: The opening page of the second volume, Parabole or Proverbs
of the Gutenberg Bible. Mainz,1455.
Johannes Gutenberg’s beautifully executed Bible was one of Europe’s first printed books. Gutenberg was able to produce 180 copies in two and a half years, the time it would have taken a scribe to produce one. This is one of 48 surviving copies.
© British Library Board.