Hackescher Markt, Scheunenviertel & Prenzlauer Berg: Berlin's Bohemian Heart
The neighborhood corridor running north from the Spree through the Scheunenviertel (the old Jewish quarter of Mitte) to Prenzlauer Berg is the cultural heart of contemporary Berlin: a dense concentration of street art, alternative galleries, organic markets, independent boutiques, and the most intact pre-war residential architecture in the city. After the Wall fell, Prenzlauer Berg became the focal point of Berlin's cultural explosion in the 1990s — squatter houses, techno clubs in former coal cellars, and a bohemian scene that attracted artists from across the world.
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Hackescher Markt & Hackesche Höfe (1906-1907)
Hackescher Markt — the square around the S-Bahn station at the junction of Rosenthaler Straße and Oranienburger Straße, at the edge of the Scheunenviertel (the old Jewish barn quarter, named for the barns that housed itinerant Jewish traders outside the city gates) — is the commercial hub of Mitte's tourist district. The Hackesche Höfe (1906-1907, designed by Kurt Berndt and August Endell in Jugendstil/Art Nouveau) — a complex of eight interconnected courtyards with terracotta facades, the most sophisticated multi-courtyard apartment and commercial complex built in Wilhelmine Berlin — were restored in 1996 (after decades of GDR-era neglect) and now contain galleries, theaters (Chamäleon Varieté), restaurants, and boutiques. Endell's tiled facade of the first courtyard — with its organic, wave-like ornamental tiles in shades of blue-green and terracotta — is the finest surviving example of Berlin Jugendstil architecture. The complex pioneered the 'Höfe' (courtyard) model of urban commercial development that has since spread across the city.
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New Synagogue & Oranienburger Straße (1866/1995)
The New Synagogue (Neue Synagoge) on Oranienburger Straße — designed by Eduard Knoblauch and Friedrich August Stüler, consecrated 1866 in the presence of the Prussian Prime Minister Bismarck, the largest synagogue in Germany at the time (seating 3,000) — has a Moorish Revival facade and a distinctive golden dome that dominates the Mitte skyline. The synagogue was partially protected during Kristallnacht (November 9-10, 1938) by the intervention of local police chief Wilhelm Krützfeld (who quoted building protection law to disperse the SA attackers — an almost unique act of individual resistance), then severely damaged by Allied bombing in 1943 and the ruins demolished by the GDR in 1958 (only the restored facade and dome survive as the 'Centrum Judaicum' memorial and museum, 1995; the prayer hall has not been rebuilt). Oranienburger Straße — running west from the synagogue to Friedrichstraße — is lined with galleries, restaurants, and bars, and marked by the historical presence of the Jewish quarter: the ruins of the old post office at No. 35 are occupied by the Tacheles art complex (1990-2012, now a luxury hotel after prolonged legal battles).
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Kollwitzplatz & Prenzlauer Berg
Kollwitzplatz — the tree-lined square in the heart of Prenzlauer Berg named for the sculptor and printmaker Käthe Kollwitz (1867-1945, who lived at Weißenburger Straße 25/now Kollwitzstraße 56a from 1891 to 1943) — is the symbolic center of the neighborhood's bourgeois bohemian culture. The square contains a seated bronze of Kollwitz herself (by Gustav Seitz, 1958, relocated here from the Weißensee cemetery) and hosts Berlin's finest organic farmers' market (Saturday mornings). The surrounding blocks of Prenzlauer Berg are the most comprehensively intact surviving pre-war urban fabric in Berlin (the Gründerzeit apartment buildings of 1870s-1900s survived WWII relatively intact because the Red Army captured the neighborhood block-by-block with lighter artillery than the central city) — 19th-century stucco facades, internal courtyard gardens, and corner pubs unchanged since Wilhelmine times. After reunification, this became the center of Berlin's most intensive gentrification, transforming from a working-class and alternative-culture neighborhood into one of the most family-friendly and expensive in the city.
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Mauerpark & Sunday Flea Market
Mauerpark — the former death strip along the Berlin Wall running north-south between Eberswalder Straße and Bernauer Straße, converted into a public park in 1994 — is the social center of Berlin's Sunday culture. The park occupies a section of the wall's death strip and inner-city frontier strip that was widest at this point (up to 100 meters) — the grassy slope that dominates the northern end was the former anti-tank ditch/earth berm of the border installation. The Sunday flea market (Flohmarkt im Mauerpark, 800-1,000 stalls, 50,000 visitors on peak summer Sundays) is the largest and most popular outdoor market in Berlin, selling vintage clothing, GDR memorabilia, vinyl records, handmade crafts, and street food. The Bearpit Karaoke (in the park's curved stone amphitheater, every Sunday afternoon, free, organized by Joe Hatchiban who carries his entire system on a cargo bicycle) is an authentic Berlin institution: 2,000+ spectators and an inclusive, raucous atmosphere.
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Kulturbrauerei (1891-present)
The Kulturbrauerei ('Culture Brewery') — the former Schultheiss Brewery complex on Schönhauser Allee, built 1891-1898 by the Berlin architect Franz Schwechten (who also designed the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church) in a neo-Gothic industrial style of red and yellow brick — is the largest and most important example of late 19th-century industrial architecture in Berlin. The brewery (one of the largest in Prussia by 1900) was closed in 1967 by the GDR and left unused; after reunification, the complex was converted into Berlin's premier cultural venue: 25,000 m² containing the Frannz Club and other clubs, cinemas, theaters, music venues, restaurants, a weekly market, and the Museum of the GDR Everyday Life (Alltag in der DDR, permanent exhibition on daily life in East Germany). The boiler house chimney (80 meters) and the malt house tower are the visual landmarks of northern Prenzlauer Berg.
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Schönhauser Allee & Jewish Cemetery (1827)
Schönhauser Allee — the main artery of Prenzlauer Berg, running from Senefelder Platz (the junction marked by the distinctive 1897 urinal pavilion, the oldest surviving public toilet in Berlin) north to Pankow — is the densest commercial street in eastern Berlin, lined with local businesses, cafes, and an elevated U-Bahn (U2) track that gives the street its distinctive character. The Jewish Cemetery on Schönhauser Allee (established 1827, the second Jewish cemetery in Berlin, used until 1880 when Weißensee opened) contains the graves of the painter Max Liebermann (died 1935, buried 1944 after having been reinterred from his family plot at Wannsee), the composer Giacomo Meyerbeer (died 1864), and the photographer Eduard Gaertner — under ancient trees, with many graves from the flowering of Berlin's Jewish community in the Biedermeier and Wilhelmine periods. The adjacent Kollwitz Museum documents the life of the neighborhood's most famous resident.