Berlin Photo Gallery - Various City Scenes

Just a short walk from the Reichstag and across the street from the American embassy, the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe opened in 2005 with 2710 concrete stelae of different heights covering 19,000 sq m, creating a wave form. Besides the Jewish community that perished under Nazi rule, around 500,000 Sinti and Roma were also murdered. They have a separate memorial nearby next to the Reichstag. Leipziger Platz was once home to the large Wertheim department store that dates from the end of the 19th century. It was monumental in Europe at the time with a 330m-long facade along the street. The building was badly damaged during World War II and eventually torn down in 1955, and the wall then rose, turning area desolate. After reunification, it was revitalized into the Mall of Berlin, which opened in 2014. Designed by American architect Hugh Stubbins Jr., Haus der Kulturen der Welt was a gift from the US. After the roof collapsed in 1980, it was rebuilt and opened 7 years later. Next door, the ultra-modern building houses the Chancellor's offices. The Ministry of Finance now occuipies Detlev Rohwedder House. Built in the 1930s, it was one of the Nazi government's prestige projects and serves as the aviation ministry's headquarters during the war. It's a huge building with over 2100 offices, which are connected through 6.8km of corridors. After the war, the Soviet military used the building followed by various ministries of East Germany. On the outside, Max Lingner designed a long mural themed "building the republic". The New Synagogue was built in 1866 and could accomodate 3200 people, making it the largest in the country. Services stopped in 1940 when the Nazis confiscated the property and it was almost destroyed during the war. Under East German rule, only the facade was kept was a memorial and the main hall was demolished. Reconstruction took place in the late 1980s and the dome was rebuilt in 1991. Just a short walk away from the synagogue, the Postfuhramt was built between 1875-1881 as a horse stable for the carriage trade with administrative offices, apartments for post office employees, and more. After the war, it was restored from the 1970s onwards although the post office closed in 1995.