Brandenburg Tor Tour!
Written: Jul 25 '04 (Updated Oct 17 '04)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Living history, quite impressive and imposing building.
Cons: Won't take you long, not much in the way of eats in the area.
The Bottom Line: The bottom line is madly goosestepping through the gate....
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| cr01's Full Review: Brandenburg Gate |
It would be no understatement to say that Berlin must have one of the most unfortunate histories in Europe. In the thick of many of these ill-fated events is the Brandenburg Gate (more correctly called Brandenburg Tor) in the north east of the city centre.
Take a brief potted history of the gate. The tor was built in 1791 as a huge city gate or arch and its classical design was based upon the entrance to the Athens Acropolis. It only took 15 years before Napoleon came to town. In victorious mood, Napoleon added insult to injury by taking a fancy to the bronze horse-drawn chariot that stands on top of the arch. This statue known as the quadriga was returned after the tide turned on Napoleon a few years later.
Just before and during the Second World War, the gate was a favourite haunt of Hitler who enjoyed watching the grand Arian processions of tanks and torches so much that he had the road past the Brandenburg Gate straightened and widened.
Today, a drive up this Strasse Des 17 Juni (now named after a workers uprising in the East against the Soviets in 1953) and through the leafy Tiergaten (Berlin’s central park) is an eerie and humbling experience. The Brandenburg Gate stands at one end. Hitler then had the Siegessaule (an imposing 220 foot high column with a huge golden eagle at its top, built in the late 1800’s to celebrate war victories over Denmark and most importantly, France) moved to the other.
The road certainly makes you feel small and insignificant, and reminds you of the days it was named Adolf-Hitler Platz. Towards the end of the war and with Hitler’s empire diminishing rapidly, he commandeered this grand road to be used as a runway.
By the end of the war, the Brandenburg Gate had withstood terrible allied bombing raids. In 1960, a repaired Gate found itself perched right on the edge of the Berlin Wall in the no-man’s land of the old East Germany. In fact, the wall rang right in front of the gate. Once again, in the 1950’s it was lacking the quadriga until a new one was recast.
Along the way Brandenburg Tor had also been the focal point for many would be dictators attempting an uprising against the government. Even today the Tor is a lively place of protest.
Given its history and attraction to every crackpot and despot known to Germany, I think I might have been tempted to raze the place to the ground. However, the newly reunified country in 1990 took the decision to restore the area and the gate to its former glory.
Tor Tour!
Today the gate is perhaps best visited at night as it is beautifully illuminated against the night sky. The Tor is now closed to traffic and the road has been repaved with cobbles. The wall and gap of no-man’s land have long disappeared, and the only signs of the wall in this area are a line of granite cobbles that denote where the wall stood.
For the uninitiated, the Tor is a boxy five-arched six columned gateway. The stonework is etched with designs, and the gateway is attached to two columned buildings at either side. The quadriga really is its crowning glory, with the galloping horses, carriage and eagle and iron cross standard held proudly aloft. The tor is a gate of victory and power. While the grand Teutonic architecture might not quite be for me, the gate’s history and atmosphere gives it the draw.
At night, the place comes alive with roller bladers, young and old. I am not quite sure why they congregate in this part of town, but it was a pretty surreal sight, watching these folks glide round and round the comparatively small piece of pedestrianised road around the tor.
One of the downsides of coming to the gate in the evening is the distinct lack of bars and restaurants in the area. We did walk a fair way up the main road from the Brandenburg Gate into the old Eastern Germany side, and stopped at a bar, where a foul tempered woman provided adequate service with a scowl.
On another afternoon we lingered by another bar close to the German Parliament building on the river Spree only to receive no service whatsoever. After 10 minutes while we rested our weary legs on the outside seats, we gave up on the idea of a meal.
Perhaps they were attempting to provide a touch of that old East Germany! If my experience is anything to go by, look to eat outside of the centre of Berlin.
Very near the gate is a Starbucks, perched on a corner on the edge of the old East Germany. It would perhaps be churlish of me to question whether the hopes and aspirations of the former East Germans have been met with this most bland of capitalist pleasures.
Around the gate
While the time to see the gate is in the evening, you may well find yourself passing it by in the daytime too, as it is fairly close to a number of prime Berlin attractions.
The biggest of these, and about five minutes walk away is the Reichstag, the German parliament building, and its whizzy, fantastic and free to enter glass dome on the top of the building. I will go into more detail about the Reichstag in my general Berlin review, but the modern architecture is fantastic and you get some great views of the city.
Five minutes to the south of the Tor you pass the unmarked site of Hitler’s bunker on your way to the new skyscrapers of Potsdamer Platz. This is where a lot of redevelopment work has been ongoing over the past fifteen years, and the colours and shapes of the new skyscrapers remind me somewhat of an ultra modern Japanese city. Just a tip, but don’t pin your hopes on finding great places to eat at Potsdamer Platz either. We spotted only a couple of chain microwaved food style restaurants.
Ironically, near the Brandenburg gate is a new kind of Berlin Wall; the American and British Embassies are both surrounded by a heavily armed concrete wall. How lucky; Britain and America the only two embassies afforded this special attention. It is unpleasant to see how this so-called war on terrorism has made things for us abroad.
Summing up
• Although the Brandenburg Tor is one of the attractions of Berlin, it won’t take up much of your time.
• It can form a detour from either the Potsdamer Platz or the Reichstag
• Brandenburg Tor is best to visit in the evening, where its lit up form will make for an imposing photo opportunity.
• There’s nothing left of the wall in the immediate area, although the cobbled lines in the road denoting the route, clearly showing how Berlin was split through its heart.
• Don’t get too excited looking for good places to eat around the gate. Let me know if you find anything!
• Beware of any wild-eyed and cackling would-be despots in the area
Links
Want to read a long review about Berlin?
Looking for a good place to stay in Berlin? What about the Top Olivaer Apart Hotel
Want to read about life in the old East Berlin? You might find out a thing or two with Stasiland
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cr01 asserts his right to be associated as the author of this review - 2004-
Recommended:
Yes
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cr01
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Member: Chris
Location: Yorkshire, England
Reviews written: 445
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In snowy Yorkshire. Dusting down the Sledge.
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