Germany Guide
Berlin
The Reichstag
Behind the Brandenburg Gate a line of cobbles marks the course of the Berlin Wall where for 28 years it separated the Gate from the other great emblem of national unity, the Reichstag – now once again the seat of Germany's parliament. The imposing nineteenth-century Neoclassical Reichstag immediately impresses, its stolid, bombastic form wholly in keeping with its pivotal role in history. It was built to house a sham parliament answerable only to the Kaiser, but in November 1918, Philipp Scheidemann declared the founding of the German Republic from a window here, paving the way for the Weimar Republic, which lasted just fourteen years before the Nazis claimed power. Their coup came partly as a result of a fire in the Reichstag in 1933, seen across the world in flickering newsreels, which gave Hitler an excuse to introduce an emergency decree effectively instigating a dictatorship. Debate as to who actually started the fire began immediately and continues to this day. In a show trial, an itinerant ex-communist Dutch bricklayer, Marius van der Lubbe, was charged with arson and executed the following year, but it's more likely that the Nazis started the fire themselves. Equally famously, the Reichstag became a symbol of the Allied victory at the end of World War II, when soldiers raised the Soviet flag on its roof – even though heavy fighting still raged below. You can see evidence of this fighting in the scores of patched bullet holes around some Reichstag windows. The building was left in tatters by the conflict, and only in 1971 was its reconstruction completed to house a museum. In 1990 the government of a reunified Germany decided to move its parliament back, though it wasn't until April 19, 1999, that this happened – once all its interiors had been refashioned and a new cupola (daily 8am–10pm; free) set atop the building. Designed by British architect Sir Norman Foster, this giant glass dome supported by a soaring, mirrored column has become the building's main visitor attraction. A circular ramp spirals up the inside to a viewing deck with stunning 360-degree views of the city. Expect to queue for entry for at least an hour, unless you arrive early or late – for immediate entry, book at the Käfer Dachgarten restaurant.