6 Ways to Get to Know Berlin (Inside and Out)
To say Berlin is a big city by European standards is an understatement — it has the largest population in Germany with 3.8 million residents and spans 23 miles.
Thus, you should never tackle Berlin without a plan, especially due to its unpredictable weather, which ranges from sunny and cold to overcast and cold to rainy and chilly in February.
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THR presents six spots we love that provide a new layer of knowledge about the city’s troubled history, incredible art renaissance and natural beauty.
Outdoor: Street Art at Artpark Tegel
Neheimer Str. 4
Drawing influence from the U.S. cultural wave of the 1970s, street art became a way of life in Berlin during the 1980s and transformed into Germany’s graffiti capital. The city’s walls are its greatest gallery and tell its story, just as the history books do — plastered with stickers, graffiti and murals covering everything. Don’t miss Artpark Tegel, the tallest open-air art gallery in Berlin, with giant murals on high-rise residential buildings.
Indoor: Fotografiska
Oranienburger Str. 54
+49 30 400698208
Through March 2, don’t miss Double Feature by Marco Brambilla at Fotografiska, a contemporary museum of photography, art and culture featuring renowned artists and emerging talent. In this homage to the emptiness of the Hollywood Dream Factory, Brambilla showcases two works from his Megaplex series: Civilization, a psychedelic journey from hell to heaven, using collaged film loops from iconic cinematic moments; and Heaven’s Gate, a trip through seven levels of purgatory, each depicted as looping samples from Hollywood’s Golden Age. The artist is known for using AI and computer graphics, which layer glamorous images of movies and celebrities recontextualized into maximalist video collages.
Outdoor: Körnerpark
Schierker Straße 8
If you need green space and fresh air, locals recommend Körnerpark as one of Berlin’s hidden gems. A former gravel pit, the park is more than 100 years old and merges architectural and horticultural design with long staircases leading down to the lawns, dramatic fountains, small canals, trimmed hedges and a flower garden. The former greenhouse receives new life as the municipal Galerie im Körnerpark, with a showing of contemporary artists and music wafts through the park year-round.
Indoor: I’m Not Here by Steve Schapiro at Camera Work
Kantstraße 149
+49 30 3100776
Famed film photographer Steve Schapiro created the iconic, often-referenced behind-the-scenes images on such movie sets as The Godfather, Taxi Driver, and E.T. Now Berlin’s Camera Work features the largest presentation of his pictures since his death in 2022. With 40 works, many shown for the first time worldwide, the exhibition centers on freedom and is divided into three sections: the civil rights movement in the U.S., portraits of major pop culture personalities like Andy Warhol, David Bowie, and Barbra Streisand, as well as film sets, including Back to the Future and Rocky.
Outdoor: Explore Germany’s Troubled Past
The ominous history of Berlin will always be there, no matter how many years pass. The city’s cultural institutions use these markers as an educational tool so the world will never forget. Two important monuments are a must-visit for anyone. The outdoor Topography of Terror documents the Nazi regime’s crimes. It is located on the site of the Nazi headquarters that was used to plan and manage the persecution and extermination of European Jews, Sinti and Roma. As beautiful as it is haunting, The Holocaust Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe is a place of remembrance and warning designed by New York architect Peter Eisenman with 2,711 concrete slabs of different heights. Its sublime wave-like form is different wherever you stand, creating a stunning illusion.
Indoor: Berlin, Berlin – 20 Years of the Helmut Newton Foundation
Jebensstraße 2
+49 30 31864825
Germany’s gift to 20th-century fashion and art photography, the Helmut Newton Foundation celebrates the man and all those he inspired. He fled Berlin in December 1938 and returned 65 years later as the world-famous photographer Helmut Newton. In this exhibition, we encounter Newton’s models posing at Brandenburg Gate before the construction of the Berlin Wall. In 1979, the newly relaunched German Vogue commissioned Newton to revisit his childhood and youth in West Berlin, visualizing current fashion trends. Explore Newton’s perspective of his hometown, presented through 100 photographs and complemented by images from photographers and filmmakers throughout the decades.
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