BERLIN
- Alex P
- 7 days ago
- 4 min read
Berlin, the capital of Germany, is renowned for its striking contrasts, exceptional range of attractions, vibrant culture and a lifestyle that is both fast-paced and relaxed.
BERLIN: ICONIC LANDMARKS
Berlin is a rare example of a capital where history isn't confined to a display case, but continues to live on the streets, sometimes at odds with itself. The city doesn't strive to be "beautiful" in the classic sense, but it almost always proves significant.
The most visible symbol of this significance is the Reichstag. The building has survived empires, fires, dictatorships, divisions, and reunifications, and today, with its transparent dome, it offers a rare political metaphor: power under glass and under surveillance.
A very different Berlin is visible from the TV Tower on Alexanderplatz. The socialist legacy, which suddenly became a citywide icon, still dominates the panorama and reminds us that utopias, too, can build lasting structures. Alexanderplatz itself is a space of perpetual reconstruction and encounter, where grandeur coexists with commercial bustle, and Berlin's penchant for incompleteness is particularly acute.
A neat counterbalance to this chaos is Museum Island: an ensemble where Berlin unexpectedly speaks the language of classicism, systematicity, and cultural memory, emphasizing that the city has not only a biography but also a library.
Let's give a word to german philosopher and writer Walter Benjamin and his "Berlin Childhood around 1900" written between 1932 and 1938:
"The street, which rose up the houses like a fever chart, was never entirely free of its inhabitants. At all hours they crowded into the little shops and public houses, and at the approach of dusk their forms were doubled in the shop-windows, so that a fleeting image of a second, interior city, brightly lit, could be seen in the glass. This interior Berlin was a magic theater, and the street its brightly illuminated stage".
BERLIN: COAT OF ARMS' HISTORY
Berlin's coat of arms depicts a bear — a decision that seems obvious and therefore deceptively simple. But in reality, its path to becoming the city's sole symbol was long, uneven, and marked by lively heraldic debate.
Originally, the bear was not Berlin's primary symbol. In the city's medieval symbolism, it long coexisted with far more influential figures — the red Brandenburg eagle and the black Prussian eagle. The eagles symbolized political reality: its affiliation with Brandenburg, and later with Prussia.
The bear, however, was given a more "local" role — a symbol of the city's growing importance and its capital ambitions. Today, this historical legacy can be traced in the coat of arms of the Berlin district of Spandau, which itself was long an independent city.
From a classical heraldry perspective, the Berlin bear is considered a so-called "talking figure": the Old German "Bär" sounds like the first syllable of the city's name. An alternative explanation is a connection with Albrecht, nicknamed the Bear, the founder and first count of Brandenburg.
Documentary evidence for either theory has not been found. Despite the obvious and simple explanation for the coat of arms, many old-school German heraldists continue to persist in their opinion regarding the city's symbol. Literally: "Why the Berliners chose the bear as their emblem is impossible to determine precisely due to the lack of supporting documentation."
After the unification of the surrounding cities into a single Berlin cluster in the early 18th century, the bear finally established itself as the primary symbol, although it remained alongside eagles for a long time. Only after the fall of the German monarchy in 1918 did the bear stand alone — without superstructures or political reminders. In this form, the coat of arms survived the division and unification of the city, and since 1954, its current form has been used.
The city crown, in the form of a fortress wall above the shield, appeared in the 19th century and is today reserved for official institutions. The uncrowned bear, however, has become a citywide symbol — democratic and recognizable. Today, there is no longer any doubt: if the bear is the symbol of Berlin, then Berliners once decided they simply didn't need any other animal.
BERLIN: FUN FACTS
Of a sculpture that was stolen, returned, and nominated for the medal.
The Brandenburg Gate is a rare architectural landmark that is equally at home in history books and on souvenir magnets. Conceived in the late 18th century as a ceremonial entrance to the Prussian capital of Berlin, it was originally called, quite pacifically, the "Gate of Peace."
The gate's main decoration: Victoria, the goddess of victory, riding a chariot pulled by four horses. In 1806, Napoleon, not without a sense of symbolism, took this composition to Paris as a trophy. Berlin was left without its heavenly carriage, but not for long. After Napoleon's fall, the chariot returned, but with a new biography.
It was then that Victoria, riding on a chariot, was presented with what was essentially a state medal: the Iron Cross, mounted on a wreath of oak leaves. Formally, of course, the medal wasn't for the sculpture, but for the Prussian victory, but visually, it looked as if Victoria had received the medal for bravery and exemplary service to the fatherland. From that moment on, she ceased to be simply an allegory of peace and became a definitive symbol of military triumph.
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