Brandenburg Gate
For 28 years a wall sealed it shut — now you walk straight through.
Coming soon on iOS — be first to walk Berlin offline.
Built 1788–1791 on the model of Athens' Acropolis gateway, this is one of Germany's first Greek Revival structures, commissioned by King Frederick William II and designed by Carl Gotthard Langhans. It stood at the literal seam of divided Berlin until 1989. Walking its central passageway — once blocked entirely by the Wall — connects two centuries of European history in about thirty steps.
What to look for
- The bronze quadriga crowning the gate: four horses and chariot, sculpted by Johann Gottfried Schadow
- Twelve fluted Doric columns forming five passageways — originally, citizens were permitted only the two outermost on each side
- Relief panels set between the column pairs depicting the Labours of Hercules
The gate faces Pariser Platz to the east and opens directly onto Unter den Linden, the boulevard leading to the Humboldt Forum; the Reichstag is one block north.
Brandenburg Gate is one of 37 sights worth the detour in Berlin, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Berlin pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Berlin
- Berlin WallBuilt to keep citizens in, not enemies out — and the death strip of anti-vehicle trenches and beds of nails makes that intent impossible to misread.
- ReichstagA fire in 1933, a battle in 1945, a dome in 1999 — you walk inside Germany's working parliament.
- Berlin Olympic Stadium (Olympiastadion)Designed for the 1936 Olympics and still hosting European finals — the bowl has barely left the world stage.
- Pergamon MuseumThe Pergamon Altar and the collections of the Vorderasiatisches Museum once filled this hall — closed since 2023, with the North Wing returning in 2027.
- Fernsehturm BerlinA 368-metre Cold War statement that outlived the government that built it — and now stands for the city that absorbed it.
- Museum IslandFive museums on one island, built across a century by Prussian kings — now a UNESCO site for showing how museums themselves evolved.