Hansa Studios, in the historic Meistersaal concert hall at Köthener Straße 38, stood right beside the Berlin Wall by Potsdamer Platz. Between 1976 and 1978 the building became the creative refuge of David Bowie and Iggy Pop: Bowie recorded much of "Heroes" (1977) here and produced Iggy Pop's albums The Idiot and Lust for Life in the same rooms. The control room of the big studio looked out over the death strip, and the title track of "Heroes", with its lovers kissing "by the Wall", was inspired by that view. The 1910 hall is a protected monument and still works as a recording studio and event space today.
Hansa Studios, in the historic Meistersaal concert hall at Köthener Straße 38, stood right beside the Berlin Wall by Potsdamer Platz. Between 1976 and 1978...
One of the very few surviving Berlin Wall watchtowers, this BT-11 type observation tower stands near Potsdamer Platz. Originally part of the border fortification system,...
One of the best-known ghost stations. The Wall ran directly through Potsdamer Platz above, turning what was once Europe's busiest intersection into empty wasteland. Below,...
This open-air exhibition at Potsdamer Platz features informational displays mounted between original segments of the Berlin Wall. Created in 2005 to mark the 20th anniversary...
Built on the site of the former Gestapo and SS headquarters, this documentation center features a 200m section of the original Berlin Wall along Niederkirchnerstraße....
A 200-metre preserved section of the Berlin Wall running along Niederkirchnerstraße, between the Martin-Gropius-Bau and the Topography of Terror documentation centre. This is one of...
At Friedrichstraße, and featured in many cold-war era spy movies and books, this was the most famous of the border crossings. It was the only...
Founded in 1962 by human rights activist Rainer Hildebrandt, this museum documents the ingenuity and desperation of escape attempts from East Berlin. Exhibits include a...
Like Alexanderplatz, Stadtmitte was a split station. The U2 platform operated normally for East Berliners (as "Otto-Grotewohl-Straße"), while the physically separate U6 platform was sealed...
A memorial cross marks the spot where 18-year-old Peter Fechter was shot by border guards on 17 August 1962 while trying to escape to the...
The Brandenburg Gate became the main symbol of Berlin's division. From 1961 to 1989, it stood inaccessible in the death strip, visible but unreachable from...
Two escape tunnels were dug on Zimmerstraße, close to Checkpoint Charlie. In summer 1962, a tunnel from an empty lot in the West to Zimmerstraße...
Originally named "Unter den Linden" when it opened in 1936, this S-Bahn station sits directly beneath the Brandenburg Gate. During the Cold War, Western trains...
After serving as a U6 ghost station from 1961 to 1990, this station operated normally for 30 years before being permanently closed on 4 December...
The GDR's official press centre for foreign correspondents, where Günter Schabowski held his historic press conference on 9 November 1989. Asked when new travel regulations...