Architects from around the globe are responsible for the magnificent collection of buildings surrounding Potsdamer Platz, such as the Beisheim Center, DaimlerChrysler Center or the Sony Center with its unmistakable marquee-shaped roof. Shopping is at its most compact here in the Potsdamer Platz arcades, which are just under 200m long.

International rendezvous in Berlin's new centre
Potsdamer Platz – in the decades before German reunification it was a no-man's-land, then over the course of a decade it was redesigned and rebuilt and is now Berlin's most important communications hub. The Potsdamer Platz arcades, covering an area of 40,000m2, are an international rendezvous and a shopping paradise with local colour. International goods, exciting cuisine, cinema and even a casino.

Brandenburg Gate, the TV tower on Alexanderplatz – a 368-metre observation tower with rotating restaurant; Memorial Church on Kurfürstendamm, Gendarmenmarkt square – a beautiful and harmonious architectural synthesis with the Konzerthaus concert hall, the German Cathedral and the French Cathedral; the dome of the Reichstag – fascinating architecture and splendid views of the government quarter and the city centre; Hackesche Höfe – Berlin's famous nightlife; Potsdamer Platz – ultra-modern buildings, shops, entertainment and commercial centre.

Berlin is also a city of museums, housing cultural treasures from all over the world, including the Pergamon altar, the bust of Nefertiti ("Berlin's most beautiful woman"), and works by great masters past and present. This once-divided city brings visitors face to face with history in the 175 museums that are its custodians of history, art and knowledge. A new gallery scene, which has sprung up in the Mitte and Prenzlauer Berg districts, is causing quite a stir in the international art world.