Brandenburg Gate Guide

The Brandenburg Gate is a neoclassical triumphal arch finished in 1791, with twelve Doric columns, five passages and a bronze chariot on top. You cannot go inside or climb it, so the visit is really about standing in front of it and understanding what it has stood for. For most of the Cold War it sat inside the border strip, with the Wall running just behind it. It is now where Berlin gathers for New Year's Eve, marathons and demonstrations.

What you see

Carl Gotthard Langhans designed the gate as the entrance to the city's western approach, and Johann Gottfried Schadow made the quadriga: the goddess Victoria driving four horses, facing east towards the city. Napoleon had it carried off to Paris in 1806, and it returned in 1814, when the Prussians added the Iron Cross to Victoria's staff. Walk through to the eastern side, on Pariser Platz, and look at the surrounding buildings: the Akademie der Künste, the embassies of France and the United States, and the Hotel Adlon, all rebuilt after the war. Just to the north of the gate, a small Room of Silence is open to anyone who wants a quiet minute, and it is easy to miss.

When to come

The square is open at all hours and the gate is lit at night, so it works as an evening stop. Early morning is the only time you will get a photograph without crowds. Midday brings tour groups, street performers in costume and a lot of selfie sticks, and we would not linger then. The nearest station, Brandenburger Tor, is on the S-Bahn and the U-Bahn, and the lines are explained in our guide to getting around.

Pair it with

The gate is the western end of Unter den Linden, the boulevard that runs east towards Museum Island. A short walk south brings you to the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, and the Reichstag is a few minutes north. Behind the gate to the west, the park of Tiergarten begins, with the wide Straße des 17. Juni cutting straight through it. These four sights fit comfortably into one morning.

What we would skip: the souvenir stalls and the people in costume asking for photo money. Take your picture from the middle of Pariser Platz and move on.