School Trips to Berlin

Visit the spectacular Dome of the Reichstag Building which was designed by the British architect Norman Foster. A huge lift takes you up to the roof of the Reichstag where you collect your audio guides and ascend the double helix stair case which rises inside the spectacular glass dome with ever expanding views across the city. The tour allows you to access the roof of the Reichstag for views across the city. (NB. Visits to the actual Parliament chamber are possible but subject to request and Parliamentary business scheduling so if you would like to do this, please let us know and we will try to arrange it).

Although most of the Berlin Wall has been torn down, there remains a 1-mile preserved section made famous since 1990 by the varied street art and graffiti which it now supports.  The so-called East Side Gallery is the location of some of the most famous street art in the World including the iconic 1991 painting of former East German leader Erich Honecker kissing Soviet President Leonid Brezhnev.

The Berlin Wall Memorial is set out across a large site where the Wall used to separate the two halves of Berlin. You can see the marked routes of the tunnels dug by those trying to escape from East Berlin, and also those dug by the Stasi to get into West Berlin to kidnap people. There is a preserved section of Wall with lookout tower, and a very informative museum and exhibition which, among other things, documents the individual stories of those escapees. There is also a memorial to the many East Berliners who were shot whilst trying to escape to the West.

The Stasi Museum is located in the former headquarters of the East German secret police who were known as the Stasi. As recently as 1989, this was a greatly feared building in which the East German state directed espionage against its own people, as well as West Berliners and other Germans. From 1957 until the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, this anonymous building was the office of Erich Mielke, the head of the Stasi, who ruthlessly suppressed dissent in East Germany and sent many of its citizens to prison for lengthy periods for various so-called ‘crimes against the state’. In 1990 after the fall of the Berlin Wall, protesters stormed and ransacked the building, scenes which were broadcast live on TV. Today it has been preserved as a museum and, as well as various exhibits which show how the Stasi spied on people in every walk of life, you can also visit the offices of Erich Mielke, suspended in time in a kind of East German time capsule of beige and grey.

Take a trip to the top of the Berlin TV Tower, the Fernsehturm, for a sensational panoramic view of the city. The tower was built in the days when Berlin was a divided city and was intended to be a symbol of East German Communist power.

The Berlin Jewish Museum is housed in a spectacular new building designed by Daniel Libeskind. The museum documents the history of the Jewish people in Germany and is not solely focused on WW2 and the Holocaust.

Take a tour of the iconic Olympic Stadium which was used for the 1936 Berlin Olympics when American sprinter Jesse Owens won four gold medals in front of Adolf Hitler. It was subsequently refurbished and hosted the 2006 World Cup Final between France and Italy. Today the stadium is the home of Berlin football club Hertha Berlin.

The Holocaust Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe is an extensive monument located between the Brandenburg Gate and Potsdamer Platz. Opened in 2005 it is both striking in appearance and controversial in conception. It resembles an installation artwork and consists of numerous concrete blocks and slabs of irregular size and position. No sign or inscription tells the visitor the purpose of this monument and although there is a document centre beneath the stelae, it is not obvious or integral to the site. Whilst it is undoubtedly a unique feature of Berlin’s landscape, its existence has been fraught with controversy.