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Our hotel is located just off Unter den Linden, the
main avenue of the city, close to the Gendarmenmarkt,
one of Berlin’s most attractive squares. As an introduction, we will
drive to the Brandenburg Gate and dine at the rooftop
restaurant of the Reichstag, which has been superbly
remodelled by Sir Norman Foster.
Our first day will be devoted to Museum Island. Schinkel’s
masterpiece, the Altes Museum, is now a showcase for
the Egyptian Collection, with the exquisite head of Nefertiti. Nearby
is the Pergamon Museum, featuring the great Altar dedicated
to Zeus and the monumental Ishtar Gate from Babylon. Later we return to
see the spectacular Bode Museum, where works of art evacuated
on the eve of World War II have finally been re-united. The vast and wide-ranging
sculpture collection has been integrated with Byzantine works of art,
coins and paintings. We will also be shown the impressive restoration
of Berlin Cathedral and the courtyard of the 18th-century
Zeughaus or Arsenal, the oldest building on Unter den
Linden.
Just outside the city centre is Schloss Köpenick,
Berlin’s oldest royal residence, now housing part of the Museum
of Decorative Arts. We continue to the Baroque palace of Charlottenburg,
residence of the first King of Prussia, for a tour of the royal apartments
including the Porcelain Chamber and the Court Chapel. After lunch at the
Orangerie we visit the Knobelsdorf Wing and walk through the park to the
Schinkel Pavilion and the Belvedere, with its display of Berlin porcelain.
Returning by boat along the River Spree, with supper
on board, will give us fresh views of the city and the dynamic new buildings.
The following day there will be an excursion to Potsdam,
to include Sanssouci, the delightful rococo summer palace of Frederick
the Great, the picture gallery and the private apartments of the vast
Neues Palais. After lunch at the historic Cecilienhof, now a hotel, we
will walk in the park and see the exotic Chinese Tea Pavilion and the
mausoleum of the Emperor and Empress Frederick, Queen Victoria’s
favourite daughter, ‘Vicky’.
The next morning we will be shown Berlin’s historic
collections of old master paintings in the Gemäldegalerie,
as well as the Museum of Decorative Arts and Mies van
der Rohe’s Neues Nationalgalerie. In the evening
we plan to include a performance at the Staatsoper, Komische Oper or Konzerthaus.
A morning will be dedicated to the art and architecture of contemporary
Berlin, with visits to the fascinating Jewish Museum
designed by Daniel Libeskind and to the Hamburger Bahnhof Museum.
On the last evening we will be hosted for dinner at a private apartment
with fine Biedermeier furniture.
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