Google Sightseeing takes you on tour of the world as seen from satellite, using the free Google Earth program, or Google Maps in your web browser. Each weekday your guides James and Alex present new weird and wonderful sights as suggested by readers.

The editors: James & Alex

Potsdamer Platz

Posted by , Tuesday, 30th May 2006

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The Potsdamer Platz is a huge traffic intersection and square in Berlin. In the 20s and 30s it was one of the busiest traffic centres in Europe and was the heart of Berlins’s nightlife. As is sadly the case with much of Berlin, it was bombed and shelled at the end of the second world war into nothing but rubble. After the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 the square was revitalised as a sign of the new Germany. The buildings surrounding the square were completely rebuilt, many being designed by world class architects including Renzo Piano (most famous for the Pompidou Centre in Paris). The square and surrounding streets are now full of amazing architecture much of which is stunning from the air. I’ve selected some of the best below but just scrolling around the area there is a lot to see!

Potsdamer Platz

Potsdamer Platz

Potsdamer Platz

Potsdamer Platz

Thanks: Lars

7 Responses to 'Potsdamer Platz'

  1. Dominik Meister says:

    Here you can see the new main station of Berlin which has been opened last weekend:
    Placemark: Google Maps / Google Earth

    A ground level shot is available in the german wikipedia:
    http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Hauptbahnhof

  2. Chris W says:

    Near the new train station is this river-shaped building near the river:
    Placemark: Google Maps / Google Earth

  3. Alex says:

    Chris, that’s Wohnanlage auf dem Moabiter Werder (Housing on the Moabiter Island), which was previously posted back in November :-)

  4. Babaganoosh says:

    Anybody know what in the world this is just to the north?
    Placemark: Google Maps / Google Earth

    Also, a little farther away I came across this rather creepy looking island.
    Placemark: Google Maps / Google Earth

  5. MVK says:

    The place that Babaganoosh points out to the north is the new Holocaust memorial, and just north of that, the construction site is the new US Embassy.

    Does anyone else see the tremendous irony in that juxtaposition?

    Maybe someone with better eyes than me can post a link showing the security stations protecting the US Embassy just to the east of the Tor. It’s amazing and sad that the US has a barricaded embassy just north of Unter Den Linden- the only embassy there that is so protected/ isolated…

  6. Babaganoosh Says:
    Anybody know what in the world this is just to the north?

    I’ve submitted that link a while ago but it didn’t show up on this post on berlin.. anyway, it’s a memorial monument to the victims of the holocausts.. it’s a bunch of grey stones of different height that make up corridors in which you can walk.. but it’s quite spooky!

  7. Fred says:

    The colored ball is the logo of the German TV station “Sat.1″: http://www.sat1.de/
    (They changed their logo a bit. It’s less colorful now.)

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