Bike tour: The Highlight-Tour - from the royal palace to the Reichstag (German Parliament)

Jewish Museum Berlin
The idea to establish a Jewish Museum was voiced in 1971, the year in which Berlin's Jewish community commemorated its 300th anniversary. At the community's suggestion, the exhibition "Achievement and Destiny" was displayed in the Berlin Museum. But far greater emphasis was now placed on the history of Berlin's Jewish community, Jewish life before and after 1933, and the role played by a number of important Jewish figures. The "Association for a Jewish Museum" was founded in 1975. Towards the end of 1978, the Berlin Museum first displayed an exhibition of the new acquisitions for a future Jewish Museum. For additional exhibition room in the Jewish Department of the Berlin Museum, it launched an architecture competition for an extension of the Berlin Museum. Competing against 165 other architects, Daniel Libeskind won the competition in June 1989. The foundation stone for the extension building was laid in November 1992 and the topping out ceremony celebrated in May 1995. The Libeskind Building was finished in 1998 and was first opened to visitors in the Long Museum Night in January 1999. It soon became a great public attraction boasting 350,000 visitors as an empty shell in the two years that followed. On September 1, 2001, the city of Berlin handed over responsibility for the museum to the state. On September 9, 2001, the opening of the museum with its exhibition “Two Millennia of German Jewish History” was celebrated with the German president and chancellor and a further 850 prominent guests from Germany and abroad. The Jewish Museum Berlin has proved to be a focal attraction with nearly 660,000 visitors in 2002 and just as many in 2003, making it one of Germany's most visited museums. Offering guided tours, temporary exhibitions, and a diverse calendar of events including scientific symposia, concerts, talks, workshops for kids and teens to name but a few, the museum has secured its reputation as a lively center for Jewish history and culture.
www.jmberlin.de

Pergamon Museum
With an annual figure of 850,000 visitors the Pergamon Museum ranks among the most popular buildings of the state museums. Its main attraction is the Pergamon Altar (2nd century BC). The frieze depicting the battle between the Gods and Giants is regarded as a masterpiece of Hellenistic art. The next room to the south contains the market Gate of Miletus, an outstanding example of Roman architecture. From there visitors can proceed to the Museum of the Ancient Near East.
Examples of Greek architecture are presented in the hall of Hellenistic architecture adjoining the great hall to the north. The northern wing of the Pergamon Museum contains classical sculptures from the Archaic age to the Hellenistic period, ancient copies of Greek originals as well as Roman art.
Greek and Roman art and sculptures can be found in the Altes Museum. The main highlights, the art of the Etruscans, will go on show when major restoration work on the building has been completed. Until then an exhibition of Greek works of art is open to the public on the newly designed main floor of the building. This thematically arranged exhibition includes stone sculptures, clay and bronze figures, friezes, vases, gold jewelry and silverware. Three information displays provide details on additional topics such as Greek myths, ancient city culture and the archaeological sites investigated by the Berlin museums.
Roman art is represented by relatively few pieces such as portraits of Caesar and Cleopatra, sarcophagi, mosaics, frescos and Roman-Egyptian mummy portraits offering a taste of the final presentation.
Plaster models of antique art are on display in the Replica Collection in Berlin-Charlottenburg. In the nearby Gipsformerei (Replica Workshop) replicas are available for purchase.

Schloss Charlottenburg
The Palace Charlottenburg today is the largest residence of the Hohenzollern in Berlin. Originally built by Elector Frederick III as a summer residence for his wife Sophie Charlotte in 1699, the Palace was later extended into a stately building with a cours d`honneur.
The magnificent palace is surrounded by a baroque garden, in which diverse architectures melt into a unique ensemble. The entire palace presents itself with majestically equipped rooms and saloons and with top-class art collections that offer outstanding masterpieces. One of the highlights in the exhibition is the largest collection of French paintings of the 18th century outside of France. The ensemble – artistically as well as historically impressive – is moreover a living testimonial of courtly culture and life from baroque times until the early 20 th century.

copyright:Stiftung Preußische Schlösser und Gärten Berlin-Brandenburg

Berlin Cathedral
1536 Elector Joachim II. moved  the collegiate church (Domstift) into the former dominican-church south of the castle. The monks were resettled to Brandenburg/Havel. 1539 the Elector introduced the reformation with the support of Luther and the cathedral became a Lutheran church.
The cathedral was proclaimed to highest parish-church in "Cölln/Spree" in 1608. 1613 Elector Johann Sigismund, his son and parts of the court converted  to Calvinism. The cathedral ("Dom") became reformed court and parish church. The church was established with the idea of a central building of protestantism without confessional boarders  (church union of 1817). Heavily damaged by the second World War, reconstruction of the outer skin only began in 1975 and was finished in 1983.

from 01.09.2006 until 06.09.2006
Berlin hosts the biannual world's largest Consumer Electronics trade fair; the industry's No. 1 place for orders. The trade fair addresses both experts and the public, featuring special services for trade visitors and a varied program with special events for consumers, an incomparable media event: 6,800 accredited journalists from 78 countries, and 95 hours of TV reports in Germany alone.
Vemue: Messegelände, Messedamm 22, 14055 Berlin, Charlottenburg, Tel.  +49 (30) 30 38-0

The charming Hackesche Höfe and its lively neighborhood
Moses Mendelssohn, Otto Weidt - two names associated with the surroundings of the Hackesche Höfe. A tour against oblivion.

Information: Tel. +49 (0163) 2625783.
starting point: by arrangement

Music festival Berlin 2006
Place: Philharmonie Berlin, Herbert-von-Karajan-Straße 1, 10785 Berlin, Tiergarten
Berliner Festspiele / Stiftung Berliner Philharmoniker