Gendarmenmarkt

What makes it special

The two domed towers facing each other across the square were added to its two church buildings in the 1780s for King Frederick the Second. Carl von Gontard designed them almost identical, and they were built with no function at all.

Dom here describes the domed tower, not the rank of a church. The Französischer Dom (French Cathedral) rises over the church built for French Huguenots in the early 1700s. The Deutscher Dom (German Cathedral) has never served as a church.

Between them is the Konzerthaus, designed by Karl Friedrich Schinkel and raised on the foundation walls of a national theatre that had burned down. Its interior carries sculpture by Christian Rauch and Friedrich Tieck and a neo-baroque auditorium.

The square takes its name from the Gens d'armes, a Prussian regiment of Huguenot soldiers whose guardhouse and stables were here, and East Berlin rebuilt it in its present form in the 1970s after the war left it in ruins.

Visiting

The Französischer Dom holds the Huguenot Museum and the panorama platform. The museum is open Tuesday to Sunday, 11.30am to 4.30pm, and the museum desk sells the tickets, including a combined museum and platform ticket.

Go up to the panorama platform, 40 metres high, for a view of the Brandenburg Gate, the TV Tower and the Reichstag.

Across the square, in the Deutscher Dom, the Bundestag's exhibition on the development of parliamentary democracy fills five floors. It is open Tuesday to Sunday from 10am to 6pm, and until 7pm from May to September.

Before you leave, look at the statue of the poet Friedrich Schiller in the middle of the square, in front of the Konzerthaus.

Guided or on your own

For the platform, buy the ticket with the multimedia audio guide, which tells the history of Berlin and the Französischer Dom as you go round.

The Huguenot Museum runs a public tour of its permanent exhibition every second Saturday of the month at 2pm. Tickets are sold at the museum desk, and the group is capped at 15.

Tips

Look west from the platform. In good weather the view reaches the radio tower at the trade fair grounds and the Teufelsberg.

The Christmas market can be overrun in the evenings, but it looks its best after dark, when the lights are on. Walk through on a weekday between 11am and 2pm, when entry is free except on some December holidays, and come back for a short look in the evening.

The Classic Open Air concerts on the Konzerthaus steps generally take place regardless of the weather, so take a layer for rain.