Berlin - Zehlendorf
Zehlendorf
Zehlendorf, Berlin’s classical exclusive residential area, allures the metropolitans to summer resorts like Wannsee lake and Grunewald Forest – there’s hardly any Berliner who does not dream of a comfortable mansion in Berlin’s most genteel district with its scenic landscape on the Havel River. The opportunity to sightsee an especially beautiful villa is provided by a visit to the Literarisches Colloquium Berlin on the Wannsee shore, where writers of international rank are hosted regularly. The glamour of past times can be felt in the Max-Liebermann-Villa at the Wannsee, where the famous painter lived until his death in 1935. Nearby, a splendid mansion was the scene of an eldritch conference. In January 1942 in the House of the Wannsee Conference, the Nazis resolved up on the most disgusting crime ever: the “final solution of the Jewish question”, the systematic assassination of the European Jews.
The romantic paradise of the Pfaueninsel (peacock island), where peacocks stroll freely through scenic gardens, artificial ruins and a fairytale castle, can only be reached by ferry. Not only Wannsee lake attracts swimmers and vacationers: it is particularly the small lakes like Nikolassee, Krumme Lanke or Schlachtensee that offer calmness in idyllic surroundings. Museum village Düppel with its traditional farmhouses enables a trip to the past.
On the way to Potsdam, you will find one of Berlin’s most picturesque places: at the classicistic summer residence of Glienicke Lenné and Schinkel have shaped the castle’s park, a terrific garden. The famous Glienicker bridge towards Potsdam was an impermeable border until 1989. This bridge is best known for trade-offs of agents during the Cold War.
Closer to the city centre is Grunewald, where the in Bauhaus style realized Brückemuseum exhibits paintings by the expressionist artists group “Die Brücke” (the bridge). The museums in Dahlem with the collections of mainly Asian art and the Ethnologic Museum rank among Berlin’s most important exhibition places besides Tiergarten’s Kulturforum and Museum Island in Mitte. In Dahlem there is also the Freie Universität (the Free University) that brings students and a young lifestyle to Zehlendorf. The campus university, founded as an alternative to the Humboldt university in the former East-Berlin, is idyllic situated here in the southwest of Berlin. The new library “Berlin Brain” in the main building, designed by Lord Norman Foster, is a fascinating example of contemporary architecture.
