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Charlottenburger Chaussee 109
13597 Berlin
030 3325772
marian@ich.ms
Parliament and mirror of German history
The Reichstag bears silent witness to the turbulent history of Berlin and is one of the city’s most significant historical buildings.
Berlin is the city where German history is written. Where is the best place to experience it? Come and explore the Reichstag!
There are several options to visit the Reichstag:
A quick look around or a detailed tour - both is possible but only with an advanced booking. For this, simply use the online form and you can find further information at bundestag.de.
Our tip: There are a lot of visitors to the Reichstag on weekends. If possible, it´s better to choose a time midweek.
Take photos of the Reichstag and the government district from the water on a boat trip through Berlin.
Explore the government district and learn more about Berlin´s history and the architecture of the Reichstag building during a city tour.
Popular tickets among our visitors can be found at visitBerlin.de
Explore Berlin´s sights during the bus tour and get off directly at the Reichstag. Book your tickets directly at visitBerlin.de and avoid long queues in Berlin.
The Reichstag is an internationally recognisable symbol of democracy and the current home of the German parliament. Every year, thousands of guests visit the Reichstag - and with good reason: It is not often that you can enjoy such an amazing panorama while, just beneath your feet, the political decisions of tomorrow are being made. Both as an architectural wonder and a historical testimony, the Reichstag has an important role to play in Berlin.
The original building is designed by Paul Wallot and modelled after the Memorial Hall in Philadelphia. Decorative motifs, sculptures and mosaics are contributed by the artist Otto Lessing. The Reichstag is completed in 1894 although it doesn’t acquire its iconic dedication to “the German People” until 1916 when the words Dem Deutschen Volke are inscribed on its façade. At the time Kaiser Wilhelm II regards the building as “the pinnacle of bad taste”.
The Reichstag serves as the home of the German parliament until 1933 when the building is badly damaged in a fire. This event marks the end of the Weimar Republic and provides a convenient pretext for Hitler to suppress dissent. Under Nazi dictatorship, the building falls into neglect and is severely damaged during the Second World War. In 1945 it becomes one of the primary targets for the Red Army due to its perceived propaganda value.
After the war, West Germany’s parliament is relocated to Bonn, and the building remains a virtual ruin until 1961 when a partial renovation is undertaken in the shadow of the newly erected Wall. Completed in 1964 this controversial restoration sees the building’s interior and exterior stripped of the majority of its statuary. However, the city makes efforts to retain the traces of its more recent history such as the bullet ridden façade and the graffiti left by the occupying Soviet soldiers.
Throughout the cold war period and until the German reunification in 1989 the Reichstag is the site of a permanent exhibition, “Questions about German History” but otherwise sees only occasional ceremonial use. In 1990 the Reichstag is the site of the official reunification ceremony. After another year of intense debate, it is decided that it will once again be the home of the German national parliament. In 1995, just prior to the commencement of Norman Foster’s restoration of the building, artist Christo and his wife Jeanne-Claude wrap the Reichstag in fabric. Foster’s careful restoration and redesign of the building is completed in 1999, and the new German government convenes at the Reichstag for the first time on April the 19th.
There is a certain irony in the fact that the building’s glass cupola is not featured in Foster’s original plans for the renovation of the Reichstag. The dome sits directly above the debating chamber. A mirrored cone at its centre directs light into the Reichstag, increasing the building’s energy efficiency and affording visitors a view of the parliamentary proceedings below. The dome itself can be visited by prior registration and is reached by two large steel ramps that curve up towards it in the form of a double helix.
There are a number of important Berlin landmarks situated in the immediate vicinity of the Reichstag. The main railway station, the Bundeskanzleramt and the Brandenburger Tor are all located a short walk away from the parliament building. You can also find a number of memorials nearby. These include the astounding Holocaust-Memorial by Peter Eisenman that consists of 2,711 concrete slabs arranged in a grid in which you can suddenly feel very disoriented and small. Another nearby memorial consisting of a circular pool commemorates the Sinti and Roma victims of National Socialism, whilst a concrete cube containing a video memorialises the homosexuals persecuted under Nazism.
The Reichstag is easily accessible by public transport as it is situated just a short distance from Berlin’s main rail station, the Hauptbahnhof. The number 100 bus, which provides an unrivalled sightseeing opportunity along its route between the Zoo Station in the West and Alexanderplatz in the East, also stops at the Reichstag, as does the M41. The nearest U-Bahn station to the Reichstag is the Bundestag. It is the middle station of only three stations on what is surely Berlin’s shortest U-Bahn line which runs between the Hauptbahnhof and Brandenburger Tor.
The dome and roof terrace are open from 8.00 a.m. to 6.00 p.m. in the winter months (1 November to 31 March) and from 8.00 a.m. to 8.00 p.m. in the summer months (1 April to 31 October).
The dome and roof terrace are closed all day on 24 December and from 4 p.m. on 31 December (last admission at 2.30 p.m.). The dome can be visited from
15 to 19 April 2024
08 to 19 July 2024
22 to 26 July 2024
21 to 25 October 2024 and from
28 October to 1 November 2024
cannot be visited due to cleaning and maintenance work. The roof terrace will remain accessible during these dome closures.