Berliner Dom

The Berlin Cathedral, known as the Berliner Dom, is one of the most important tourist attractions in the German capital and one of my personal favourites.

This cathedral is a relatively new one in comparison with many others in Europe, since it's just under one hundred years old. Another equally as new cathedral occupied the same spot, but was destroyed on the orders of Emperor William II. The area suffered yet more tragedy when Berlin was bombed during the Second World War and the cathedral was badly damaged.

The cathedral features a very beautiful and unique facade, and is only 105 metres tall. It's a large building in terms of width, but not in terms of height. The cathedral is formed of three vertical levels, the two side parts forming two small towers and cupolas, and the central level forming the main tower and a wide cupola. The cupolas are a clear, greenish blue, which adds a special touch to the building's appearance.

Close to Museum Island and to the Spree river, the cathedral's facade faces an expansive garden ('Lustgarten'), where there is also a relatively large museum named the 'Altes Museum' which offers amazing views from its esplanade, though the front of the cathedral is by far the most impressive sight in the area. When I visited, it had been snowing, so instead of the sprawling green lawns of Lustgarten, I saw quite a thick blanket of snow and adored how it looked: I've never seen so much snow in one place before or since. The day after my first visit, we went to see the cathedral again and I took a second photo where you can see the lawn - that's why I've posted two different images here.

On the first day that we visited the cathedral, we didn't go inside since we only had a day and a half in the city and wanted to see other things too, but on our second day we decided to go in but ended up not being able to - I can't really remember exactly why, but there was a security guard who told us either that there was an entrance fee or that the cathedral was about to close. Despite this, a friend of mine who was on her Erasmus exchange there told us that the tombs of the Hohenzollern family are inside in the basement. She also told us that you can go up the cupola and that the views of Berlin from up there are gorgeous. Another time, perhaps.

The opening hours for the cathedral are from 9am to 7pm in winter, and I think 9am to 8pm in the summer.

We walked to the cathedral from Alexanderplatz the first time: this takes around five minutes. The second time, we crossed the river from the Nikolaiviertel (Saint Nicholas District), but the closest S-Bahn (city train) station is called 'Hackescher Markt' and the lines which stop there are the S5, the S7 and the S75. We carried on walking afterwards until we reached the Brandenburg Gate, which is around ten to fifteen minutes away on foot.