Band des Bundes - Government District and Reichstag
PARLIAMENT BUILDING, CHANCELLORS OFFICE, BUNDESTAG, PLATZ DER REPUBLIK

This page is about Band des Bundes, the area where the government buildings in central Berlin is; around the Reichstag building that has been completely rebuilt inside and modernized, 4 huge government office buildings have been constructed in the 2000s, since. They are all located around River Spree, close to Brandenburger Tor, Tiergarten, Potsdamer Platz and the new Central Station. The area is very green with glass lawns.

Reichstag:

The new Reichstag, Parliament Building, is actually an old classicist building from 1890 with a very troubled history; it was set on fire in 1933 and it was further damaged during WWII. It was reconstructed in the 1960s as a conference building, in 1995 the building was wrapped in silver fabric while a new parliement building was constructed inside, constructed by Sir Norman Foster. A glass dome on top, also designed by Norman Foster, that was added in the late 1990s. The building itself was designed by Paul Wallot. The dome is one of Berlin's most popular tourist attractions, since it offers views over the city and itself. It is situated on the roof of the old parliament building and there is a spiral stairway that leads to the top of the dome. Before entering the Reichstag, you have to stand in line for approximately an hour of so. Unfortunately the weather was not very good when I visited the dome.

You can watch the views from the roof and the dome of the Parliament building here.

Reichstag, the Parliament Building. The glass dome can be seen on top of the entrance section in classicist style.

Marble stairs take you to the elevated entrance of the Reichstag.

"Dem Deutschen Volke" - "The German People".

Fernsehturm and part of the Reichstag (parliament) building.

A glass elevator take people up from the entrance hall to the dome on the top.

When you are on the roof of the Reichstag, you can enter the spiral stairways of Norman Foster's glass dome. It has a diameter of 40m.

Norman Foster's glass dome.

The mirror-covered hub is the ventilation system. The glass dome provides both lightning and ventilation for the parliament building. Stale air is drawn upwards and escape to the highest point of the dome. A computer-controlled system ensures that the 360 glass panels don't dazzle the representatives in the parliamenary chambers below. There is a huge atrium inside with glass walls and a large eagle where the seat of the Bundestag is.

Chancellor's Office:

Chancellor's Office (Bundeskanzleramt), nicknamed the "washing machine", was built in 2001 as the office for the head of the German government. It is a huge building with a large atrium, which I planned to visit, but unfortunately didn't because of lack of time. The glass windows are bullet proofs and the atrium offers fine views of Berlin. There is a gallery of portraits of former chancellors inside. It was designed by the Berlin architects Axel Schultes and Charlotte Frank.

Chancellor's Office, at the time of my visit (2012) it was the office of Angela Merkel. The sides are 55m wide, the building is 8 times the size of the White House in Washington. The sculpture in front, in the Edenhof garden, by Eduardo Chillida, is simply called "Berlin".

Chancellor's Office from afar. Note the nice old fashioned street lights.

Marie-Elisabeth-Lüders-Haus and Paul-Löbe-Haus:

A walkway beneath two government buildings Marie-Elisabeth-Lüders-Haus and Paul-Löbe-Haus above River Spree.

Marie-Elisabeth-Lüders-Haus. This futuristic government building is situated next to Spree. It was built in 2003. It houses the government's scientific service center, including the parliament library. Stephan Braunfels was the architect.

Details of Marie-Elisabeth-Lüders-Haus.

Marie-Elisabeth-Lüders-Haus is connected with Paul-Löbe-Haus by a bridge.

Fernsehturm and Spree seen from the German parliament, behind Marie-Elisabeth-Lüders-Haus.

Paul-Löbe-Haus was built in 2001 in modernist style. It has 1 700 and was named after the former president Paul Löbe. Stephan Braunfels was the architect behind it, as well as the other building in the complex.

Paul-Löbe-Haus seen from the green lawn, next to the Reichstag.

The glass wall of Paul-Löbe-Haus, facing Chancellors Office.

Details of Paul-Löbe-Haus.

The bridge between the two buildings, actually two levels of skybridges.

Looking towards Potsdamer Platz.

The Carillion in Tiergarten, seen from the Reichstag.

Jakob-Kaiser-Haus was built in 2002 as part of the Bundestag.

The glass wall in front of Jakob-Kaiser-Haus, the text is the 19 first parts of the German basic law, Grundgesetz.

Simsonweg

This is a short alley for pedestrians that serves as a passage between the Government area and Brandenburger Tor.

Human sculptures and giant soap bubbles can be seen on Simsonweg, between the Reichstag and Brandenburger Tor.

An example of a skyline view from the Reichstag. You can watch more of the views here.

Some examples of how the area around the government buildings look after dark. You can see more in the Berlin by night section part 2.