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Berlin is one of the most influential centers in European politics and culture. The city serves as an important crossroads for the eastern EU members and is a main junction of national and international transportation. Berlin is a major tourist and shopping destination and is well known for its world-class convention venues and media outlets. It hosts some of the most prominent universities , research faculties, theatres and museums in Europe.

Berlin is subdivided into 12 boroughs (Bezirke in German, also sometimes called districts in English). Each borough is subdivided into a number of localities (Ortsteil in German, also sometimes called sub districts or neighbourhoods in English), which represent the traditional urbanised areas that inhabitants identify with. Some of these have been rearranged several times over the years. At present the city of Berlin consists of 96 such localities. The localities often consist of a number of city neighbourhoods (usually called Kiez in German) representing small residential areas.

Each borough is governed by a borough council (Bezirksamt) consisting of ten councillors (Stadträte) and a borough mayor (Bezirksbürgermeister). The borough council is elected by the borough assembly (Bezirksverordnetenversammlung). The boroughs of Berlin are not independent municipalities. The power of borough governments is limited and subordinate to the Senate of Berlin. The borough mayors form the Council of Mayors (Rat der Bürgermeister), led by the city's governing mayor (Regierender Bürgermeister), which advises the Senate.

The localities have no government bodies of their own, even though most of the localities have historic roots in older municipalities that predate the formation of Greater Berlin on 1 October 1920. The subsequent position of locality representative (Ortsvorsteher) was discontinued in favour of borough mayors.

For a map and a list of the current and former borough names, see Berlin's 2001 administrative reform. For a list of the city's current boroughs and localities, see Boroughs and localities of Berlin. For a table showing the population of Berlin's boroughs, see Berlin population statistics.

Berlin is noted for its numerous cultural institutions, some of which are famous even outside of Germany. In addition, cultural diversity and tolerance remain from the time when West Berlin took pride in its role as a "free city" with the motto "something for everyone." Its current situation and future prospects, however, are strongly influenced by the city's financial crisis, with talk of merging or closing opera companies and concerns about the cost of subsidies for cultural institutions.

Berlin offers one of the most diverse and vibrant nightlife scenes in Europe. After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 many buildings in the former city centre of East Berlin (today the district Mitte) were renovated. Many had not been rebuilt since World War II. Illegally occupied by young people, they became a fertile ground for all sorts of underground and counter-culture gatherings. It was also home to many nightclubs, including Tacheles, Techno clubs Tresor, WMF, Ufo and E-Werk.

Berlin's annual Carnival of Cultures, a multi-ethnic street parade, and Chistopher Street Day celebrations, Central Europe's largest gay-lesbian pride event, are openly supported by the city's government.*[1]**[2]. Berlin is also well-known for the techno carnival Loveparade.

Berlin has a rich art scene, and it is home to hundreds of art galleries. The city is host to the Art Forum annual international art fair. Despite the city's high unemployment levels, many young Germans and artists continue to settle in the city, and Berlin has established itself as an important centre of youth and pop culture in Europe.

Signs of this expanding role were the 2003 announcement that the annual Popkomm, Europe's largest music industry convention, would move to Berlin after 15 years in Cologne. Shortly thereafter, German MTV also decided to move its headquarters and main studios from Munich to Berlin. Universal Music opened its European headquarters on the banks of the River Spree in an area known as the mediaspree.

Berlin has a large number of museums. As early as 1841, the Museum Island—in the northern part of the Spree Island between the Spree and the Kupfergraben—was designated a “district dedicated to art and antiquities” by a royal decree. Subsequently, several museum buildings were constructed there. These were the Altes Museum (Old Museum) in the Lustgarten, and the Neues Museum (New Museum), Alte Nationalgalerie (Old National Gallery), Pergamon Museum, and Bode Museum at the far northern end of the island. While these buildings once housed distinct collections, the names of the buildings no longer necessarily correspond to the names of the collections they house.

For example, the Altes Museum and the Pergamon Museum together house the Collection of Classical Antiquities, [3] a collection of ancient art and artefacts. The Pergamon Museum also houses the world-renowned Museum of the Ancient Near East [4] and the Museum of Islamic Art [5].

The Egyptian Museum and Paypyrus Collection [6] is currently situated and on show on the upper floor of the Altes Museum, beside the Berliner Dom.

The Museum for Pre-and Early History remains at the Charlottenburg Palace until the Neues Museum is renovated. In the case of the Alte Nationalgalerie, [7] its collection of 19th-century painting and sculpture carries the same name as the building that houses it. However, the Bode Museum, which underwent extensive renovation during the early 2000s, will house the Sculpture Collection and Museum of Byzantine Art [8] and the Numismatic Collection [9] when it reopens in 2006.

Outside of the Museum Island, there is a wide variety of museums. The Gemäldegalerie[10] (Painting Gallery) focuses on the paintings of the "old masters" from the 13th to the 18th centuries, while the Neue Nationalgalerie [11] (New National Gallery, built by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe) specialises in 20th-century European painting. The Bauhaus Archive [12] is an architecture museum. The Jewish Museum Berlin [13] has a standing exhibition on 2,000 years of German-Jewish history. The Grunewald Hunting Lodge (Jagdschloss Grunewald) [14] contains a carefully chosen collection of paintings from the 15th to the 19th centuries. In Dahlem, there are several museums of world art and culture, such as the Museum of Indian Art [15], the Museum of East Asian Art [16], the Ethnological Museum [17], the Museum of European Cultures [18], as well as the Allied Museum [19] (a museum of the Cold War), the Brücke Museum [20] (an art museum), and the Domäne Dahlem [21] (an open-air agricultural museum. In Lichtenberg, on the grounds of the former East German Ministry for State Security (Stasi), stands the Stasi Museum [22] (German language). The Wall Museum, also known as Museum at Checkpoint Charlie [23], shows moments from the history of the divided Berlin.

Other museums in Berlin include the following:

• Archenhold Observatory (Archenhold-Sternwarte) [24]
• The Berggruen Collection (Picasso and his times) [25]
• Berlin State Gallery [26]
• Berlin Underground Society, offering tours and documentation of Berlin's subterranean structures [27]
• Berlin Wall Documentation Centre [28]
• Broehan Museum [29]
• Deutsche Guggenheim Museum [30]
• Gas Lamp Open-Air Museum, adjacent to S-Bahnhof Tiergarten (see section on Street lighting)[31]
• Gay Museum (Schwules Museum) [32]
• German Film Museum [33]
• German Museum of Technology in Kreuzberg, located at the site of an old freight rail yard [34]
• Hamburger Bahnhof: Museum of the Present, with exhibits of contemporary art [35]
• Museum of Natural History [36]
• Kaethe Kollwitz Museum [37]
• Museum of Mail and Telecommunication [38]
• Museum of Medical History [39]
• Prussian Palaces and Gardens in Berlin [40]
• Subway/Underground Museum [41]
• Vitra Design Museum [42]

Even though Berlin does have a number of impressive buildings from earlier centuries, the city's appearance today is mainly shaped by the key role it played in Germany's history in the 20th century. Each of the national governments based in Berlin — the 1871 German Empire, the Weimar Republic, Nazi Germany, East Germany, and now the reunified Germany — initiated ambitious construction programmes, each with its own distinctive character. Berlin was devastated by bombing raids during World War II, and many of the old buildings that escaped the bombs were eradicated in the 1950s and 1960s in both West and East. Much of this destruction was caused by overambitious architecture programmes, especially to build new residential or business quarters and main roads. It would not be an exaggeration to say that no other city in the world offers Berlin's unusual mix of architecture, especially 20th-century architecture. The city's tense and unique recent history has left it with a distinctive array of sights.

Not much is left of the Berlin Wall. The East Side Gallery in Friedrichshain near the Oberbaumbrücke ("Upper Turnpike Bridge") over the Spree preserves a portion of the Wall. Architectural styles still sometimes reveal whether one is in the former eastern or western part of the city. In the eastern part, many Plattenbauten can be found, reminders of Eastern Bloc ambitions to create complete residential areas with fixed ratios of shops, kindergartens and schools. Another difference between former east and west is in the design of little red and green men on pedestrian crossing lights (Ampelmännchen in German); the eastern versions received an opt-out during the standardisation of road traffic signs after re-unification, and have survived to become a popular icon in tourist products. They are however starting to appear in western Berlin too.

[[Image:Berliner dom and spree.jpg|thumb|150px|left|The Berliner Dom along the Spree

• The Brandenburg Gate and Unter den Linden, symbols of Berlin, Prussia, and now Germany. The Brandenburg Gate appears on German Euro coins.
• Reichstag building, the old and new seat of the German parliament, renovated by Sir Norman Foster. Features a glass dome in which you can walk around and watch the parliamentarians from above.
• Gendarmenmarkt, arguably the most beautiful square in Berlin, surrounded by two famous cathedrals and the concert hall.
• Berlin victory column, monument to Prussia's victories.
• The Berliner Dom, an historic cathedral. A large crypt houses the remains of the Prussian royal family.
• Cathedral of St. Hedwig (St.-Hedwigs-Kathedrale)
• Nikolaiviertel with the Nikolaikirche an historical city core, founded in the 13th century.
• Schloss Bellevue, now the residence of the German President
• Schloss Charlottenburg, the largest surviving historical palace in Berlin
• The Neptunbrunnen, a famous fountain in Berlin Mitte.
• Tiergarten is Berlin's largest park and a masterpiece of park design.
• Britzer Garten with the largest sundial in Europe and Volkspark Mariendorf

Sightseeing in the former East Berlin

• The Palast der Republik ("Palace of the Republic"), the former East German parliament building and civic centre. It is seen by some as ugly, although former East Berliners remember with affection restaurants, shops, clubs, and the concerts that took place there in the 1980s. Although it has some significance as a historical tourist attraction, the German Parliament voted for its demolition which started in February of 2006.

The Palast der Republik is built on the site of the Berlin City Palace, which was demolished in 1950 by the Communists. The Palace Square was renamed Marx-Engels-Platz at the same time.

• The Fernsehturm (TV tower), the highest building in the city at 368 m (1207 ft), and the second largest structure in Europe (after Moscow's Ostankino Tower). The Fernsehturm is easily visible throughout most of the central districts of Berlin, and boasts one of the fastest lifts in Europe, at 45 metres per minute (148 ft/min)
• Alexanderplatz, formerly East Berlin's major shopping centre, and home to the Centrum-Warenhaus, which was the DDR's department store. It is now a thoroughly Westernized shopping centre, belonging to the Kaufhof chain.
• East Side Gallery a memorial for freedom based on the last parts of the Berlin Wall
• Rotes Rathaus (the Red City Hall), historic town hall famous for its distinctive red-brick architecture
• Rathaus Schöneberg with John-F.-Kennedy-Platz, whence John F. Kennedy made his famous "Ich bin ein Berliner!" speech.
• Checkpoint Charlie, remains and a museum about one of the crossing points (albeit restricted to non-Germans and Allied forces) in the Berlin Wall. The museum, which is a private venture, exhibits interesting material about people who devised ingenious plans to leave the East, but is controversial in the city for its propagandistic Cold War didactics and publicity stunts that many consider tasteless.

Sights of modern Berlin

• Potsdamer Platz, an entire quarter built from scratch after 1995. The historic Potsdamer Platz was not rebuilt as it was divided by the Wall. A must-see for fans of modern city planning. Just to the West of Potsdamer Platz is the Kulturforum, which houses the Gemäldegalerie, and is flanked by the Neue Nationalgalerie and the Philharmonie.
• Hackescher Markt, Spandauer Vorstadt and Scheunenviertel, the home to fashionable culture, with countless small clothing shops, clubs, bars, and galleries. This includes the New Synagogue area in Oranienburger Straße (originally built in the 1860s in Moorish style with a large golden dome and reconstructed in 1993), and the Hackesche Höfe, a conglomeration of several buildings around several courtyards, nicely reconstructed after 1996. This area was a centre of Jewish culture up until the 1930s.
  • Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, a Holocaust memorial opened in May 2005.