National Gallery Berlin

The Neue Nationalgalerie at Berlin's Kulturforum is Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's final major building, opened in 1968 and a landmark of architectural late modernism. Its defining feature — a square steel roof canopy resting on just eight slender perimeter columns, spanning nearly 50 meters without internal supports — remains a structural tour de force. During Berlin's division the museum served as a cultural anchor in isolated West Berlin, its holdings of Picasso, Beckmann, and Kirchner offering a direct counterpoint to East Berlin's Staatliche Museen. A meticulous restoration by David Chipperfield Architects, completed in 2021, renewed the building's fabric while preserving every detail of Mies's original vision. The glass upper hall generates a striking play of light and space even on days without a temporary exhibition, with open views toward the Tiergarten.