Reichstag

The Reichstag building on the Spreebogen bend is the seat of the German Bundestag and one of the country's most layered political monuments. Completed in 1894 by Paul Wallot in a heavy Wilhelmine neo-Renaissance style, it survived the Reichstag fire of February 1933 — an arson whose true perpetrators remain historically contested — which the Nazis exploited as a pretext to suspend civil liberties overnight. After decades of disuse, stranded beside the Berlin Wall, the building was famously wrapped in silver fabric by Christo and Jeanne-Claude in 1995, drawing five million visitors in two weeks. Norman Foster's 1999 renovation added the signature glass cupola, whose mirrored cone and public spiral ramp were deliberately designed as a metaphor for democratic transparency. The rooftop terrace and cupola are free to visit with an advance online reservation, offering one of Berlin's best panoramic views over the government district at any hour.