Gendarmenmarkt Berlin

Gendarmenmarkt is widely considered Berlin's most beautiful square, an ensemble of three monumental buildings from the 18th century arranged around a rectangular open plaza in the Mitte district, south of Unter den Linden. The square was laid out in the 1680s under the Great Elector and reached its present form under Frederick the Great. The central building is the Konzerthaus (Concert Hall), a neoclassical theatre designed by Karl Friedrich Schinkel and completed in 1821, now home to the Konzerthausorchester Berlin. Flanking it symmetrically on north and south are the Französischer Dom (French Cathedral) and the Deutscher Dom (German Cathedral), both completed in the 1780s with matching domed towers to create a unified architectural composition. The two cathedral buildings are not active churches in the liturgical sense: the Deutscher Dom houses a permanent exhibition on German democracy and parliament history, and the Französischer Dom functions partly as a museum on the Huguenot community that settled in Berlin after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes — the square's name and the French Cathedral reflect this history. The tower of the Französischer Dom can be climbed for elevated views over the square and Mitte rooftops. The square is one of Berlin's primary upscale event spaces: the Gendarmenmarkt Christmas market, held from late November through late December, is Berlin's most elegant seasonal market, with artisan stalls in the shadow of the illuminated cathedral domes. In summer, outdoor concerts and film screenings take place in the square.