Step behind the scenes

Explore the district of Kreuzburg, which has a history all of it’s own.

From being a hub of Berlin’s industrial development through the 1800′s, nearly 50% was destroyed during WWII. During the cold war it was surrounded on 3 sides by the wall and became a haven for artists, draft dodgers, punks, graffiti artists and turkish immigrant workers. Creative thinking of how to solve a housing crisis led to architectural contests creating some of the funkiest urban architecture to be seen in Berlin.

Kreuzburg is home to the East Side Gallery, a 1.3km section of the wall with 106 paintings from artists from all over the world, the Oberbaumbrücke, a favorite among the bridges in Berlin, and the “Baumhaus an der Mauer”, where a Turkish man built a house from scraps in a physical loophole in the Berlin Wall.  The Turkish presence in the area leads directly to nice fresh vegetable markets and a high availability of döner kebabs. Come with us and get away from the main sites and into the back streets!