Germany offers an impressive variety of cultural riches: From stunning architecture, to classical and modern music concerts, internationally acclaimed museums, world-famous art and exciting events - connoisseurs visiting Germany face a tantalizing dilemma: where to begin?
Architecture
The combination of the old and the new in German architecture offers eye-popping cultural experiences, like the fascinating Sanssouci Palace in Potsdam, the Bauhaus in Dessau with its cutting-edge architecture, or Cologne Cathedral that perfectly exemplifies pure High Gothic style. In Berlin, the excitement of rebuilding and unifying the city has drawn today’s master architects/builders from Renzo Piano to Daniel Libeskind, designer of the Jewish museum.
Music
German classical music has a legacy that is second to none: Ludwig van Beethoven, Johann Sebastian Bach, Robert Schumann, Felix Mendelssohn, Johannes Brahms and Richard Wagner are just a handful of the many great German composers whose music is performed throughout the world. But Germany's musical life is thriving in other respects as well: a wide range of dynamic modern music can be heard at hundreds of jazz clubs, musical theaters and pop/rock events.
Baden-Baden: The Festspielhaus, a neoclassic train station transformed into a 2,500-seat opera house, is the scene for some 80 annual performances of leading opera, ballet and concert companies.
Locator: 70 miles west of Stuttgart
Berlin: Deutsche Oper, Staatsoper unter den Linden and Komische Oper all have their own outstanding ensembles and orchestras and offer remarkable programs of opera classics, ballet, concerts, festivals and special events.
Stuttgart: Visit the Stuttgart State Theatre, which stages innovative drama, the award-winning and internationally acclaimed State Opera or the famous Stuttgart Ballet, for an exquisite experience that captures all your senses.
Museums
Concerning the amount of museums at a German destination, Berlin has the top position with a number of 170 institutions. Unique museum ensembles such as Berlin’s Museum Island including the Pergamon museum, famous in general for its enormous collection of antiquities and particular the Pergamon Altar, a temple that occupies an entire city block and which was transported stone by stone from the ancient Turkish city of Pergamum.
The newly restored Dresden has regained its reputation as a perfectly gorgeous German city and its Zwinger Palace contains the Old Masters Picture Gallery and the Porcelain Museum, while gold, silver and jewelry are on display in the Grünes Gewölbe. The first porcelain in Europe was produced at the 300-year-old porcelain factory in Meissen and exported around the world. A spectacular wealth and variety of exhibits illustrates the history of porcelain manufacturing at the museum. Munich’s Deutsches Museum is often referred to as “Germany’s Smithsonian,” and Hamburg’s emigration museum ‘BallinStadt’, opened in 2007 on the former grounds of the “Emigrant’s halls”.
Art
The art scene is alive and vital with over 5,000 art and exhibit houses throughout the country. Munich’s Pinakothek complex features one of the most significant art museums in the world, the Alte Pinakothek, where you can find more Rubens than in any other museum. The Stuttgart State Gallery houses one of Germany’s foremost art collections and the museums along the banks of River Main in Frankfurt are always worth a visit for all art lovers as are some of the world's most important art fairs, Art Cologne and Art Forum, Berlin. The Museums Island in Berlin offers amazing museums, exhibitions and collections all year round.
Germany’s performing art scene dazzles of choices. Outstanding venues include the impressive Festspielhaus in Baden-Baden with some 80 annual performances of leading opera, ballet and concert companies. In Berlin, the Deutsche Oper, Staatsoper unter den Linden and Komische Oper all have their own outstanding ensembles and orchestras and offer remarkable programs of opera classics, ballet, concerts, festivals and special events. On top of it, there is an endless choice of exciting events, such as the famous Wagner Opera Festival in Bayreuth or the Bach Festival in Leipzig .
Events
Bayreuth: Wagner Opera Festival, an annual salute to the great composer. (July 25 – Aug 28, 2008)
Locator: 50 miles northeast of Nuremberg
Leipzig: Bach Festival, presenting the immortal work of this musical master, once the cantor of St. Thomas' church, and including performances of today's St. Thomas boys choir. (June 13 -22, 2008)
Locator: 115 miles south of Berlin
Bonn: Beethoven Festival with more than 60 concerts of international orchestras, meaningful ensembles and prominent soloists, as well as an extensive accompanying program are performed at more than 20 venues in Bonn and the region. (tba)
Locator: 19 miles southeast of Cologne
Würzburg: Mozart Festival "Mozart & London" is a themed concert series which intertwines Mozart’s music and vibrant European cities. The concerts will take place in historical venues such as the Residence Palace, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. (May 30 – June 29, 2008)
Locator: 175 miles northwest of Munich, 75 miles east of Frankfurt
Potsdam: Every August, Sanssouci Palace, a world heritage site since 1990, hosts the exhilarating “Night of Palaces” event, where visitors can stroll through the world renowned illuminated palaces and gardens and experience Prussian and German history, at first hand. (August 26, 2008)
Munich: Oktoberfest, the most famous of Germany's annual beer festival. (Sep 20 – Oct 5, 2008)
Nuremberg: At Christmas time, Germany really is magical with its over 2,500 Christmas markets allover the country, with fairy lights and romantic little huts in beautiful settings. The amazing Nuremberg Christmas Market is the largest of Germany's Christmas markets, with an over 300 year old tradition (Nov 28 – Dec 24 2008).
Locator: 100 miles northwest of Munich
Berlin: On the New Year's Eve Party at the Brandenburg Gate locals and visitors from all over the world welcome the New Year with a gigantic street party. (Dec 31, 2008)
Capitals and Elsewhere
Heidelberg: Celebrated in The Student Prince, romantic Heidelberg is the oldest university town in Germany. Its world-famous and majestic Heidelberg Castle, built between the 13th and 17th centuries, towers above the town, while in the city is the palatial Residenz Museum.
Locator: 50 mi. south of Frankfurt
Regensburg: This most perfectly preserved Romanesque and Gothic city in Germany is located on the Danube, and two of its noblest landmarks are the Stone Bridge and St. Peter’s Cathedral. In warm weather, cruises go to Walhalla, a neoclassical temple bankrolled by King Ludwig I.
Locator: 80 mi. north of Munich
Rothenburg o.d. Tauber: Perhaps the most enchanting town along the “Romantic Road,” medieval Rothenburg offers a walk through history signposted by old houses, towns and gateways. Among its treasured sites are the frescoed, 16th century Altes Rathaus (town hall), the Altar of the Holy Blood in St. Jacob’s church, the Reichsstadt Museum in the Dominican convent.
Locator: 110 mi. southeast of Frankfurt
Regal sites
Füssen: On outskirts of town in a magnificent location, the “Mad Prince” Ludwig II built Neuschwanstein, a Disney-like Bavarian castle with a riot of turrets with a fantasy interior.
Locator: 80 mi. southwest of Munich; 60 mi. from Innsbruck
Potsdam: Potsdam is known for its royal gardens and palaces, particularly Castle Sanssouci, with its elaborate rooms in Rococo style. Another royal stop is the Schlosshotel Cecilienhof, the former residence of Crown Prince Hohenzollern; Churchill, Truman and Stalin met here to sign the Potsdam Treaty.
Locator: 16 miles southwest of Berlin
Königstein: The Königstein Fortress is actually a walled town built atop a flat mountain, a day’s excursion from Dresden. For the most special experience, walk the perimeter of the castle walls.
Locator: 20 mi. south of Dresden; 80 mi. from Prague
Chiemsee: Located in the Bavarian Alps, this beautiful lake setting is home to the fantastic Herrenchiemsee Palace, begun (and never completed) by Ludwig II in the 19th century. Only the center of the palace was finished, yet it is one of the grandest of Ludwig’s architectural creations. Designed to copy Versailles, the palace’s most splendid room is the Great Hall of Mirrors.
Locator: 53 mi. from Munich; 40 mi. from Salzburg, accessible by lake steamer.
Würzburg: Along the "Romantic Road" the Episcopal princes’ Residenz is an 18th century architectural gem, one of the finest and most unusual Baroque palaces in Europe.
Locator: 70 mi. east of Frankfurt
UNESCO World Cultural (32 sites nationwide)
Lübeck, Stralsund, Wismar: A trio of northern Hanseatic Cities whose rich artistic patrimonies were lavishly underwritten by their wealthy merchant citizens.
Locators: Lübeck, 40 mi. from Hamburg; Stralsund, 170 mi. from Berlin; Wismar, 80 mi. from Hamburg
Bamberg, a gem of a Franconian city, including architectural treasures such as the magnificient 13th century Imperial Cathedral and two Episcopal palaces; more than 1,000 of its buildings are listed as historical monuments.
Locator: 130 mi. east of Frankfurt
Martin Luther Memorials in Eisleben, where Luther was born, and Wittenberg, whose Melanchton-House and palace church illustrate the importance of the Reformation.
Locators: Eisleben, 130 mi. from Berlin; Wittenberg, 70 mi. from Berlin
The Museums Island in Berlin with its five different museum buildings which illustrates the development of a modern museum design.
Locators: Berlin, City Center
Dresden Elbe Valley, the 12-mile long valley that stretches from the Ubigau Palace in the northwest to the Pillnitz Palace and the Elbe Island in the southeast of Dresden.
Locator: Pillnitz, 120 mi. from Berlin; Elbe Island, 90 mi. from Berlin
More information
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