For nearly 28 years, the Berlin Wall was one of the iconic symbols of the Cold War. Seperating East Germany from the West, the Berlin Wall covered 96 miles of ground and featured 8 border crossings, including the famous Checkpoint Charlie, seen later in this gallery. Officials estimated that 125 were killed trying to escape over the Berlin Wall to the West, however the true number is likely significantly higher. In November, 1989, the East German government announced that they would no longer restrict travel to the West, and triumphant crowds poured over to freedom. The wall came down in pieces, some large, some small, and today only small sections of the Berlin Wall remain intact.

Only three sections of the Berlin Wall remain standing, including this section near the Oberbaumbrucke known as the East Side Gallery. None of these sections reflect the Berlin Wall's original appearence, but the East Side Gallery is a 1.3 mile long section memorialized with artwork as a tribute to freedom. This section of the wall features 106 individual paintings and is considered one of the largest open-air art galleries in the world. This image shows one of the unique panels in detail.

A closeup of a small section of the Berlin Wall, as featured on display at a museum adjacent to Checkpoint Charlie. Graffiti has become something of an art form using the Berlin Wall as a palatte of freedom. Considering the East German's perspective of living in fear with no freedom of expression or artistic interpretation, grafitti takes on a new meaning here than in the United States. The grafitti on this section of the wall is so deep that you can literally feel the decades of history building up on the paint itself.

A view of the front of the Altes Museum, on Berlin's Museum Island, an area listed as a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site in 1999. One of the museum's most famous pieces is the original bust of Queen Nefertifi. The Museum also features original art from Monet, Renoir, Degas, and Cezanne.

The star attraction at Berlin's Altes Museum is the original bust of Nefertiti. Nefertiti was the wife of the Egyptian Pharaoh Amenhotep IV, and more famously the mother-in-law of the Pharoah Tutankhamun. This bust of one of the most replicated works of Ancient Egypt. Just recently, Zahi Hawass, Egypt's famous antiquities chief, said he will fight to return the ancient bust to Egypt for display at the Grand Museum, opening in 2012 near the Great Pyramids of Giza. It is at the top of his list of antiquities to be returned to Egypt, along with the Rosetta Stone at London's British Museum. The Berlin Museum maintains that the bust is too fragile to travel and is more secure in Europe.

Berlin's Pergamon Musuem is one of the most unique in the world, featuring enclosures containing reconstruction of parts of ancient cities, including the legendary Pergomon Altar, the Market Gate of Miletus and the Ishtar Gate. These archeological wonders were so large that the museum itself was constructed around these relics to fit them within her walls. The Pergomon Altar is featured later in this gallery. The Market Gate from Miletus is a facade from a Roman town in Asia Minor and towers more than 52 feet high. The Ishtar Gate dates from the sixth century BC, featuring large blue ceramic tiles which have held up remarkably well considering their origin in antiquity. The Pergamon is one of the world's most unique living museums, and is a must-see for any visitor to Berlin.

The star attraction of the Pergamon Museum is the Pergamon Altar, constructed by the Greeks dating back to the second century BC. Sections of the ancient structure were shipped intact to Germany at the end of the nineteenth century, and it was reconstructed inside this museum which was designed around the Altar itself. It is one of the few archeological wonders of the world that you can actually climb up and explore. Note the mosaic on the lower left corner of the image, shown in detail on the next page.

One of the most striking sections of the Pergamon Altar is the Pergamon Frieze. This ancient work of art was painstakingly reassembled, and shows the struggle between the Olympic Gods against the Titans. The reconstruction is literally three-dimensional, with sections of the frieze set up front as much as one foot from the background of the wall.

Built at the turn of the 19th century, the Berliner Dom (or Berlin Cathedral) is Berlin's neoclassical icon designed to rival St Peter's Basilica in Vatican City. The building was seriously damaged by the Allies during World War II, and was not reopened for public use until 1993. The Church on the River Spree has a dome spanning 73 meters with sweeping views which can be reached by climbing 270 steps.

Classic meets the future in this view of the neoclassical Berliner Dom with the Berlin Radio tower in the background. Although the tower looks modern in contrast, it was originally built in 1926 for the German Radio Exhibition. By today's standards it is a relatively modest 492 feet high, but when it was opened some eighty years ago, it was an architectural sensation. Today it remains one of the major landmarks of Berlin.

The Funkturm Berlin (or Radio Tower Berlin) is now a protected monument. The top of the Radio Tower features a two story overhang containing a restaurant with sweeping views of Berlin. There is also a viewing platform. In 1935, the first recurring television program in the world was broadcast from this tower. In 1963, a higher tower was built nearby, and since that date, only police radio transmissions and mobile phone signals have been broadcast from the Funkturm.

Berlin opened an outdoor public memorial to the victims of Holocaust in 2005. The memorial is comprised of 2711 concrete columns of various heights on various levels of terrain. A visitor walking through the memorial might feel disoriented, invisible and helpless, all part of the impact chosen by the architect, Peter Eisenman. The memorial covers an entire city block, and is within a short distance of both the Brandenburg Gate and the site of the razed Reich Chancellery, where Hitler originally plotted the extermination of the Jews. The memorial was controversial from the start, from the design to the location to the public nature of the display. Even just two years before it opened, construction was delayed when it was learned that the German chemical company contracted to provide an anti-graffiti coating for the concrete blocks had ties to a pesticide firm that made cyanide gas tablets for the concentration camps during the Holocaust. The company repented, the site was completed, and today it is a chilling and compelling memorial to the tragedy of the holocaust.

Built in the late 1800's, the Kaiser Wilhelm Church was built in the neo-romanesque style of many German churchs and was an impressive structure. The church was destroyed by the British during a boming raid in 1943 by the Royal Air Force. All that remains are the ruins of the belfry, now known as der Hohle Zahn, or the hollow tooth. After the war, many designs were considered, including leveling the old church or building a new church around it. The decision was made to leave the church as it was, and build a new structure adjacent to it. The original church stands in ruins on the Breitscheidplatz as a chilling memorial to the futility of war.

German's are famous for their Barrel Organs, which are small portable organs that are played mechanically by turning a handle on the side of the instrument. Similar to a player piano, the barrel organ has a perforated paper roll inside that generates the sound and music. If you are lucky, you might find an organ grinder with a small monkey in tow!

Berlin is known as one of the cultural capitals of Europe, from fashion and art to entertainment, dining and nightlife. Here, a hostess updates the menu board on an outdoor cafe fronting Checkpoint Charlie.

Checkpoint Charlie was the historic border crossing point between East and West Berlin from 1961 to 1989. There were eight border crossings through the Berlin Wall, but Checkpoint Charlie was the only border crossing point for the Allies, foreigners, and officials of the German government. Often, Soviet and American tanks stood face to face at this infamous site. Today, the checkpoint is surrounded by shops, restaurants and museums, and seems quite small in its current incarnation.