Neue Wache Historic Mitte

This temple-like neoclassical structure (1818) was Karl Friedrich Schinkel’s first important Berlin commission. Originally a royal guardhouse and a memorial to the victims of the Napoleonic Wars, it is now Germany’s central memorial for the victims of war and dictatorship. Its sombre and austere interior is dominated by Käthe Kollwitz’ heart-wrenching Pietà-style sculpture of a mother helplessly cradling her dead soldier son. Buried beneath are the remains of an unknown soldier and a concentration camp victim along with soil from WWII battlefields and concentration camps.