Reichstag Building
This massive grey sandstone edifice facing the Platz der Republik is the seat of the German Bundestag — and the country's foremost national symbol. Architect Paul Wallot designed it in the Neo-Renaissance style; construction ran from 1884 to 1894 on the west bank of the Spree in the Tiergarten district. The building housed the parliament of the German Empire and later the Weimar Republic. The arson fire of 1933 and the Second World War left it a gutted shell; it was rebuilt in modernised form in the 1960s. Between 1995 and 1999 Norman Foster overhauled the interior as a permanent parliamentary chamber, crowning it with the walkable glass dome that has since become one of Berlin's defining landmarks. Nearly three million visitors come here each year, making it the most-visited parliament building in the world — reason enough to slow down and look at the details everyone hurries past.
Germany · 13 The overlooked corners inside
The overlooked corners inside
Corner Tower Keystones
Each of the Reichstag's four corner towers carries a keystone (Schlussstein) set at the crown of the curved arch — the structural lock that holds an arch together. Sculptor Wilhelm Widemann (1856–1915) carved this set in limestone between 1890 and 1894. Every keystone bears a carved face, some male, some female: the element that is architecturally indispensable has been turned, in classical sculptural language, into a pair of eyes watching the plaza below. You have to stand at the corner of the building and look up to find them.
Sources: wikidata.org
Spiritual and Practical Forces of the Modern State (sixteen corner figures)
Look up at the four corner towers and you will count four sandstone figures on each, sixteen in total, collectively titled "Spiritual and Practical Forces of the Modern State" (Geistige und praktische Kräfte des modernen Staats). These are not emperors or generals — they are a catalogue of imperial productivity: the northwest tower represents commerce and shipping, heavy industry, light industry, and electrical engineering; the southwest tower covers farming, livestock, viticulture, and brewing; the northeast tower takes education, teaching, fine art, and literature; the southeast tower presents land and sea military power, the law, and statecraft. All sixteen were carved in stone by multiple German sculptors between 1891 and 1894.
Sources: wikidata.org · de.wikipedia.org
West Portal Heraldic-Tree Reliefs
Step up to the main west entrance and look at the stone panels flanking the doorway: these are the so-called Stammbaumreliefs, or genealogical-tree reliefs. The left panel shows an oak tree representing northern Germany; the right panel uses a spruce for the south. Spreading across the branches are the coats of arms of the twenty-five founding states of the German Empire, and at the top of each tree spreads a crowned eagle. Both panels were carved in stone by Berlin sculptor Otto Lessing (1846–1912) to designs by architect Paul Wallot, and were completed between 1893 and 1894.
Sources: wikidata.org · de.wikipedia.org
"Peaceful Labour under the Protection of Imperial Power"
The sculpture group titled Arbeiten des Friedens unter dem Schutz der Reichsmacht — "Peaceful Labour under the Protection of Imperial Power" — stops you first with sheer scale: the figures alone stand six metres tall. Like the rest of the Reichstag's exterior decoration, the group is carved in sandstone and was completed in 1893 as part of Wallot's layered allegorical programme. The title itself is a condensed statement of late-nineteenth-century imperial self-image: peaceful work, held safe by the force of the Empire.
Dem Deutschen Volke inscription
Stand in front of the main west entrance and look up at the architrave: sixteen metres of capital letters spell out DEM DEUTSCHEN VOLKE — "To the German People." Each letter is sixty centimetres tall, cast from melted-down cannon barrels in a typeface designed specifically for the inscription. It went up in 1916, and looks as though it could always have been there — but it was the endpoint of a quarrel that dragged on for more than two decades.
Sources: de.wikipedia.org
Reichstag Dome
Step onto this glass dome and the chamber of the German Bundestag lies directly below your… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
Exterior and the Zimmermann Dome
The heavy stone exterior suggests a building of entirely traditional construction, but thi… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
Sources: de.wikipedia.org
Interior Facilities
The building completed in 1894 was technically ambitious for its era: it had its own power… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
Sources: de.wikipedia.org
Portico and Pediment
Stand back from the main west entrance and look at the triangular pediment (Giebel): the i… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
Sources: de.wikipedia.org
Main Portal Heraldic-Tree Reliefs
The two heraldic-tree reliefs flanking the main west doors are the densest node of the bui… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
Sources: de.wikipedia.org
Corner Tower Sandstone Allegories
Each of the four corner towers carries four sandstone allegorical figures on its outer wal… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
Sources: de.wikipedia.org
Bismarck National Monument
A Bismarck National Monument (Bismarck-Nationaldenkmal) once stood directly in front of th… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
Sources: de.wikipedia.org
Der Bevölkerung (courtyard installation)
In the Reichstag's inner courtyard is an installation worth seeking out. Conceptual artist… 🔒 Unlock the full guide
Sources: de.wikipedia.org
FAQ
What overlooked corners are worth seeing inside Reichstag Building?
Corner Tower Keystones, Spiritual and Practical Forces of the Modern State (sixteen corner figures), West Portal Heraldic-Tree Reliefs and more — 13 spots in all, each with sources and a guide in your language to read or listen to on the spot.
Is the Reichstag Building guide free?
The first 5 spots are free to read; the other 8 unlock with a one-time purchase (not a subscription).