Karl-Marx-Allee

Formerly the Stalin-Allee, the Karl-Marx-Allee is Berlin's answer to the Champs-Élysées. Conceived shortly after the founding of the German Democratic Republic, the style is similar to the monumental neoclassical style popular in Stalin's Soviet Union. Oscar Niemeyer famously said that Stalin-Allee was the only good architecture built in Germany after the war. Later additions were built in the typical East German "Plattenbau" style. The whole street is still very impressive today. The two towers at the Frankfurter Tor consciously mirror the two domes at the Gendarmenmarkt. Hermann Henselmann (1905-1995) was the architect for the ensemble at Frankfurter Tor.

A walk down this boulevard today will take you back to the GDR period with its vast array of 'Socialist Classicism' architecture. There are also many information panels along the footpath which provides background information on the various buildings.

Good to have USSR era building left

Authentic East German architecture

A wide, impressive avenue of DDR era buildings. It would have been a stunning sight when it was first built and it is being restored and improved now.

Beautiful wide streets with grand vintage buildings and extra wide sidewalks for a nice walk in the evening. The street lights make it even better.

It's very fun to walk along the nearly 2km long boulevard with stately, Soviet era buildings. It's very grand. Great for architecture buffs. Check all the details on the buildings. Unfortunately not many cafes or restaurants along here.

Worth getting up if traveling on the U-Bahn line to walk between a stop or two. Beautiful and interesting architecture, shows the difference coming from West Berlin.

This is a street that you should come to for a look, but don't expect anything huge to jump out at you or make you gaze in wonder. It is more about experiencing the uniformity and greyness of this part of the city before the wall came down. These were meant to be some of the plusher flats available but they were in huge blocks on a massive road. This area seems ...... Poorer... than other bits of the city. Definitely worth a look though and off some off the side streets there is some cool up and coming areas developing.

Karl Marx Allee was somewhere I just HAD to visit. I am a huge fan of history and I especially love Soviet and Communist history, so when I was heading to Berlin this was near the top of my to-do list. The Allee IS the sight, this is the main thing you come to see - the buildings. The whole area is constructed in a typical old Soviet style, the sort of which I had only seen in books. This means lots of angles, lots of symmetry... hard rock and the like. Highly unique and very striking! There is a great statue of Karl Marx a little way down as well which is great to see and to take a photo with. Another of the highlight here is the famous Cafe Moskau. It has a sputnik on the roof, you cannot miss it! When we were there it just so happened that there was a beer festival happening as well! A huge, international, beer festival at that! It was a pleasant surpise! This is a fantastic walk with a lot of history to it. It's nice just to walk along and think about the past. As long as you don't mind a rather long trip, this is a must!