Potsdamer Platz is one of the most popular attractions of the New Berlin. With its mix of restaurants, shopping opportunities, theatre and cinemas, both Berliners and tourists are drawn in to pass the time. The former Postdamer Platz is only a small part of the site now bearing its name.
The original square was a crossroads which, after the building of the train station Potsdamer Bahnhof, became one of the busiest junctions in Europe and a synonym for the pace of life in the capital. The square was badly damaged in the Second World War; consequently the junction of the American, British and Soviet sectors, and cut through by the Wall, the wasteland decayed into a no man's land in the heart of the city.
After the Fall of the Wall the area around Potsdamer Platz became the biggest building site in Europe. Between 1993 and 1998, a completely new quarter arose on the land owned by Daimler, with office buildings, shops, hotels, apartments and restaurants as well as the Theater am Potsdamer Platz and a casino. The 22-story debis-Haus was designed by Renzo Piano: its atrium, boasting cathedral-like dimensions, contains Jean Tinguely's machine sculpture "Meta-Maxi". Next to this are the Potsdamer Platz Arkaden - a mall with numerous shops. In the year 2000, the Sony Center opened on Kemperplatz. Seven buildings surround the forum, which is conceived as a light-flooded arena with a tented roof. The futuristic building also houses the Filmhaus with the Filmmuseum, the cinemas Arsenal and CineStar and an IMAX film theatre, as well as restaurants. Until building work began on the new Potsdamer Platz, the Hotel Esplanade was a solitary ruin in the former wasteland between East and West Berlin. In a spectacular feat of engineering, the Breakfast Room and the Emperors' Room were integrated into the Sony Center. The neo-baroque Emperors' Room, weighing 1,300 tonnes, was lifted onto air cushions and moved around 70 metres to its present position. It is now a restaurant.
In the red clinker-clad Kollhoff building, the express elevator - the fastest in Europe - leads to a panorama platform with breathtaking views over the whole area (closed until May 2010). Early in 2004, the noble Beisheim Centerwas opened at Lenné-Dreieck. The complex of hotels, offices and residential units reminds of early modern American skycrapers. The nearby Delbrück Haus is designed by architect Hans Kollhoff.

Potsdamer Platz in 360°- View at