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State Council Building of the GDR

State Council Building of the GDR

Highlight • Historical Site

State Council Building of the GDR

Recommended by 183 hikers out of 190

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Location: Berlin, Germany

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Best Hikes to State Council Building of the GDR

4.7

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1. Friedrichs Bridge – View of the Bode Museum loop from Jannowitzbrücke

5.90km

01:31

30m

Easy hike. Great for any fitness level. Easily-accessible paths. Suitable for all skill levels.

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Easy

4.7

(15)

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2. Friedrichs Bridge – View of the Bode Museum loop from Moritzplatz

8.61km

02:12

40m

Moderate hike. Good fitness required. Easily-accessible paths. Suitable for all skill levels.

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Moderate

5.0

(1)

hikers

3. Gendarmenmarkt – Berlin TV Tower (Fernsehturm) loop from Stadtmitte

5.24km

01:21

20m

Easy hike. Great for any fitness level. Easily-accessible paths. Suitable for all skill levels.

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Easy

Tips

Jknord

July 4, 2020

The State Council building is the former official seat of the State Council of the GDR. Built in the years 1962-1964 by Roland Korn and Hans-Erich Bogatzky in the style of modernism, it was the first new government building in the city center after the Second World War. An outstanding feature of the building is the Portal IV (1706 by J.F. Eosander von Göthe) of the Berlin City Palace, which was blown up in 1950, and was inserted into the facade. This was inserted into the front of the new building because Karl Liebknecht had proclaimed the Socialist Republic from his balcony on November 9, 1918.

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Paul

August 26, 2022

Headquarters of the GDR government (Honecker)
The State Council building at Schloßplatz 1 in Berlin's Mitte district is the former official seat of the State Council of the GDR. Built between 1962 and 1964 by Roland Korn and Hans Erich Bogatzky in the modernist style, it was the first new government building in the city center after the Second World War. The historic portal IV of the Berlin Palace, which was blown up in 1950, is built into the facade of the three-storey steel skeleton building, which is clad with gray sandstone and red rhyolite (Löbejüner porphyry). The monument has been home to the European School of Management and Technology since 2006.
Text/Source: Wikipedia
de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staatsratsgeb%C3%A4ude#:~:text=The%20State Council building%C3%A4ude%20am%20Schlo%C3%9Fplatz%201%20in%20Berlin%20district, first%20new government building %20in%20the%20city center%20after%20the%20Second%20World War.

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Wandertom 👣

March 15, 2024

@Paul Mura
Your claim that the State Council building was the "headquarters of the GDR government" is wrong. The headquarters of the GDR government, i.e. the Council of Ministers of the GDR, was the "Altes Stadthaus" on Molkenmarkt. This building was the official residence of the Prime Ministers of the GDR from Otto Grotewohl to the last incumbent Lothar de Maizière. As the users before me have already correctly informed, the State Council building was the seat of the collective head of state of the GDR, the so-called State Council.

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Turbo

April 20, 2018

Now houses an international management school

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Claudia Hinkelhuber

September 13, 2020

The building can be visited on occasion of the Open Monument Day. Is very recommendable! (see my photos). The foyer and inner courtyard are open to the public at all times.

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SWE

November 16, 2020

The State Council building at Schloßplatz 1 in Berlin's Mitte district is the former official seat of the State Council of the GDR.

After the death of the first and only President of the GDR, Wilhelm Pieck, the State Council of the GDR was created in 1960 as the successor to the office of President and was officially the highest state body in the Republic. The state structure of the GDR was thus further adapted to the Soviet model.

The former Portal IV of the Berlin Palace is asymmetrically integrated into the façade. It was not until September 1950 that the SED's Marx-Engels-Lenin Institute (later "IML") reminded the party leadership that Karl Liebknecht had proclaimed the "socialist republic" "from the balcony" of Portal IV during the November Revolution.

In truth, on November 9th, after an initial proclamation in front of the castle, Liebknecht allowed himself to be led inside to the floor-to-ceiling central window of the columned hall above Portal IV. From there Kaiser Wilhelm II announced Germany's entry into the First World War in his second balcony speech on August 1, 1914 and initiated the policy of truce. Although Liebknecht chose this symbolic location to announce a new era, SED propaganda stuck to the claim that he spoke from the balcony of the Gobelin Gallery on the second floor. As a result, characteristic fragments of Portal IV were saved from being blown up in February 1951, so that they could be reused in a representative building later to be constructed as the "Liebknecht Portal".

Source: de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staatsratsgebäude

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Claudia Hinkelhuber

September 14, 2020

From 1999 until the completion of the new Federal Chancellery at the Reichstag building in 2001, the then Federal Chancellor Gerhard Schröder had his Berlin office in the State Council building.

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SWE

November 16, 2020

The Schleusenbrücke spans the western arm of the Spree in Berlin-Mitte, the Spree Canal on the Spree Island and thus connects the Werderscher Markt with the Schloßplatz. The name of the bridge goes back to an earlier lock and the lock ditch that existed at this point. It is under monument protection.

The architects had the artists Robert Schirmer and Otto Markert make a bridge railing influenced by Art Nouveau, which consisted of six openwork cast-iron lattices and carried two bronze reliefs with city views from the years 1657 and 1774 in each of the end fields.

The expansion of the Mühlendamm lock, the removal of the lock weir and the simultaneous expansion of the Spree Canal required the bridge to be modified in 1937, which has now been both lengthened and widened. The new railing bays were executed like their predecessors, the sculptor Kurt Schumacher created two more medallions each with three-dimensional city views from the years 1650 and 1688.

The lock bridge suffered severe damage during the Second World War, with the bridge deck and railings in particular being destroyed in May 1945. The bridge was not repaired until 1951, but the medallions were still missing for 20 years. The cast iron bridge railing was reconstructed in 1972/1973. In this context, the city administration had the old city views cast in aluminium, which were then bronzed.

Source: de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schleusenbrücke_(Berlin)

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MR.S

July 18, 2025

There is also an information board here.

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Elevation 40 m

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Friday 14 November

11°C

6°C

70 %

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Max wind speed: 5.0 km/h

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Location: Berlin, Germany

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State Council Building of the GDR

1. Friedrichs Bridge – View of the Bode Museum loop from Jannowitzbrücke

2. Friedrichs Bridge – View of the Bode Museum loop from Moritzplatz

3. Gendarmenmarkt – Berlin TV Tower (Fernsehturm) loop from Stadtmitte

Other Popular Places to Check Out

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