Unique Berlin merging city tourism with an artistic environment

Berlin is quite unique when it comes to merging city tourism with the experience of an active, artistic environment.

One of the most remarkable experiences you can give yourself is a visit to the Kunsthaus Tacheles on Oranienburger Straße.

The word “Tacheles” originates from the Judaeo-Germanic language Yiddish, and means “honest” or “direct”.

The place was originally an abandoned five-story building from 1908, and is not particularly impressive at first sight; You're greeted by the view of a gargantuan concrete structure with deteriorating masonry, graffiti and dusty old panes. The front of the building was damaged during WWII and has apparently only been partially restored. But the minute you step inside, the magical experience begins.

Let us begin on the ground floor, and then move upwards.

The ground floor has been replaced with fine white beach sand - inside, of course. Large beach umbrellas are firmly planted at appropriate intervals between each other, and you can order drinks at a bar with a simple selection of different ales and dark rum.

A dusty and terrifying staircase leads up to the first floor.

This floor offers a bunch of dark, deserted rooms, which have been left more or less untouched and unused since the second world war. Here one might be tempted to turn back, in the belief that only the ground floor could offer anything worthwhile.

2nd floor is identical to the first except for the fact that the dusty rooms are converted to active art galleries, where young and old artists are standing side by side and painting, deeply focused and utterly unaffected by the curious visitors in the building. The older generation primarily use paint brushes, the younger use spray cans. The works of art are exhibited and sold in the building, and the paintings vary from stunning naturalistic paintings, to modern and provocative graffiti works.

3rd and 4th floor consists of labyrinthine long corridors, with the unique mix of exhibition works, a cozy bar bathed in blue light, gothic toilets and a fragrance mixture of beer and damp basement.

And on the 5th floor you will find Café Zapata.

The cafe is clean and neat, and offers an incredible view overlooking Berlin. The atmosphere is comfortable and inviting, the list of drinks is long and exotic, and the guests are an exciting mix of young people in casual clothes and middle-aged men in expensive suits.

This strange mix of visitors, combined with the historical sense of spending your evening in a building from the second world war packed with performing artists, makes Kunsthaus Tacheles a hybrid between exciting architecture, art gallery and bar. Such a cultural experience is hard to find anywhere else in the world.