Alexanderplatz was the socialist showcase of East Berlin — the DDR's answer to the question of what the modern socialist city should look like. The vast open square, surrounded by towers of prefabricated concrete panels, was rebuilt after wartime destruction according to the principles of socialist modernism: wide pedestrian space, vertical accents, a scale designed to speak of collective ambition rather than individual experience.
The Fernsehturm (TV Tower), completed in 1969, rises 368 metres above the square and remains the tallest structure in Germany. Built by the East German state as a symbol of socialist technological achievement, it was intended to be visible from West Berlin — a provocation and a statement. Around it, Haus des Lehrers (the Teachers' House, designed by Hermann Henselmann) with its wraparound frieze, Haus des Reisens (the Travellers' House), and the World Time Clock create a coherent ensemble of DDR civic ambition. Walking through Alexanderplatz today is to walk through the residue of a state that no longer exists but left its mark in concrete.