Alte Bibliothek
Alte Bibliothek stands on Bebelplatz in Berlin, with a curving Baroque façade that earned it the nickname Kommode. The chest-like form and elaborate ornament reflect the grandeur of Prussian architecture. Commissioned by Frederick the Great, the building followed designs by Georg Christian Unger and Georg Friedrich Boumann. Its shape draws inspiration from the Michael Wing of Vienna’s Hofburg.
Built as Berlin’s first freestanding library, it originally housed the Royal Prussian Library for nobles, ministers, and scholars. Students gained access after Berlin University was established, while the growing collection later moved to a new library on Unter den Linden. Allied bombing severely damaged the structure during the Second World War, but reconstruction preserved its exterior and adapted the interior. Humboldt University’s law faculty now uses the building, leaving one striking detail in view: a historic library shaped like a chest of drawers.
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Spots like this one are the stops myTuur strings into tours through Berlin. In the app, each story begins where you stand: walk up to a spot and it starts, read it on screen or listen as you go, then follow the route to the next one.
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myTuur is a free city-guide app. Its tours are built from spots, and each spot carries a story that starts when you get there, to read or to listen to as you like.