Rotes Rathaus

The red bricks of the building gave the Rotes Rathaus (Red Town Hall) its name, even though the name could have just as well referred to the political ideology of the mayors residing here.

The current structure with its eye-catching tower is the fifth town hall built at this site, where the original town hall was erected in the 13th century. The large structure was built between 1861 and 1867 and replaced an earlier city hall that had become too small for the growing metropolis.
The German architect Hermann Friedrich Waesemann was responsible for its North-Italian high renaissance style design, a style that is quite unusual for Berlin. The design of the city hall's iconic tower was clearly inspired by the towers of the Gothic Laon Cathedral in France.

The long frieze on the façade was added between 1876 and 1879. 36 Terra cotta panels depict scenes from the history of Berlin.

The city hall was heavily damaged during the Second World War and ended up in Berlin's Russian Sector. After its reconstruction between 1951 and 1958 the Rotes Rathaus became the city hall of East Berlin. West Berlin's city council meanwhile was housed in the Rathaus Schöneberg.
In 1991, after the end of the Cold War, the Rotes Rathaus once again became the official city hall for the reunified Berlin. A thorough renovation of the historic building, which started in 2005, was completed five years later.

At the center of the esplanade in front of the Rotes Rathaus is a large fountain known as the Neptunbrunnen (Neptune Fountain). The neo-baroque fountain, decorated with bronze statues, was created between 1886 and 1891 by Reinhold Begas.
The fountain was originally installed at the Schlossplatz in front of the former Stadtschloss (Berlin Castle). In 1969 it was moved to its current location in front of the city hall.
At the center of the fountain is a statue of Neptune, who overlooks a large basin where four female figures symbolize Prussia's most important rivers : the Rhine, the Elbe, the Oder and the Vistula (Weichsel).