The Brandenburg Gate looks permanent, but it is really the survivor of Pariser Platz. Napoleon took its statue, 1945 left it damaged among the ruins, and for nearly thirty years it was locked inside the Berlin Wall death strip. Here is the Gate before and after each turning point, and what you can still read in the stone today.

From the front the Reichstag looks like one stern old parliament with a modern glass hat. It is actually the most rebuilt, refought-over building in Germany: imperial showpiece, burnt-out shell, 1945 battlefield, Cold War dead end, and finally a working democracy. Here is the building before and after, the traces you can still find on the stone, and how to get inside the dome for free.