Timeline of Berlin

Prior to 18th century

1163 – Berlin founded by Albert the Bear (approximate date).

1230 – St. Nicholas' Church built.

1272 - Bakers' guild established.

1380 – Fire.

1433 - Schützengilde Berlin Korp. von 1433 (militia) formed.

1451 – Stadtschloss (palace) built.

1454 – St. Erasmus Chapel consecrated.

1484 – Jerusalem Church built.

1539 – Protestant Reformation.

1540 - Printing press in operation.

1636 – Joachimsthalsches Gymnasium (school) relocates to Berlin.

1650 – Berlin Fortress construction begins.

1678 – Dorotheen Church built.

1688 – Leipziger Straße (street) laid out.

1695 – Lange-brucke (bridge) built.

1696 – Academy of Art founded.

18th century

1700

Electoral Brandenburg Society of Sciences founded.

Population: 28,500.

1701 – Berlin becomes capital of the Kingdom of Prussia.

1703 – Parochial Church built.

1705 – French Cathedral built in Friedrichstadt.

1708 – German Cathedral built in Friedrichstadt.

1713

Charlottenburg Palace built.

Nicolaische Buchhandlung (bookseller) in business.

1714 – Berlin merges with the cities of Cölln, Dorotheenstadt, Friedrichstadt, and Friedrichswerder.

1715 – City hosts Treaty of Berlin (1715).

1721 – Population: 64,600.

1722 – Garrison Church built.

1732 – Crown Prince's Palace remodelled.

1734 – Potsdam Gate constructed.

1737 – Berlin Customs Wall and Opera Palace constructed.

1739 – Holy Trinity Church built.

1742

Berlin State Opera house inaugurated.

City hosts signing of the Treaty of Berlin (1742).

1743 – Opernplatz (square) laid out.

1748 – Berlin Cathedral built.

1750 – Population: 113,289.

1757 - October: "Austrian general Hadik raids Berlin."

1760 – 9–13 October: City taken by Russian and Austrian forces.

1763 – Royal Porcelain Factory founded in Charlottenburg.

1765 – Bank established.

1766 – Ephraim-Palais built in Nikolaiviertel.

1775 – St. Hedwig's Church built.

1780 – Alte Bibliothek (Berlin) (library) built.

1783

Wednesday Society active.

Berlinische Monatsschrift (magazine) begins publication.

1786 – Bellevue Palace built.

1791 – Sing-Akademie zu Berlin (choral society) founded.

1793 – Brandenburg Gate built.

19th century

1804 – Population: 182,157.

1806 – 21 November: Napoleon issues Berlin Decree while passing through city.

1810 – University of Berlin established.

1812 – Café Josty in business (approximate date).

1815 – City becomes part of the Province of Brandenburg.

1821 – Schauspielhaus Berlin (theatre) opens.

1824 – Schloßbrücke (Berlin-Mitte) (bridge) built.

1825

Sing-Akademie building constructed.

Population: 219,968.

1827 – 29 April: Premiere of Mendelssohn's opera Hochzeit des Camacho.

1828 - Berlin Geographical Society founded.

1830 – Königliches Museum opens.

1834 – Café Kranzler in business.

1835 – Berlin Observatory built.

1838

first railway in Prussia, the Berlin–Potsdam railway opened

Bote & Bock music publisher in business.

1840 – Population: 322,626.

1841 – Verein Berliner Künstler (artists association) founded.

1842 - Springer-Verlag (publisher) in business.

1843 – Royal Opera House rebuilt.

1844 – Kroll's and Berlin Zoological Garden open.

1845 – Physical Society of Berlin established.

1846 - 24 September: Discovery of Neptune planet at the Observatory.

1847

April: Prussian parliament begins meeting in the Stadtschloss.

Stern Gesangverein founded.

1848

18 March: "Barricade fights."

15 June: Political unrest.

1849

Moabit Prison built.

Wolffs Telegraphisches Bureau in business.

Population: 423,902.

1850 – Berliner Musikschule (music school) founded.

1851 – 31 May: Statue of Frederick II of Prussia inaugurated on Unter den Linden.

1852 – Luisenstadt Canal constructed.

1853 – F. W. Borchardt delicatessen and C. Bechstein Pianofortefabrik in business.

1855

Advertising columns installed in city.

New Museum opens.

1858 – Population: 458,637.

1859 - 10 May: Humboldt funeral.

1861

Moabit and Wedding become part of Berlin.

Population: 545,319.

1862 - Berthold Kempinski wine shop in business.

1863

Photographers Association founded.

Exchange built.

Grieben-Verlag (publisher) in business.

1864

Wallner Theater built.

Population: 632,700.

1866

Lette-Verein (women's educational organization) founded.

New Synagogue was built.

1868 – City wall dismantled.

1869 – Rotes Rathaus (city hall) built.

1871

Berlin becomes capital of the newly unified German Empire.

Berlin Ringbahn (railway) begins operating.

Population: 826,341.

1872 – Ludwig Loewe & Co. in business.

1873 – Victory Column inaugurated on Königsplatz.

1875

Socialist Workers' Party of Germany headquartered in Berlin.

Hotel Kaiserhof in business.

Königliche Hochschule für Musik active.

1876 – National Gallery opens.

1878

Berlin Stadtbahn (city railway) begins operating.

City hosts Congress of Berlin.

1879 – Imperial Treasury headquartered in city.

1880 – Population: 1,122,330.

1881

Berlin administrative district separates from Province of Brandenburg.

Industrial museum established.

1882 – Berlin Stadtbahn (railway) begins operating.

1884

Dankeskirche (church) built.

City hosts West Africa Conference.

1885 – St. George's Anglican Church built.

1886 – Ethnological museum established.

1887

Berlin Philharmonic active.

Kaiser-Wilhelm-Brücke (Berlin) (bridge) and Heiligekreuzkirche (church) built.

Society for Friends of Photography founded.

1888 – Lessing Theater opens.

1889

Museum of Natural History opens.

Academic Alpine Club of Berlin formed.

1890 – May Day begins.

1891 – Hotel Bristol in business.

1892 – Theater am Schiffbauerdamm opens.

1894 – Reichstag building constructed.

1895

1 September: Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church consecrated.

13 December: Premiere of Mahler's Symphony No. 2.

1896

Oberbaum Bridge rebuilt.

1 May: Great Industrial Exposition of Berlin and Treptow Observatory open.

Messter Film in business.

1897

National Kaiser Wilhelm Monument unveiled.

International Automobile Exhibition begins.

1898

Berlin Secession (art group) founded.

Café des Westens in business.

1900s-1945

1900 – Berlin Automobile Association founded.

1901 – Population: 1,901,567.

1902 – Berlin U-Bahn begins operating.

1904

Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum opens.

Tietz department store in business on Alexanderplatz.

1905

Berlin Cathedral rebuilt.

Population: 2,040,148.

1906 – Virchow Hospital opens in Moabit.

1907

Märkisches Museum built in Köllnischer Park.

Kaufhaus des Westens (shop), Edeka supermarket chain, and Hotel Fürstenhof in business.

1908

Hotel Excelsior in business.

Friedrichstraßenpassage shopping arcade built.

1910 - Der Sturm magazine begins publication.

1911

Kaiser Wilhelm Society for the Advancement of Sciences founded.

Hotel Esplanade built.

Die Aktion magazine begins publication.

1913 – Deutsches Stadion (stadium) and Cines-Palast (cinema) open.

1914

Volksbühne (theatre) and Bendlerblock built.

Pacifist Bund Neues Vaterland headquartered in city.

1918 – Die Rote Fahne newspaper begins publication.

1919

January: Spartacist uprising; socialists Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht killed.

February: Dadaist Jedermann sein eigner Fussball published.

May: Premiere of LGBT-themed film Anders als die Andern.

City becomes capital of the Weimar Republic.

Deutsche Luft-Reederei airline begins operating its Weimar-Berlin route.

Population: 1,902,509.

1920

March: Kapp Putsch.

June: First International Dada Fair held.

1 October: City area expands per Greater Berlin Act, incorporating Charlottenburg, Köpenick, Lichtenberg, Neukölln, Schöneberg, Spandau, and Wilmersdorf.

1922

24 June: Foreign Minister Walther Rathenau assassinated.

December: International of Revolutionary Syndicalists founded in Berlin.

1923 – Tempelhof Airport and Berlin Psychoanalytic Institute established.

1924

Traffic light installed in Potsdamer Platz.

Internationale Funkausstellung Berlin (radio exhibit) begins.

Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra active.

1925

Ahmadiyya Mosque Berlin built.

Population: 4,024,286.

1926 – Funkturm Berlin (radio tower) erected.

1927

10 January: Premiere of film Metropolis.

1 May: Hitler gives his first speech in Berlin, at the Clou Concert Hall.

1928

31 August: Premiere of Brecht's The Threepenny Opera.

Titania Palast (theatre) opens.

1929

May: Blutmai unrest.

Lichtburg cinema opens.

1930

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Berlin established.

Pergamon Museum built.

1931 – Großsiedlung Siemensstadt housing built.

1932 – Columbushaus built on Potsdamer Platz.

1933

Nazi headquarters relocated to Berlin from Munich.

27 February: Reichstag fire.

26 April: Nazi Gestapo (secret police) headquartered in Berlin, on Prinz-Albrecht-Straße.

10 May: Nazi book burnings in Opernplatz.

City becomes capital of the Greater German Reich.

Hufeisensiedlung housing built.

Strength Through Joy national leisure programme headquartered in Berlin.

1934

City becomes seat of the Greater Berlin and Mark Brandenburg Gaue (Nazi administrative divisions).

Columbia concentration camp in operation.

1935

28 March: Premiere of film Triumph of the Will.

Nazi SS-Hauptamt headquartered in Berlin, on Prinz-Albrecht-Straße.

Deutschlandhalle built.

1936

Olympic Stadium and Air Ministry Building constructed.

August: 1936 Summer Olympics held.

Sachsenhausen concentration camp and Berlin-Marzahn concentration camp established near city.

1937

Julius Lippert becomes mayor.

Albert Speer becomes Generalbauinspektor for the Reich capital.

Volkswagen auto manufactory in business.

1938

9–10 November: Kristallnacht; Fasanenstrasse Synagogue burned.

Helicopter flight demonstrated.

1939 – Population: 4,332,242.

1940

Bombing of Berlin in World War II begins.

Ludwig Steeg becomes mayor.

1941 - Tempelhof Airport terminal built.

1943 – November: Battle of Berlin (RAF campaign) begins.

1944 - 21 July: Execution of 20 July plot conspirators.

1945

16 April: Battle of Berlin begins.

30 April: Death of Adolf Hitler in the Führerbunker.

2 May: Battle of Berlin ends.

2 May: Nikolai Berzarin becomes commander of the Soviet sector of city.

8 May: Ceremonial German Instrument of Surrender signed in Karlshorst.

4 July: Floyd L. Parks becomes commander of the U.S. sector of city.

5 July: Lewis Lyne becomes commander of the British sector of city.

11 July: Geoffroi du Bois de Beauchesne becomes commander of the French sector of city.

17 July-2 August: Potsdam Conference held.

21 July: Victory Parade.

30 August: Allied Control Council constituted.

1946-1989

1946

Technical University of Berlin opens.

October: City election held.

1947

Ernst Reuter becomes mayor.

Population: 3,224,420.

1948

24 June: Soviet blockade begins.

26 June: Allied airlift of supplies begins.

Free University of Berlin established.

Handelsorganisation grocery opens in East Berlin.

1949

12 May: Berlin Blockade ends.

City divided into East Berlin and West Berlin.

East Berlin becomes capital of the German Democratic Republic.

Currywurst introduced on Kantstraße.

1950

Academy of Arts established in East Berlin.

Freedom Bell installed in city hall of West Berlin.

1951

Landtag (parliament) of West Berlin established.

East Berlin hosts 3rd World Festival of Youth and Students.

Berliner Festspiele established in West Berlin.

Berlin Film Festival begins in West Berlin.

1952 – Deutsche Waggon und Maschinenfabrik in business.

1953 – June: Uprising in East Berlin.

1954

Academy of Arts established in West Berlin.

Berlin Conference (1954) held.

1956 – Rotes Rathaus reconstructed; becomes city hall of East Berlin.

1957 – Haus der Kulturen der Welt built in West Berlin.

1959

Institute for European Politics founded in West Berlin.

Jüdisches Gemeindehaus Fasanenstraße (Jewish centre) inaugurated in West Berlin.

1960 – Gropiusstadt developed.

1961

4 June: Berlin Crisis of 1961 begins.

13–15 August: Berlin Wall construction begins between East Berlin and West Berlin.

Ampelmännchen pedestrian signal introduced in East Berlin.

1963

Berliner Philharmonie (concert hall) built in West Berlin.

Berliner Singakademie founded in East Berlin.

26 June: U.S. president Kennedy gives Ich bin ein Berliner speech in West Berlin.

1964 – JazzFest Berlin begins in West Berlin.

1967 - Sister city relationship established with Los Angeles, USA.

1968 – New National Gallery opens in West Berlin.

1969

Fernsehturm Berlin (TV tower) erected in East Berlin.

Neuer Berliner Kunstverein founded.

1971 – Movement 2 June anarchist group active in West Berlin.

1972 – June: Four Power Agreement on Berlin signed.

1970 – Hotel Stadt Berlin built in East Berlin.

1973 – Großgaststätte Ahornblatt (restaurant) built in East Berlin.

1974 – Berlin Marathon begins in West Berlin.

1975

Hochschule der Künste Berlin (art school) formed.

Peter Lorenz becomes president of the Landtag of West Berlin.

1978

Berlin Motor Show begins in West Berlin.

Berlin State Library building opens on Haus Potsdamer Straße in West Berlin.

1979 - International Congress Centre built in West Berlin.

1980

Islamische Föderation Berlin founded.

Memorial to the German Resistance erected.

1983 - Berliner Rock- und Pop-Archiv founded.

1984 - Eberhard Diepgen becomes mayor of West Berlin.

1985 – West Berlin hosts Bundesgartenschau (garden show).

1986 – 5 April: 1986 Berlin discotheque bombing in West Berlin.

1987

750th anniversary of founding of Berlin.

Topography of Terror exhibit opens.

1 May: May Day in Kreuzberg begins.

12 June: U.S. president Reagan gives Tear down this wall! speech in West Berlin.

1988 – West Berlin designated a European Capital of Culture.

1989

Population: 1,279,212 in East Berlin.

4 November: Alexanderplatz demonstration in East Berlin.

9 November: Berlin Wall opened between East Berlin and West Berlin.

1990s

1990

3 October: German reunification; unified Berlin designated capital of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Federal Commissioner for the Stasi Records and German Academy for Urban and Regional Spatial Planning headquartered in Berlin.

Kunsthaus Tacheles established.

1993

Berlin Cathedral renovated.

Transparency International headquartered in city.

1994 – Russian and Allied forces depart.

1995

German-Russian Museum opens.

June: Artist Christo wraps the Reichstag.

1996

City website online (approximate date).

Berggruen Museum and Café Einstein Unter den Linden open.

1997 - Computer Games Museum founded.

1998 – Gemäldegalerie and Treptowers built.

1999

German Bundestag (legislature) relocated to Berlin from Bonn per Berlin-Bonn Act.

Molecule Man (sculpture) installed in the Spree River.

Clocktower reinstalled on Potsdamer Platz.

21st century

2000

Sony Center built.

Population: 3,382,169.

2001

June 16: Klaus Wowereit becomes governing mayor.

Merger of boroughs: Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, Marzahn-Hellersdorf, Steglitz-Zehlendorf, Tempelhof-Schöneberg, and Treptow-Köpenick formed.

Jewish Museum opens.

Berlin International Literature Festival begins.

2004 – Festival of Lights begins.

2005

Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe unveiled.

Angela Merkel takes office as German Chancellor.

2006

Berlin Hauptbahnhof (Central station) constructed.

FIFA World Cup Final held at Olympiastadion.

Türk Bakım Evi nursing home established.

2009 - Prinzessinnengärten (garden) created.

2013

3 November: Berlin energy referendum, 2013 held.

Hohenzollern Stadtschloss (palace) reconstruction begins.

Population: 3,517,424. Of these, 538,729 residents were of foreign nationality

2014 – March: .berlin internet domain name begins.

2016

July: Protest against gentrification in Friedrichshain.

19 December : 2016 Berlin attack