Europe

Fotostrasse's Guide To Brutalism In Berlin is a simple and easy way to explore the beauty of concrete in the German capital. From the weird shaped Bierpinsel in Steglitz to the battleship style construction of the Mäusebunker in Lichterfelde, Berlin has some of the best examples of Brutalism architecture in Europe; here guide you through some of the places.

Brutalism in Berlin: A Concrete Architecture Guide

Berlin (category), Germany (category)
9 min read
03/06/202129/07/2026

Here we will talk a little bit about the reason why the Friedhofsbahn was built, how it shut down, and why some people want it back. Also, since this is the same abandoned train track used as a location in Netflix’s series Dark, we will talk about the hike in the forest, following the train tracks the connect the bridge to the church in Dark.

Exploring the Friedhofsbahn: The Old Wannsee – Stahnsdorf Railway Line

Berlin (category), Urbex (category)
9 min read
13/05/202111/12/2024

What remains of the Flugplatz Oranienburg can be seen not that far away from the Oranienburg Hauptbahnhof. Built before the Second World War, between 1936 and 1939, this abandoned airfield was used until 1945 by the Luftwaffe and the Heinkel-Werke Oranienburg.

Exploring the Flugplatz Oranienburg with Drones

Berlin (category), Urbex (category)
8 min read
18/04/202118/02/2024

The Gatower Mühle is one of eight windmills still standing in Berlin. This one can be found in Gatow, a neighbourhood south of Spandau and across the waters from Grunewald. And since we have been looking for windmills around Berlin for a while now, we had to write something about this one.

Gatower Mühle: The New Windmill in Gatow

Berlin (category)
4 min read
08/04/202118/03/2024

The Western City Gate, also known as Genex Tower or Kula Geneks in Serbian, is a massive skyscraper in Belgrade and can be seen from all around town. The 35 storeys tall building is an icon of architectural brutalism with its two connected towers and even a revolving restaurant that feels like a crown over everything.

Western City Gate in Belgrade: Documenting an icon of Brutalism in Serbia

Belgrade (category)
6 min read
31/03/202112/03/2025

If you watch Netflix as much as we do, you already know about their series Dark. Some people say that the series is similar to Stranger Things since the city where everything happens in this series is a massive part of the mystery in the series. But Winden, the city where most of the series happens, is not real and you can find some small pieces of it in and around Berlin.

Thirteen Locations where the Netflix’s series Dark was filmed around Berlin

Berlin (category)
21 min read
10/03/202101/05/2024

Berlin is a city that still carries scars from a war that ended more than seventy years ago. You can see it on the walls of some old buildings and on all the air shelters that still exist today. Berlin Bunkers are everywhere and we’re going to talk about some of them below.

Berlin Bunkers: Abandoned Air Shelters around the German Capital

Berlin (category)
11 min read
09/03/202124/03/2025

Lake Bodom Murders

Lake Bodom Murders: We visited the location of Finland’s most famous unsolved murder

Espoo (category), Finland (category)
6 min read
13/02/202110/06/2025

Moritz Israel sold his shares of the department store to buy the property where the Schloss Schulzendorf can be found. In 1889, the building you can see today started being constructed in a Renaissance style. The most distinguishing feature of the building, its tower, was build during this time and, for us, looks a bit out of place. Somehow, it seems like an old school medieval castle tower, and it doesn't follow the style of the rest of the Schloss.

The Queen’s Gambit in Berlin: Every location from the Netflix filming locations in Germany

Berlin (category)
10 min read
12/01/202131/01/2024

The Berlin Soviet War Memorial in Treptower Park is the biggest of the three war memorials the USSR left in Berlin after the end of the Second World War. It was built to the design of the Soviet architect Yakov Belopolsky as a memorial for 5,000 of the 80,000 Soviet soldiers who died in the Battle of Berlin between April and May 1945. It opened four years after World War II on May 8, 1949, and it used to serve as the central war memorial in East Berlin.

Exploring the Soviet Memorials located around Berlin

Berlin (category)
7 min read
25/12/202011/04/2024

In 2012, Luka Magnotta murdered Lin Jun and released a video online where you could see him killing his victim and abusing his corpse. At the time, he was in Canada, and he fled to Europe. First to Paris and then to Berlin, where he was arrested. When we watched Don't F**k with Cats on Netflix in 2020, we remembered this weird story. Later, we decided to visit the späti where Luka Magnotta was arrested in Berlin.

The Späti where Luka Magnotta was arrested in Berlin

Berlin (category)
3 min read
14/12/202009/03/2024

While we were watching the Queen's Gambit on Netflix, some locations seem to be familiar to us. Some places that were supposed to be foreign, like Moscow and Mexico City, looked like places we recognized from our daily life here in Berlin. With this thought in mind, we decided to look for Queen's Gambit locations, and the first place we visited was the Methuen Home orphanage, also known as Schloss Schulzendorf.

Queen’s Gambit Locations: Schloss Schulzendorf as the Methuen Home orphanage

Berlin (category)
7 min read
24/11/202024/11/2020

The Soviet Memorial in the Tiergarten is one of the many war memorials that can be found around Berlin. From the prominent memorials erected by the Soviet Union after the end of the Second World War, this is the most famous and most visited since it lies close to Berlin's leading tourist destinations.

Soviet Memorial in the Tiergarten

Berlin (category)
6 min read
17/11/202008/12/2020

Vogelsang used to be more than just a Soviet military base. This place used to be a city filled with secrets and soldiers, but today it lays empty in Brandenburg while it rots away in the middle of a forest.

Vogelsang: Exploring an Abandoned Soviet Military Base north of Berlin

Berlin (category), Urbex (category)
8 min read
10/11/202007/01/2025

Berlin is known as a party place; what can you do around the city when there is a deadly virus around and partying hard might not be the best choice? How can we enjoy Berlin when Coronavirus is all we can imagine around us?

Top 5 things to do in Berlin: Coronavirus Free Edition

Berlin (category)
5 min read
21/10/202024/12/2023

Marx and Engels Forum is a small public park in the heart of Berlin. Named after two of the most famous and influential German philosophers, Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx, authors of The Communist Manifesto. The park was opened to the public in 1986. The statues found there used to have quite a significant location with the Palast der Republik, the German Democratic Republic's parliament, on its back.

From Controversy to Tourist Attraction: The Story of Berlin’s Marx and Engels Forum

Berlin (category)
4 min read
19/10/202013/03/2024

Most people that visit Berlin know the history behind the wall that divided the city during the Cold War. But there is another historic wall waiting to be discovered in the middle of the town. This is the Old City Wall of Berlin that witnesses the medieval past of the city.

The Rediscovered History of Berlin’s Old City Wall

Berlin (category)
3 min read
12/10/202026/05/2026

There is one particular sculpture that caught my attention when I visited the Duomo di Milano for the first time. The piece is called St Bartholomew Flayed, and it was created by Marco d'Agrate back in 1562. And that skinless statue is so unusual that I had to research it and write this article with everything I know now about it.

St. Bartholomew Flayed: The Gruesome Detail in Milan’s Duomo

Italy (category), Milano (category)
4 min read
24/09/202030/03/2025

She is the most prominent name when you think about cinema and Berlin, and she came to the world as Marie Magdalene Dietrich, but everybody knows a slightly different name. Marlene Dietrich was born in Schöneberg back in December 1901, precisely on Leberstrasse 65.

Where was Marlene Dietrich born in Berlin?

Berlin (category)
4 min read
17/09/202014/03/2025

Whenever we travel around Europe, we see the skeleton of abandoned gasworks. But the Schöneberg Gasometer has this uniqueness to it since it feels like it's still integrated into the landscape of the city. You pass by it around Haupstrasse or taking the S-Bahn, and it's always there, in the corner of your eye.

Schöneberg Gasometer: Climbing the Skeleton of Abandoned Gasworks

Berlin (category)
7 min read
10/09/202011/06/2025

It seems like the Lenin statue in the Potsdam Volkspark came secretly to its location. Nobody knows what happened here, but we know that there is a massive Lenin bust sitting peacefully in one of the largest parks in Potsdam. Nobody voted for it to be there, the people that take care of parks didn't do it, but it is there now.

The Enigmatic Journey of Potsdam’s Lenin Statue

Germany (category), Potsdam (category)
3 min read
20/08/202021/01/2024