Berlin Charité Hospital History Walking Tour

The history of Charité, Berlin’s oldest hospital, spans both the promise and betrayal of medical science. It is the story of the struggle to understand disease and also of what happens when a hateful ideology turns doctors into executioners. Although its beautiful red-brick campus feels like a world of its own, the Charité has not been immune to the whims of the powers ruling Berlin and has been the political instrument of Nazis and East Germany alike. On this walking tour, we will dissect 300 years of success, failure, and everything in between.

Meeting Point

Robert-Koch-Platz

Robert-Koch-Platz, 10115 Berlin, Germany

Meet by the Robert Koch statue in Robert Koch-Platz – look for your guide holding an orange umbrella!

What's included:

• Guide

Not included:

• Visiting buildings in which clinical or university operations take place.

What to expect:

Duration: 2 hours

Robert-Koch Denkmal

Robert-Koch Platz, Berlin, 10115

Discover why and how the Charité hospital - the oldest in Berlin - was established in the 18th century. See the monument of Robert Koch - the Nobel-prize winning scientist who discovered the cause of tuberculosis, anthrax and cholera, and was also responsible for the first pharmaceutical scandal in medical history.

20 minutes

Tieranatomisches Theater

Philippstrasse 13, Campus Nord, Haus 3, Berlin, 10115

Explore the oldest surviving academic building in Berlin, an 18th-century neoclassical gem where veterinarians studied animal diseases and hear the stories of how diseases were treated before the advent of science.

20 minutes

Denkmal Rudolf Virchow

Reinhardtstrasse 40, Berlin

Hear the story of Rudolf Virchow, the father of modern pathology and the founder of social medicine

20 minutes

Denkmal Albrecht von Graefe

Kreuzung Luisenstr./Schumannstr./Charitestr., Berlin

See the first monument in Berlin dedicated to a scientist and hear the story of Albrecht von Graefe, a groundbreaking ophthalmologist.

20 minutes

Charité Campus Mitte

Charitépl. 1, 10117 Berlin, Germany

Explore the beautiful neogothic red-brick campus. Find out how some doctors abused medicine during the Third Reich, while others helped everyone indiscriminately until the last days of WWII.

20 minutes

Humboldthafen

Alexanderufer 5, 10117 Berlin, Germany

See the place where several East Berliners attempted escape to the West by swimming across the city canal just outside Charité campus and hear the stories of life in the hospital during the socialist era and after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

20 minutes