Altglienicke can be explored through its architectural history, local places of remembrance and landscape. The water tower and the Tuschkastensiedlung offer distinct architectural highlights; the museum and cemetery provide further insights into the area’s history and the history of remembrance. In Rudow-Altglienicke Landscape Park, historical information meets views of meadows, pastures and a hollow. You can tailor your stay to your interests, whether they lie particularly in architecture, local history or the landscape.
Water Tower and Tuschkastensiedlung
Built in 1905/06, Altglienicke’s water tower stands on Falkenberg, is 38.55 metres high and is considered a landmark visible across southeast Berlin. Its Gothic Revival forms give the structure a clearly defined architectural classification. The tower at Schirnerstraße 17/19 is listed as a protected historic monument. Its construction dates, height and address make it a specific point of reference for Altglienicke’s architectural history.
The nearby Tuschkastensiedlung was designed by Bruno Taut in 1913/15. It is protected as a garden monument and as a unified ensemble. Comparing the two sites highlights both their different dates of origin and their distinct protected designations: the water tower is primarily protected as a historic monument, while the estate is protected as a unified ensemble and is significant as a garden monument. Those interested in architectural history will find two distinct examples with clearly documented historical details.
Local History at the Museum
Since early 2016, the Altglienicke Museum has been housed in the Altglienicke community centre at Ortolfstraße 182. Check before your visit whether the museum is still located there. Its exhibition sections cover several topics in local history: the volunteer fire brigade, Altglienicke’s sporting history, the former tram line 84 and the Kosmosviertel neighbourhood, which was still under construction at the end of the GDR era.
These topics offer different ways to learn about the area. The fire brigade and sporting history focus on community and club life; the former tram line 84 points to transport history. The Kosmosviertel neighbourhood adds another subject: its development was not yet complete at the end of the GDR era. Together, the exhibition sections provide an overview ranging from everyday life and transport history to urban development.
Places of Remembrance at the Cemetery
At Altglienicke Cemetery, a technical feature of the ceremony hall sits alongside a place of remembrance. The hall has a coffin-lifting system: a manual pump uses water pressure to move a platform that raises the coffin into the ceremony hall. By the left-hand entrance is a communal urn grave for the urns of concentration camp victims buried there. These two places point to different aspects of the cemetery—the ceremony hall’s unusual mechanism and remembrance of the victims.
Landscape and History in the Park
In Rudow-Altglienicke Landscape Park, an information stele and three illustrated panels explain the Berlin spy tunnel. Its route ran from a US military radar station in Rudow, then in West Berlin, to Schönefelder Chaussee in Altglienicke, in the Soviet sector of the city. The information identifies both the tunnel’s starting point and its destination, and sets its route in its historical context.
Another highlight is the so-called “Glienicker Window”: an embankment up to five metres high, planted with Virginia creeper, which opens up views of the meadows, pastures and hollow in the landscape park. The park’s two themes are easy to distinguish: the stele and panels focus on the history of the tunnel, while the Glienicker Window focuses on the landscape itself. In this named park, you can therefore find both a historical account and a striking view across the open landscape.
Discover more destinations: Rudow, Ruhlsdorf, Spandau, Adlershof, Kladow, Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg, Charlottenburg, Berlin.
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