Berlin: Introduction: Overview

“Poor but sexy” is how Klaus Wowereit, the mayor of Berlin, famously described his city a few years ago. Now Wowereit’s quote has become an unofficial slogan for the German capital. While the über-sized, government-sponsored construction of the 1990s may have pushed the city into its current 60 billion euro debt (about $75 billion), it also created the Potsdamer Platz—Berlin’s shiny Times Square equivalent—which boasts glorious buildings by such architects as José Rafael Moneo and Renzo Piano. Its coffers might be low, but Berlin, with its thriving art and fashion scenes, is Europe’s capital of contemporary culture.