Viktoriapark

Viktoriapark spreads across about 32 acres (12.8 hectares) on the Kreuzberg hill which, at 217 feet (66 meters), is the highest natural rise in inner-city Berlin. The park was laid out between 1888 and 1894 to plans by the head of parks Hermann Mächtig, then reworked from 1913 to 1916 under Albert Brodersen. It is named for Empress Victoria, and thanks to its exposed position the hill offers a wide view over Kreuzberg and into the city center.

The summit is crowned by the National Monument to the Wars of Liberation, designed by Karl Friedrich Schinkel and dedicated in 1821. The cast iron monument, shaped like a Gothic cathedral spire on an octagonal base, commemorates the victories over Napoleon between 1813 and 1815. It carries the Iron Cross that gave the whole neighborhood its name. Just as striking is the artificial waterfall on the north side of the hill: approved in 1891 and first tested in 1893, it drops roughly 79 feet (24 meters) and was modeled on a mountain stream in the Giant Mountains.

Today the park is a well-loved local retreat with playgrounds, a small animal enclosure, lawns to stretch out on and a beer garden at the foot of the waterfall. On the south slope grow vines of the "Kreuz-Neroberger," whose symbolic harvest recalls Berlin's winemaking tradition. In summer the waterfall usually runs during the day; in winter it is shut off. If you do not mind the climb to the monument, you get one of the finest free viewpoints in the district.