Charité Hospital Walking Tour: Exploring Berlin’s Medical History

20 min

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 min

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 min

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

20 min

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

20 min

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 min

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.