Charité Hospital Guided History Walking Tour Berlin

The Charité: from plague house to world-famous hospital

The Charité began in 1710 as a plague house outside the city walls of Berlin, built in case an epidemic reached the city. The plague never came, and the building became a hospital for the poor and a training place for military surgeons. In 1727 it received the name Charité, from the French word for charity, and over the following centuries it grew into one of the most important university hospitals in Europe.

On this Charité history tour your guide follows that long story, with tales of medical progress, dramatic cases and everyday life in the wards. Berlin's medical history is full of surprises, and the walk shows how many of today's treatments were first developed, debated or tested on these streets. It is a perfect choice if you are looking for a different kind of history walking tour in Berlin.

The Charité tower and Bed House

The walk starts at the Charité tower, the tall white Bed House that has dominated the skyline of Berlin-Mitte since the early 1980s and was fully modernised in recent years. It is one of the largest hospital buildings in Germany, and its height makes it a landmark visible from many parts of the city.

You see the Bed House from the outside only: it is an active hospital building with strict hygiene and protection rules, and the hospital grounds of Charité Campus Mitte are not accessible to groups. Standing at its foot, the guide explains how the hospital grew around this site and how its modern buildings sit beside the historic red-brick pavilions of the 19th century.

Famous physicians and Nobel Prize winners

Few hospitals have shaped modern medicine as much as the Charité. Its doctors and scientists include Rudolf Virchow, the founder of modern pathology; Robert Koch, who identified the bacteria causing tuberculosis and received the Nobel Prize; Emil von Behring, the first winner of the Nobel Prize in medicine for his work on diphtheria serum; and the surgeon Ferdinand Sauerbruch.

Your guide brings their work to life with stories of discoveries, rivalries and the daily reality of medicine at the time. The tour also faces the dark years when doctors of the Charité collaborated with the Nazi regime, a chapter told factually and with respect for the victims. Together these stories explain why the Charité remains a symbol of both the achievements and the responsibilities of medicine.

Luisenstraße and the university campus

From the tower the route continues along Luisenstraße, a street lined with historic institutes, clinics and research buildings that tell the story of Berlin as a world centre of science in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The guide points out buildings linked to famous research and explains how the hospital and the university grew side by side.

The walk then crosses the university campus, where quiet courtyards and old brick buildings contrast with the busy streets of Mitte. It is an easy, flat route of about two hours with several stops, suitable for most visitors. Comfortable shoes and weather-appropriate clothing are all you need, and the guide makes regular stops so everyone can hear the stories clearly.

The Animal Anatomical Theatre

The tour ends inside the Animal Anatomical Theatre, completed in 1790 and the oldest surviving academic teaching building in Berlin. Hidden in a leafy park courtyard, this elegant classical building was designed by the architect of the Brandenburg Gate for the teaching of veterinary medicine, and its round lecture hall beneath a painted dome is one of the most beautiful rooms in the city.

Students once watched dissections from the steep tiers around the central table, lit by the skylight in the cupola. Today the building is used for exhibitions and events, and visiting it with a guide reveals why it is often called a temple of medicine. Please note that it can adjust its opening hours at short notice and is closed on public holidays.