The Gendarmenmarkt, the most impressive square in Berlin and the site of an architectural ensemble, was built outsidethe city walls of Berlin in 1688, by Johann Arnold Nering. It was built as a part of the city’s western expansion of the old Friedrichstadt, housing the stables, barracks and main guard of the officers and nobles of the Regiment Gens d’Armes, a cuirassier regiment of the Soldier King Friedrich Wilhelm I. The square was also named after Gens d’Armes, which was a Prussian regiment comprising the expelled Protestant soldiers of France.

The expelled Protestant soldiers, known as the Huguenots, fled France to Prussia and settled in Friedrichstadt. They had their barracks and stables at the square until 1773. After being ravaged by World War II, it was restored and renamed Platz der Akademie in 1950, which continued until 1991, when it regained its original name, after German reunification.

With a harmonious architectural ensemble planned by Georg Christian Unger, Gendarmenmarkt took on its current form under Friedrich II. The imposing square is flanked on both sides by two identical Baroque-styled churches with an impressive tower and dome and both the French church that stands on the north side of the square and the Lutheran church on the south, were embellished by Carl von Gontard. Although in the German language, Dom means cathedral and neither the French nor the German Church was ever the seat of a bishop, those churches were named Französischer Dom and Deutscher Dom.

Modelled after the destroyed Huguenot church in Charenton-Saint-Maurice, France and designed by Carl von Gontard, Französischer Dom is the older of the two churches. Named after Frederick the Great, the King of Prussia from 1740 to 1746, the building of the church was built by the persecuted Huguenot community between 1701 and 1705.

However, the tower and porticoes of the building were added later, in 1785. The imposing structure, equipped with a restaurant and a viewing platform, offering the panoramic view over the historic quarter, also houses a Huguenot museum, containing an abundance of paintings, engravings, books and manuscripts, providing all about the detailed history of the French exiles.

Located to the south of the Gendarmenmarkt, the equally imposing, pentagonal building of Deutscher Dom, the German church, belonging to the Lutheran community, was designed by Carl von Gontard, a Swiss architect and built in 1708 by Giovanni Simonetti.However, nearly eighty years later, the neo-baroque building of Deutscher Dom was modified in 1785 by Carl von Gontard, who added a tower and dome to it, like its French counterpart, crowned with a gilded statue, an allegory of virtue.In his painting, The Laying-Out of the Fallen March Revolutionaries, the Berlin artist Adolph Menzel depicted the scene witnessed by the Deutscher Dom, when after the March Revolution of 1848, the revolutionaries laid out their fallen comrades on its steps and many Berliners attended a church service. Unfortunately, during World War II, Deutscher Dom was completely gutted by fire in 1945. But the historic building was rebuilt after German reunification and re-opened in 1996 as a museum of German history.

In between the two churches, stands the third jewel in the crown of the Gendarmenmarkt, the neo-classical building of the Konzerthaus Berlin, built in 1821, by Karl Friedrich Schinkel, on the ruins of the National Theatre, which had hosted many outstanding events down the years, including the visit of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1789, for a performance of his opera Die Entführung aus dem Serail. The Theatre, constructed by Carl Gotthard Langhans, the designer of the Brandenburg Gate, was destroyed by fire in 1817.

However, like the other buildings on the square, the Konzerthaus was also badly damaged during World War II. After the completion of the process of reconstruction in 1984, the theatre was transformed into a concert hall. Today, Konzerthaus is the home of the Konzerthausorchester Berlin and along with the impressive main auditorium, adorned with white and gold decorative elements, it also houses the smaller Apollo Hall for smaller musical programmes, a music club and the modern Werner-Otto Hall.

Right in the middle of the square, in front of the Konzerthaus, stands a statue of Friedrich Schiller, the revered German poet, philosopher, historian and one of the most significant dramatists, who also provided the lyrics to Beethoven's Ode to Joy, the European anthem. The statue depicted Schiller as a young, self-assured man, wearing a crown of laurel leaves, holding a scroll in his left hand. Created by Reinhold Begas, a prominent 19th-century sculptor, the stunning monument includes four allegorical female figures below the statue, depicting the main areas of his creative activity.

The Gendarmenmarkt hosts one of Berlin's most popular Christmas markets, associated with the celebration of Christmas during the four weeks of Advent, especially enjoyable after the dusks, with open-air concerts, buskers, carol singers and the lively decorated food and gift stalls. While in winter the square transforms into a winter wonderland with a Christmas market, in summer, orchestras play the most beautiful classical melodies in the Classic Open Air. Apart from that, a good selection of cafes and bars line the square for entertaining the locals and the tourists alike.