Detlev-Rohwedder-Haus

With its seven storeys and total floor area of 112,000 square metres (1,210,000 sq ft), 2,800 rooms, 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) of corridors, over 4,000 windows, 17 stairways, and with the stone coming from no fewer than 50 quarries, the vast building served the growing bureaucracy of the Luftwaffe, plus Germany's civil aviation authority which was also located there.

After World War II ended in Europe, the huge structure was quickly repaired, with only the Ehrensaal (Hall of Honour) being substantially altered.

On 7 October 1949, the German Democratic Republic (GDR) was founded in a ceremony in the Festsaal, with Wilhelm Pieck as President and Otto Grotewohl as Prime Minister (Ministerpräsident).

Between 1950 and 1952 an extraordinary 18 metres (59 ft) long mural, made out of Meissen porcelain tiles, was created at the north end along Leipziger Straße, set back behind pillars.

Originally based on family scenes, the final version had a more sinister look about it, a series of jovial set-pieces with an almost military undertone, people in marching poise and with fixed, uniform smiles on their faces.

At the north (Leipziger Straße) end of the building, a plaque commemorates the protest meeting of 16 June 1953, from which stemmed the following day's East German uprising of 1953.