Pre-1500 sights in Berlin, Potsdam, Dresden

You might want to move down south a bit, towards the Rhein and the former Limes, to Cologne, to Mainz, to Frankfurt, to Bad Homburg, to Büdingen, to Seligenstadt, and on down towards Bavaria.
The Germanic tribes were varied, and you need to look those up in the various regions. The Chatten, the Alemania, and on back to the Celts which are also in many different areas.

Thanks Ms. Jo,

I loved the Roman ruins in Trier and the middle-age castles throughout Southern Germany. Unfortunately, this trip is limited to a part of Germany I haven't previously visited.

A history that is often overlooked, but what is now east Germany was mostly inhabited by Slavic peoples Pre-1500 AD. Most of the place names in the area have Slavic-derived names. Berlin (old Slavic for Swamp) was considered a Slavic city for most of the Middle ages, even by the Germans. Unfortunately nothing much remains of that age after centuries of Germanization and general upheaval.

However the indigenous West Slavic minority of Sorbian People still inhabit the areas close to Dresden, they have been continually living in the area since at least the 6th century. I have yet to visit but you may find a day trip to Bautzen enlightening, its the center of Sorbian culture in Germany and home to the Sorbian Museum. As well Raddusch is on my list, it's a reconstructed ancient West Slavic castle and a museum of old Slavic history of the region.

Not sure if it is possible as a day trip from Berlin, but Wolin, just inside Poland on the Baltic coast had one of the largest strongholds of Vikings, there is an on site Viking museum and reconstructed Viking Village.

Thanks for the response Carlos. I'll look into the places you mentioned. I doubt we'll go toward the coast. If we do, the Viking settlement would be interesting. Our last trip was to Scandinavia. We explored Sweden primarily, including much of central Sweden, Gotland and, in the west, Gothenburg.

Happy to help. I'm all about pre-1500 AD European history, from antiquity to the middle ages. Gotland is high on my list for its medieval history and especially the medieval architecture of Visby.

Most of the old Germanic peoples from Roman times you mention like the Suebi, Vandals, Goths, Saxons, Lombards, and Franks migrated west and south wards during late antiquity, eventually becoming the basis of Spanish, Italian, French, and English peoples (intermingling with the local Romano populace). The Germans of today are mainly descended from East Francia, which was an offshoot of Charlemagne's empire.

In the most basic terms, after Charlemagne's empire collapsed, East Francia became Germany and West Francia became France.

You will hardly find buildings in Dresden pre 1500. The Royal Palace has parts that go back to the 13th century (Hausmann tower) but even that was modified later. A couple of churches in the outskirts are that old, yes, but not really worth seeing.

Better make a day trip to Meissen - it was founded in the 10th century. Castle, cathedral, several other churches and also some townhouses are pre-1500. And it's only a short train ride (2 trains per hour).

30 minutes by train from Dresden is Freiberg, another medieval city. Parts of the city walls are preserved, but the highlight is the late Gothic cathedral with a famous Romanesque portal. It is an a station of the UNESCO world heritage site "Ore mountains". Another of those stations is the museum on medieval mining in Dippoldiswalde, a 30 min bus ride south of Dresden. I has original mining relics from the 12th century. The Gothic city church is also worth seeing, the towers are Romanesque and the cemetery church is a nice example of 13th century architecture.

You won't find a lot of pre-1945 buildings in their original state in Dresden! Seriously, though, Dresden is known for its baroque history more than its medieval history. (Don't misunderstand--there IS older history--it just isn't what the city is known for.)

You might do better in Berlin on a half day walking tour that tells you about the city history. One of the oldest churches in Berlin is often overlooked and first built in the Middle Ages-back then Berlin was a bit of a backwater city. City really didn't rise to fame until Fredrick the Great and Prussia.

Not actually near Dresden, but when we did our Ostalgie trip, we had a car, and drove to Quedlinburg and Eisenach, both of which have a few really old buildings. Most of the beautiful buildings in Quedlinburg are not medieval, but a few are. Is Erfurt of interest to you? The deconsecrated Synagogue there is a trove of history, and not just, say, "Jewish tourism."

As others say, I'd suggest you're barking up the wrong tree. How about Cesky Krumlov, Perougès, Brugge, or Monschau? There is plenty of Roman history and of long-ago battles in Cologne, a city that's good for several nights. I trust you know St. Ursula and her army of ... you know ... .

At Berlin's German History Museum, their permanent exhibition is closed as the Zeughaus/armoury building is going through renovations until 2025.

If Vikings is your cup of tea, consider also the Haithabu-Danrwerk UNESCO site, located between Kiel and Flensburg in the German federal state of Schleswig-Holstein.

Just circling back with some more ideas.

If you want some really really old stuff, you can consider visiting the Tollense valley battlefield. It's just north of Berlin and I'm not sure if there is anything to see there as a tourist, but it's the site of the oldest identified battle in Europe dating back to 13th century BC. I've been following the archeological work being done there for a few years, only started relatively recently.

You can learn more about it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--yUuR_F_wU&ab_channel=HistoryTime

Close by you will also find an Archaeological Open Air Museum called Groß Raden, which is the site of an Ancient Slavic settlement and castle from the 9th century, much of the site has been reconstructed based on archaeological evidence. I read that there is a museum on site that houses a collection of Old West-Slavic artifacts from the site, including weapons, tools, and jewelry.

The website for Groß Raden - https://www.freilichtmuseum-gross-raden.de/

The archeological museum in Chemnitz, an hour by train from Dresden, might be of interest:

https://www.smac.sachsen.de/en/archaeological-exhibition.html

Again, not in the area you are looking at visiting this year, but perhaps for future visits?

Celts at the Glauberg: https://www.keltenwelt-glauberg.de/en/

The Romans at the Saalburg: https://www.saalburgmuseum.de/en/

The Romans in Mainz, including the ruins of the only Isis temple ever found in Germany (one of my favorite things to visit in Mainz), the remains of what would have been the largest ampitheater north of the alps: https://roemisches-mainz.de/roemisches-mainz/sehenswertes/

You might also want to explore or look up the Via Regia that connected many important cities for 2000 years.

Funny, this particular trip has been in my to-do list since the 90's. Now, going through the potential sights, I find mostly Baroque and Rococo period sights (far from my favorite). I guess I didn't refine my favorite sights until after this was on my list? ;- )

The trip is still interesting because of the iron-curtain division of Europe. That's relatively recent history but, hopefully, never forgotten.

If looking for medieval Germanic sites in the area, no better place than just over the border in Poland actually, former east Prussia, that was colonized by the German Teutonic Order and created a Crusader state during the centuries long Baltic Crusades (13th century - 15th century).

Prussia and the greater Baltic area was like the wild west back in those days, pagan tribes raiding isolated Christian outposts, clash of cultures and religion, German colonists making the long journey to the "new world"... that sorta thing.

I've traveled quite a bit in that area and there is plenty to see for medieval history buffs, like Malbork Castle (largest in the world), Frombork Cathedral, Kwidzyn Castle, Grunwald Battlefield, much of Gdansk, to name the most known ones

Carlos, I haven't seen much of Poland but did visit Gdansk and Marlbork castle back in 2010. I want to plan a much longer trip to explore Poland.