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Cafe Moskau East Berlin

The Cafe Moskau in East Berlin.

Finished in 1964 and formerly known as Restaurant Moskau, it is one of a group of seven city-themed dining establishments in East Berlin. Architecturally, it is notable for several reasons.

For one, the Moskau as well as adjacent buildings, including the gorgeous Kino International, were built in the second phase of construction on the Stalinallee/Karl-Marx-Allee. Its lightweight, modernist design stands in stark constrast to the monumentality of the phase-one buildings constructed in the style of Stalinist classicism.

The Moskau is incredibly unique. In addition to having an atrium, it has a massive mosaic ('From the Lives of the Peoples of the Soviet Union') that dominates the entrance area. It is only fully visible if you get close because half of it is obscured by the ornamented concrete walls on the second floor.

The design of the building is quite busy. The neon lights on the roof and the Sputnik model are just as eye-catching as the mosaic and concrete art. The facade of the ground floor is decorated with greenish, yellowish tiles - quite an unusual color, especially in combination with the brown paint surrounding the windows on the building's north side.

There was a rosarium and outdoor seating area on the its south side, separated from the bustling surroundings by the same ornate wall used above the entrance area. There was also a small outdoor space on the building's west side, next to a tiny beauty parlor.

The Moskau was privatized after reunification and hasn't been used as a cafe/restaurant since.