Evolution of Berlin | 3D Timelapse 1237–2026

Berlin, 1237 to 2026. From two small trading towns on the Spree to a royal capital, a divided city and a capital again: almost 800 years rebuilt in 3D from real building data, year by year. Built from real data in 3D; no AI-generated imagery. Illustrative 3D reconstruction, not archival footage. Chapters 0:00 Berlin today 0:14 Two Towns on the Spree 0:45 Medieval Berlin 1:10 The Palace on the Spree 1:35 Fortress and New Towns 2:00 The Prussian Capital 2:40 Frederick the Great's Berlin 3:15 Schinkel and the Railways 3:55 Imperial Berlin 4:45 The Twenties 5:20 War, 1939–1945 5:45 A Divided City 6:20 The Wall 7:00 One City Again 7:40 The New Berlin 8:20 Berlin, 2026 About this reconstruction Every building standing today comes from Berlin's official open 3D building model (LoD2). Construction years come from the Berlin monument database, OpenStreetMap and the Umweltatlas building-age map of residential blocks; where no year is recorded it is estimated. Earlier periods are an illustrative reconstruction: estimated low predecessor buildings fill each block from its first settlement (modelled on the historic urban development maps), predecessors of post-war buildings disappear in 1945, buildings in the border strip disappear after 1961, canals open as their district is laid out, and the Berlin Palace, the Palace of the Republic and the Wall (on its official 1989 course) are rebuilt as simple shapes. Ground and rooftops use real aerial imagery; the sky is a real photograph. On-screen dates are approximate. Every on-screen event is sourced from its Wikipedia article. Data and licenses • 3D building models LoD2 (Berlin): Datenlizenz Deutschland – Zero – 2.0, Senatsverwaltung für Stadtentwicklung, Bauen und Wohnen Berlin. https://gdi.berlin.de/data/a_lod2/atom • Monument list and dates (Denkmaldatenbank): Datenlizenz Deutschland – Zero – 2.0, Landesdenkmalamt Berlin. https://denkmaldatenbank.berlin.de • Building age of residential blocks (Umweltatlas 06.12): Datenlizenz Deutschland – Zero – 2.0. https://www.berlin.de/umweltatlas/nut... • Course of the Berlin Wall, 1989: Datenlizenz Deutschland – Zero – 2.0. https://gdi.berlin.de/services/wfs/be... • Street and park trees (Baumbestand): Datenlizenz Deutschland – Zero – 2.0. https://gdi.berlin.de/services/wfs/ba... • Aerial imagery 2025 (TrueDOP, summer): Datenlizenz Deutschland – Zero – 2.0, Geoportal Berlin. https://gdi.berlin.de/services/wms/tr... • Historic urban development maps (for the settlement model): Datenlizenz Deutschland – Zero – 2.0. https://gdi.berlin.de/services/wms/st... • OpenStreetMap: ODbL, © OpenStreetMap contributors. https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright • Terrain (outer area): AWS Terrain Tiles: EU-DEM, SRTM and others. https://github.com/tilezen/joerd/blob... • Poly Haven HDRI: CC0. https://polyhaven.com/a/qwantani_suns... Music (YouTube Audio Library) "July" by John Patitucci "Way Back Home" by Simon Herody "I'm Giving Up" by Everet Almond "LITE BRITE" by Density & Time "Scale The Mountain" by Density & Time Which city should we rebuild next? Tell us in the comments. #berlin #timelapse #3d #history #germany #berlinwall