First documented in the 13th century, Berlin soon made a career as a capital??????of the electorate Brandenburg, the kingdom of Prussia, the German empire, the Weimar Republic and the Third Reich, the GDR, and since 1990 as the capital of a united Germany again. Consequently, its diverse, often con-tradictory architectural legacy ranges from residences and palaces via tenement blocks, the model buildings of the avantgarde and the Olympic stadium through to the (former) Stalin-Allee. After two world wars, division and reunification the city is slowly returning to the metropolis it once was. The controversial Sony Center and the new government quarter mark the most recent milestones on this route. German photographer Gerrit Engel compiled a typology of 160 Berlin buildings presented, as in his 2006 book Manhattan New York, in chronological order, making visible both the radical historical developments and the challenge of dealing with an overwhelming city history.