The locations of the Bundestag (the German parliament), the Federal Council, the Federal President’s Office, the Federal Chancellery and the federal ministries in Berlin are distributed over a wide area in the centre of Berlin. Museums, opera houses, concert halls, theatres, restaurants and taverns mingle with the parliament and government buildings. And Pariser Platz is the starting point on the oldest strolling promenade in the city – the boulevard Unter den Linden. It is crossed by Friedrichstrasse, one of the exclusive shopping centres in Berlin.

The decision of the national government to do largely without new buildings and to accommodate public authorities mainly in extended or refurbished old buildings helped to preserve the character of the new central borough which will be formed in 2001 by the merger of the boroughs of Wedding, Tiergarten and Mitte.