Tetes et Queue sculpture by Alexander Calder, outside New National Gallery (Neue Nationalgalerie).

Getty Images/Lonely Planet Images

Neue Nationalgalerie

Berlin


The fabulous collection of early-20th-century art housed at the Neue Nationalgalerie is off view until renovations of the gallery, led by architect David Chipperfield, are completed (anticipated by the end of 2020). The building itself is a late masterpiece by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. All glass and steel and squatting on a raised platform, it echoes a postmodern Buddhist temple.

There's not much to see for now, although the construction wall has been turned into a sidewalk exhibit featuring photographs of the iconic building and its creator.