A city pack for the Moonlit Atlas book

Berlin

East and West stand on one shelf in this set: the TV Tower beside the golden Victory Column, and both of the old crossings open: the five passages of the Brandenburg Gate, and a yellow U-Bahn over the Spree. Put it in your Moonlit Atlas, press the brass button, and Berlin stands up under the moon.

The Moonlit Atlas book, closed: 8.1 × 6.7 × 2.5 in. With this pack, Berlin is what folds flat inside it. Scroll to open it in the blue hour, as the street lamps come on.

Press the brass button. Two torsion springs lift the lid, a gear damper keeps it slow, and three rows of the city stand up with it, upright at 90°, the TV Tower's striped antenna highest of all.

The TV Tower, the East's landmark on Alexanderplatz: a slim white shaft, the silver sphere with its ring of lit windows and the red-and-white antenna. To its right the Victory Column, the West's golden Victoria raising her wreath over the Tiergarten.

On the left, Berlin Cathedral: the great green copper dome with its gold lantern on a drum of columns and lit windows, a smaller green dome on each corner tower. Slab tower blocks stand behind the old city, their windows lit row on row.

One row down, the Reichstag under its glass dome, a steel grid over a lit ring, behind a portico of columns. Beside it the Red Town Hall raises its brick clock tower, and Altbau houses in cream, ochre and pale green hang out their iron balconies.

On the street, the Brandenburg Gate: six columns, five open passages with a lit band under each lintel, and the green Quadriga on top. Linden trees and people line the street with a yellow double-decker bus and a striped stall, and the Berlin bear raises both arms at the end.

At the front, the Spree fills the tray in blue. The red-brick Oberbaum Bridge crosses it on its arches between three towers, a yellow U-Bahn on its upper deck, and a white tour boat passes in front.

Lights out. The TV Tower's sphere and tip, the ring inside the Reichstag's dome, the gate's passages, the windows of the town hall, the bus and the U-Bahn all glow, and the moon and stars come out over Berlin. They glow in the dark: no batteries, no wires.

The four pieces of the Berlin set out of the book, seen from the front right and a little above: in front, the blue river plate with white ripples, a long red-brick bridge on round arches with three pointed towers, two yellow train cars on its deck and a white boat with a pale blue glass roof; behind it the street row with round green trees, a yellow double-decker bus, a sandstone gate of six columns with a green horse group on top, a red-and-white striped stall and a brown bear with raised arms; then the middle row with a sandstone parliament under a glass dome, a red-brick clock tower with a green spire and cream, ochre and pale green houses; at the back a sandstone cathedral with copper-green domes and gold lanterns, a white tower with a silver ball and a red-and-white striped mast, cream and gray slab blocks and a column with a gold winged figure — The four pieces of the set out of the book: the Spree nearest you, the TV Tower and the cathedral at the back.

East and West, on one shelf

Both crossings stand open

For twenty-eight years a wall ran through Berlin. In this set the two halves stand side by side: the East's TV Tower and town hall beside the West's Victory Column and Reichstag. The two places where the city was cut are open again: the Brandenburg Gate's five passages go right through, and a yellow U-Bahn rolls across the Spree on the Oberbaum Bridge, once a border crossing.

The SpreeBlue water with white ripples, the Oberbaum Bridge with three towers and a yellow U-Bahn, and a white tour boat.
The gate and the streetThe Brandenburg Gate and its Quadriga, linden trees, a yellow double-decker, a striped stall, people and the Berlin bear.
Parliament and town hallThe Reichstag under its glass dome, the Red Town Hall's clock tower and Altbau houses with iron balconies.
The skylineBerlin Cathedral's copper dome, the TV Tower, slab tower blocks and the golden Victory Column.

Drag to turn the book. Tap a number for its story.

12 landmarks, from the antenna to the river

Walk the set the way the film did, from the lit tip of the TV Tower down to the tour boat on the Spree. Pick a landmark to see where it stands and what the model shows.

Up close

Copper green, brick red and the yellow U-Bahn

The street row of the Berlin set seen from the front: in the middle a sandstone gateway of six columns under a flat attic with a dark green group of four horses and a figure on top; at its left round green trees on brown trunks, small brown figures, a yellow double-decker bus with black lower windows and pale yellow-green upper windows, and a black traffic light; at its right a small black bicycle, a white stall under a red-and-white striped awning and a brown bear with both arms raised on a sandstone plinth; behind them a long sandstone building with a columned portico and a gray-blue glass dome, a brick-red clock tower with a pale round clock face, and cream, ochre and pale green houses with dark gray roofs and black iron balconies; at the top cream and gray slab blocks with pale yellow-green windows — The Brandenburg Gate on its street: six columns, the green Quadriga, a yellow double-decker and the Berlin bear.

The whole Berlin set in the open navy book, seen from the front over the water: at the back a sandstone cathedral with copper-green domes and a gold lantern, a white tower with a silver ball, cream and gray slab blocks and a column with a gold winged figure against a dark indigo panel with cream stars; in front a sandstone parliament with a glass dome, a brick-red clock tower with a green spire and cream, ochre and pale green houses; then the street with green trees, a yellow double-decker bus, a sandstone gate of six columns with a green horse group, a red-and-white striped stall and a brown bear; in the cream tray, the blue river with white ripples, a long red-brick bridge on arches with three pointed towers and two yellow train cars on its deck, and a white boat with a pale blue glass roof — The whole set from the Spree: the Oberbaum Bridge and its U-Bahn in the tray, the city standing behind it.

The skyline of the Berlin set under a large pale moon and cream stars on a dark indigo panel: at the left a sandstone cathedral with a big ribbed copper-green dome, a gold lantern and two small green corner domes; in the middle a slim white tower with a silver ball and a red-and-white striped mast, and in front of it a brick-red clock tower with a pale clock face and a green spire; at the right cream and gray slab blocks with lit windows and a sandstone column with gold rings and a gold winged figure; in front, a sandstone parliament with a gray-blue glass dome, a dark green horse group and cream, ochre and pale green houses — The skyline: the cathedral's copper dome, the TV Tower's striped antenna and the golden Victoria, with the Red Town Hall in front.

The open Moonlit Atlas book with the Berlin pack standing on a writing desk — At home: the Berlin pack in the book, on a writing desk.

The open book with the Berlin pack on a bedside table in a dark bedroom, its moon, stars and windows glowing — Lights out at bedtime: the moon, the stars and Berlin's windows glow.

Already have the book?

New York off, Berlin on

Say your book holds New York. Each row clicks onto its frame with two magnets and two V-keys. Lift it straight up and it comes free.

Once New York's three rows are off, lift its harbor plate out of the tray.

Drop in the Berlin plate: the blue Spree, with the Oberbaum Bridge and its U-Bahn.

Set the Berlin rows on, back to front, the TV Tower and the cathedral first. The magnets pull each row home. New York goes back on the same way whenever you want it.

What's in the Berlin pack

The set

Three building rows and a Spree plate that drop into your book and click onto its frames with magnets. No batteries: after a lamp has charged them, the windows glow brightest for 30 to 60 minutes.

Weight: about 5.2 oz 147 g
Made from: PLA
Building depth: up to 0.47 in, so the rows fold flat 12 mm

The closed Moonlit Atlas book: navy cover, cream page block and a brass button

Add-on: needs the Moonlit Atlas book

Berlin needs a book to stand in

This pack is the city only. It stands up inside the Moonlit Atlas book, which is sold separately. The rows click onto the book's frames, so Berlin swaps with New York or any other city set in seconds.

See the Moonlit Atlas book