The Reichstag (German parliament) opened in 1894, but Kaiser Wilhelm refused to allow the words "Dem Deutschen Volke" (To the German People) to be inscribed above its entrance for over twenty years. This was because he did not like the fact that its dome stood higher than his palace and wanted parliament to be nothing more than a talking shop while he kept real power for himself. The inscription wasn't carved until 1916.

The building caught fire in 1933 under dubious circumstances. Hitler blamed communists and used the blaze as an excuse to suspend constitutional rights, ban opposition parties, and seize absolute control.

After reunification, British architect Norman Foster rebuilt the Reichstag with a glass dome. His central idea was for visitors to look down on members of parliament, a symbolic reversal in a country where too many leaders had been deified. The building has ninety-six cast-iron plates outside that commemorate the nearly 100 of 550 Reichstag members murdered by the Nazis within a few years of 1933.

VoiceMap's self-guided audio tours explain why the building became Germany's most powerful democratic symbol.