Mitte is the youngest district of Berlin, first coming to be after the merger of Tiergarten and Wedding in 2001 into a single borough, although it is home to Berlin's oldest attractions. Right in its center is the Museuminsel, where the Spree surrounds a tiny island that carries some of the city's (and Europe's, for that matter) most prized museum collections. And not far away lies the Berliner Dom, the Brandenburger gate, and Alexanderplatz, the ugly but storied square near the East German TV-tower.