he city, including Transmediale and Chaos Communication Congress.
Berlin has a long history of gay culture and influence on popular entertainment, and according to some authors, in the 1920s the city was the Gay Capital of Europe. Today, the city has a huge number of gay clubs and festivals, such as Easter fetish week Easter in Berlin, Berlin Pride (Christopher Street Day)�central Europe's largest gay-lesbian pride event celebrated on the last weekend of June�Folsom Europe and Hustlaball. Berlin is also leading Europe in the number of fetish clubs. Easter in Berlin and Folsom Europe Berlin are the biggest gay fetish festivals in Europe. Annual gay highlights in Berlin are also the gay and lesbian street festival in Berlin-Sch�neberg (Lesbisch-schwules Stadtfest) and Kreuzberg Pride in June. The largest gay areas in Berlin are located in Sch�neberg close to Nollendorfplatz, in Prenzlauer Berg at the Sch�nhauser Allee subway station and the street Mehringdamm.
Berlin is home to 153 museums. The ensemble on the Museum Island is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is situated in the northern part of the Spree Island between the Spree and the Kupfergraben. As early as 1841 it was designated a "district dedicated to art and antiquities" by a royal decree. Subsequently, the Altes Museum (Old Museum) was built in the Lustgarten. The Neues Museum (New Museum), which displays the bust of Queen Nefertiti, Alte Nationalgalerie (Old National Gallery), Pergamon Museum, and Bode Museum were built there. While these buildings once housed distinct collections, the names of the buildings no longer necessarily correspond to the names of their collections.
Apart from the Museum Island, there are many additional museums in the city. The Gem�ldegalerie (Painting Gallery) focuses on the paintings of the "old masters" from the 13th to the 18th centuries, while the Neue Nationalgalerie (New National Gallery, built by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe) specializes in 20th-century
