Techno, sex, counterculture: this is Berghain, the legendary Berlin club from which Rosalía’s new single takes its name.

After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, a cultural revolution spurred by a generation of freedom-seeking youth swept through the newly unified German capital, and techno music became its soundtrack.

At that time, Berlin’s old wall was very visible, and the eastern part of the city was undergoing major changes after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

“It was very poor. It was like the end of World War II,” recalls Matthias Pasgelny, a professor of musicology at the Berlin University of the Arts and an expert on the history of techno.

“Many parts of the city were completely destroyed or under construction. People moved to Berlin just for fun, because everything was so cheap,” he said in an interview with BBC Mundo.

Many abandoned and invaded buildings from the communist era were quickly converted into temples. ravers They danced to the rhythm of techno music at a party that lasted several days.

The name Berghain as we know it today is an acronym for Kreuz and Kreuz.berg and friedrichshein (The Berlin district in which it is located is called Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg) was born in 2004, but its history goes back to the beginning of the Cultural Revolution that I talked about earlier.

In the mid-90s, Berghain’s founders began opening nightclubs with different names and locations.

“They opened clubs and party venues in Berlin for the gay fetish subculture, which had strong ties to techno music and were mainly run by people from the former East,” Pasjerny says.

These festivals laid the foundations for the founding of Berghain.

“At first it was just a party in a certain location. We had to move clubs a few times, but then we decided to create our own club,” he continues.

Ostgut was born in 1998 and then became Berghain as we know it today in 2004.

The legendary nightclub’s iconic headquarters is located in a former East German power station, a few meters from the former East Berlin’s main train station.

Musicologist Matthias Pasjerny emphasizes that ever since Berghain opened, music has been of paramount importance and that it has remained, and should continue to be, a temple where everything revolves around music.

“This is a place that’s really dedicated to music and focused solely on music. It’s like the Philharmonic of techno,” he says.

“We have an amazing sound system. The architecture, infrastructure and design of the building is designed to allow you to concentrate completely on the music.”

The DJs lucky enough to play at Berghain every weekend will offer a marathon session that lasts until midday on Monday.

On the main dance floor, which was once the power plant’s turbine room, a group of increasingly sweaty revelers dance ceaselessly, with no distinction between day and night, due to the dimness, punctuated only by flashing lights that move to the rhythm of the music.

Elsewhere in the building, in a space dedicated to sex, more intimate encounters take place, based on the motto: “What happens in Berghain stays in Berghain.”

In addition to being a musicologist, Matthias Pasgelny describes himself as: Labor I’ve been to Berghain many times.

My experience as “ Labor It’s that Berghain is a place you come in to and you don’t know how you’re going to come out, what state of mind you’re in and how long you’re going to stay,” he says.

“When you go outside, you don’t know how long you were there. Was it just a few hours or two days? It’s like going to another world, a world with completely different rules, where your senses work differently than in everyday life.”

Needless to say, many binge drinkers turn to drugs to keep themselves going until the wee hours of the morning (sometimes from midnight Saturday to noon Monday).

And the only thing that is not allowed at Berghain is photography. Those granted access will cover their phone cameras with stickers.

However, very few people are lucky enough to reach this stage.

Berghain maintains a very strict access policy, which has undoubtedly helped it develop its reputation as “one of the world’s best nightclubs.”

Sven Marquardt is the goalkeeper who is responsible for deciding who joins this legendary club.

He has worked at the club since its creation in 1998, when he was hired to work in Ostgut, the first version of the club.

In a 2017 interview with the BBC, Marquardt said he lived in Berlin in the 1990s, like many Berliners at the time.

“I started going to techno parties in old abandoned factories. We danced all night without sleeping. For me, it was new to experience such freedom,” he said.

In addition to having fun, he had to earn a living somehow. His brother, who was mixing as a DJ in some of the capital’s most popular clubs, suggested he take up a job as a bouncer.

“Berghain can be described as a place of celebration where international artists can present their music on different floors.”

“This is a place where you can forget about time and space. It’s also a place of tolerance and acceptance, but above all it’s a place of celebration.”

Sven Marquardt told the BBC that his role as goalkeeper was to enable people to peacefully celebrate their freedom, their way of living and feeling.

He added that as Berghain’s doorman, he has to make sure he can provide that to his customers.

“People always want to know, ‘How can I get them into my house?’ It’s hard to answer. I’m also a photographer, so I think I watch people, and sometimes there’s not enough time to make a decision,” he explained.

“I’m observing. For me, it’s about finding contrast in the people who come. Contrast, conflict, extremes. That’s pretty much it.”

“The important thing is that Berghain is built by and for the people who come here to party.”

“What people looked like, what they wore, how they dance didn’t matter, or hadn’t mattered for a long time,” musicologist and club regular Mathias Pasjani recalls. “Music was the basis of everything.”

He regrets that this has changed a bit in recent years.

“Especially since the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s kind of become a catwalk,” he says.

Berlin’s iconic club has been forced to close due to the coronavirus pandemic. Berghain is no exception and has had to reinvent itself for some time.

The nightclub famously relaxed its notoriously strict admission policy for art lovers in the summer of 2020 and transformed itself into an art gallery.

Thousands of visitors were able to take a guided tour of the club’s 3,500 square meters, including its dance floor and legendary panoramic bar.

Passeny believes that both the strict access policy and no photography allowed have helped build a great brand.

“The people behind Berghain have developed a clear concept from the beginning. When you go there you see that everything is very professionally organized, but it still feels like an alternative club, underground” he explains.

“It’s become such a unique and valuable brand that we really need to protect it,” he added.

In March 2024, Germany took steps to protect clubs like Berghain by adding Berlin’s techno scene to the country’s intangible cultural heritage.

This is an important milestone for an industry that is undergoing a major crisis.

Last November, the nonprofit Club Commission released a report warning that half of the city’s roughly 250 clubs are at risk of closing by 2025 due to rapidly rising rents, gentrification and Berlin’s changing demographics.

Nevertheless, Berghain’s reputation is so high that it appears to be unaffected by the crisis so far. Every Saturday night, the line to get in is just as long.

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