GERMAN police have said they shot at a man “rampaging” at Berlin Cathedral and armed officers cordoned off the entrances to the landmark in the heart of the German capital.

The incident happened on a busy Sunday afternoon in the popular city.

“Shortly after 4pm (12am AEST) police shot at a rampaging man at Berlin Cathedral,” police said in a tweet.

“He was wounded in the leg.”

The man’s age and nationality were not known.

It was not immediately clear whether anyone else was hurt in the incident at Berlin’s main Protestant cathedral, one of the city’s top tourist attractions.

The iron-domed house of worship is on Museum Island off East Berlin’s main Unter den Linden boulevard and close to the Alexanderplatz shopping district.

An AFP reporter said the entrances to the building were blocked off with red-and-white police tape and several officers with automatic weapons were patrolling the scene.

DPA news agency said some witnesses were taken away to receive psychological counselling.