Cruise is making Mission Impossible 3

Cruise, who will co-produce and star in the movie, wanted to film the 40 metre (130 foot) Berlin glass and steel dome.

Parliament President Wolfgang Thierse turned down the request on Tuesday.

"The building is not available as a film location and we refuse point blank every request to use it as such," a spokesman said.

Cruise had visited the building in April and was enthusiastic about using it as a location in his latest action film.

Previous locations used in the Mission Impossible films include County Hall in London, the National Museum in Prague and the Lichtenstein Palace in the Czech Republic.

The Reichstag was reopened as a parliament building in 1999

But Mr Thierse did not want the Reichstag featuring in a movie.

"This is about preserving the dignity of the parliament," the spokesman said.

The Reichstag was opened in 1894 under the German emperor, but was heavily bombed during World War II.

It was only reopened as a parliament building in 1999, nine years after Germany was unified.

It has previously been used as a giant piece of art, when it was shrink-wrapped by the artist Christo in 1995