Sunday, July 11, 2010
Models, models, models!
I went on a tour yesterday which took me to two places: the Stadtmuseum (a museum of the history of Berlin) and the Senatsverwaltung für Stadtentwicklung, or the Senate Department for Urban Development. There I saw a series of models depicting the city at various stages of growth: in the 1500s, in 1688, and then in the present day. I wish I would have had photos of these models when I was teaching studio - they're really quite amazing and some of them, huge! The first two models were in the Stadtmuseum and the rest are part of a permanent exhibition across the street at the Department for Urban Development.
Here is Berlin as it was in the 1500s. It was actually originally composed of two free cities: Berlin on the right and Cölln on the left, but they became a unified city around 1237. The river Spree runs between the settlements. The canal of water on the right running along the edge of Berlin was later filled in and became part of the S-bahn train system.
Here is Berlin as it was in 1688. You can see from the people standing around this model that it's quite large, perhaps 18 feet across.
Check out the amazing detail of this model!
Here are the models of the contemporary city. I think the photos do not do justice to how enormous they truly are. This one is probably 60 feet across and 20 feet high, and it depicts a lot of the city, but it ends a ways from where I live in Tempelhof.
Here are some people for scale.
Here's a detail of the model showing the Brandenburger Tor and part of the Tiergarten. Notice Eisenman's Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe just to the south of the Brandenburg Gate. The Reichstag is just to its north.
Here's an even more detailed version of Berlin focusing on the cultural center of the city. Notice the long low red bar just below the Fernsehtum. That building was the Palast der Republik, the capitol building of the Deutsche Demokratishe Republik, or the government of East Germany. Interestingly, this Palast was build on the same ground where the Prussian Stadtschloss once stood. The Palast was demolished in 2008 and the site is still empty. There is a group that wants to rebuild the Baroque Stadtschloss, but it is still a controversial proposal.
Here is Berlin as it was in the 1500s. It was actually originally composed of two free cities: Berlin on the right and Cölln on the left, but they became a unified city around 1237. The river Spree runs between the settlements. The canal of water on the right running along the edge of Berlin was later filled in and became part of the S-bahn train system.
Here is Berlin as it was in 1688. You can see from the people standing around this model that it's quite large, perhaps 18 feet across.
Here are some people for scale.
Here's a part of the model showing some of the former East, including the Fernsehturm - the tallest building in Berlin. I didn't realize this before the tour, but almost all of the historic core of the city lay in the former East.
Here's an even more detailed version of Berlin focusing on the cultural center of the city. Notice the long low red bar just below the Fernsehtum. That building was the Palast der Republik, the capitol building of the Deutsche Demokratishe Republik, or the government of East Germany. Interestingly, this Palast was build on the same ground where the Prussian Stadtschloss once stood. The Palast was demolished in 2008 and the site is still empty. There is a group that wants to rebuild the Baroque Stadtschloss, but it is still a controversial proposal.
My Neighborhood
This is Tempelhofer Damm a couple of blocks from the Ubahnhof (U-bahn Station) Kaiserin Augusta Straße. There's a small collection of Asian restaurants there, including Indian and Singaporian places.I had dinner at one a few nights ago, and this was the view from where I sat.
Freiluftkino-Kreuzberg!
Last week, I got to experience one of Berlin's best-loved summer past-times, the Freiluftkino or the open-air cinema. There are a number of these cinemas around Berlin, but the one I went to was in Kreuzberg. It's located on the grounds of of the Künstlerhauses Bethanien. Completed in 1847, this building was originally designed by three of Schinkel's students as a home for Deconesses and a hospital to be run by them. After being saved from demolition, it became a center of art, housing studios, multimedia labs, and offices for cultural organizations.
The Freiluftkino offers a bit of drink and snacks for sale - a bit of popcorn (sweet, I hear) and an extensive variety of beer. There is apparently no open-container law in Berlin, so if you don't finish your beer, you can take it to go!
Sommerhaus on Linienstraße
Here is the building where my language classes are being held. Though they are through the Goethe Institute, there are too many courses to all be held at their main campus, so they've rented this building for the summer. Normally, it's the Volkshochschule, or the People's High School, but we're calling it the Sommerhaus. It's on Linienstraße, and it's a couple of blocks away from Ubanhof Oranienburger Tor on the U6 line, which is what I can take from my apartment. Very convenient! Unfortunately, like just about every building in Berlin, there's not an air conditioner to be found for miles, so it's a bit warm to say the least. The area where the school is located is a kind of art-gallery center, with dozens of galleries in the surrounding blocks.
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