IS IT A HOUSE OR A WORLD?
Berlin fourth place: still Mitte
Fourth episode. Basically we are walking around the city. Gym!
In the last stage we stopped at the Führer bunker next to the Holocaust Monument. Let's go back to the Brandenburg Gate, cross it and follow the Unter den Linden avenue ('under the lime trees') until you reach the Museum Island, passing through Hackescher Markt and then on to Rosenthaler Straße and Sophienstraße.
The boulevard Unter den Linden was and still is the most important street in the city and linked the Tiergarten, at that time hunting ground of the kings, to the Museum Island where the city's castle stood, the Stadtschloss, which played a role fundamental for the development of the city. However he lived a troubled life. The original building dates back to 1443 and was the home of the electors of Brandenburg, the kings of Prussia and the emperors of Germany. It has endured over the centuries, but the following is reported by the VisitBerlin site because it explains very well the recent history of the castle:"Following the Second World War, the boulevard was a desert of rubble, with the exception of the Stadtschloss. In 1950, however, Walter Ullbricht, the then Secretary-General of the Central Committee of the Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands (SED) (German Socialist Party), decided to blow up and demolish the Stadtschloss as a symbol of Prussian absolutism. . In place of the Stadtschloss, Erich Honecker built the Palazzo della Repubblica in 1976, which was closed and demolished due to contamination of asbestos. In 2006. "
It did not end here for the poor castle. Now they want it back. In fact, there is a great story in the heart of the city, among many others. Clearly in a historical period like this, characterized by a world economic contraction, people got angry and not a little. It seems that the new castle costs 615.5 million euros. It's called Humboldtforum, it will be ready in 2019 and last year they laid the roof with a dome reminiscent of the Reichstag. From an architectural and aesthetic point of view I do not agree, it is anachronistic and not even commentary from an economic point of view.
The building site of the Berliner Schloss - Humboldtforum in its early days. Nov. 2012
However, before arriving at the castle yard along the Unter den Linden boulevard we can see the Humboldt-Universität, the Staatsoper (State Opera), the Neue Wache - New Guard, with a monument that was originally dedicated to the German victims of the wars against Napoleon, but the government of the GDR has dedicated it to the victims of fascism and militarism - and the Zeughaus (Arsenal). Do not forget Babelplatz where you remember the place where May 10, 1933 the Nazis burned for the first time the books not welcome to the ideology. In the square there is a sort of hole covered by a glass plate, illuminated in the evening, which contains empty white shelves. A chilling effect, just like the episode.
The sculpture "La Pietà" inside the Neue Wache
At the end of the avenue, as mentioned, the castle yard is located opposite the Cathedral of Berlin and the Altes Museum, a neoclassical building with a strong impact built in the first half of the 800 to host the artistic collection of the kings of Prussia.
Altes Museum
Little gem before continuing: Fernsehturm, the television tower of Alexanderplatz which is located not far from the construction site of the castle. This tower has a large ball of reflecting mirrors that played bad jokes in Soviet times. At a certain time of day the mirrors reflect the sunlight creating a large cross. Mocking the fate because at the time they had tried to eliminate every cross from the top of the churches.
Cross or not cross?
We continue to the island of museums and many ask me what is worth to visit among the various museums: Altes Museum, Alte Nationalgalerie, Neues Museum and Pergamonmuseum. Personally I saw the last two, both magnificent, but the routes are quite long so if you have to choose one I recommend the Pergamonmuseum because the altar of Pergamum takes your breath away !! Let's not forget the market gate of Miletus and the Ishtar Gate, one of the historical entrances to the city of Babylon. I say it's absolutely worth it.
We continue following the direction Hackescher Markt, is a very nice area, I remember with a smile and then from here we go to Rosenthaler Straße. This street I remember it crazy! I ended up here by chance. Because my friend had assigned a fun task, we had to go back to Berlin in the footsteps of the book " Berlin Alexanderplatz " by the writer Alfred Döblin.
The path of the book "Berlin Alexanderplatz"
The book is not among my favorites, it is cumbersome and heavy, but it made me discover wonderful corners of Berlin. I remember that every doorway of the building, therefore every 5 meters, opened courtyards full of surprises: exhibitions, bizarre used shops, comics shops, artists' studios, commemorative plaques everywhere, until I ended up in a basement that a punk group had transformed in an exhibition of objects created by assembling old spare parts of cars and other debris. I remember as if it were yesterday that some of these sculptures were automated, by inserting a coin they moved, but it was all so damn underground . A dream. Sometimes I really think I dreamed of that day.
I do a check on the internet and I discover that the group and that the site still exists !! You absolutely have to jump: Monsterkabinett of the Deadchickens group .
The Monsterkabinett