Day 8     6/11/12

We started off the day by visiting the Berliner Dom (aka, the Berlin Cathedral), which was built in its original form in the 15^th century, but has undergone numerous remodeling since. The most recent remodel was in 1905, though it had to be restored after the allied air raids of WWII.  Aside from the lovely interior, we had the option to climb to the top of the dome for a view of the city, which I really enjoyed.

As you can see, I was really quite excited about the sky and the clouds and the view.

This picture shows a controversial plot of land in central Berlin. It is the location that the Stadtschloss, the Berlin City Palace, stood from the 15^th century to the second World War, when it was heavily damaged by bombing and pulled down by orders of the GDR. In its place, a large modernist building was constructed, the Palast der Republik (Palace of the Republic). This building was torn down after German reunification in 1990, and is currently a park-like area, though there is a public movement to reconstruct the Stadtschloss for historical identity reasons.

In the afternoon we went to “Museum Island”, going into the Pergamon, Neues, and Altes museums. All three museums were abundant with staggeringly famous pieces (many of which were obtained during German conquests). The Pergamon contained immense pieces, such as the top steps and alter of the ancient Greek Pergamon temple (broken down and reassembled inside the museum). I could never get a good picture. Also present were the Gates of Ishtar; again I couldn’t get a whole picture so I’ve provided the model they had on display. The Gates were constructed as the eighth gate to the inner city of Babylon in 575 BC by order of King Nebuchadnezzar II. The giant, blue-stone gates have alternating bas reliefs of dragons and cattle. In the corner of the room encased by the Ishtar Gates is the giant stone upon which Hammurabi’s Code is inscribed. The sixth Babylonian king, Hammurabi, wrote and enacted the code of laws pertaining to scaled punishments for public disobedience, elaborating upon “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”. The largest portion of the code pertains to family and marital matters.

The Neues collection concentrated on Egyptian and the Middle Eastern part of the world, while the Atlas museum had a greater selection of Greek and Roman history.

Day 9     6/12/12

Today we went to the German History museum, starting the morning with the temporary exhibits. The most extensive was that on the life of Fredrick the Great, King of Prussia from 1740 to 1786 and known as one of its greatest leaders. Still revered today, Fredrick was of the Hohenzollern line and was best known as a brilliant military campaigner and leader of the Prussian armies. As a young man, Frederick disdained court life and preferred the arts of music and philosophy, which lead him to unsuccessfully attempt to flee from his authoritarian father, Frederick William I, with childhood friend Hans Hermann von Katte. After being caught, he was forced to watch the execution of his friend, an incident believed by many to be Fredrick’s making as a man—others feel he would have been an ever greater ruler had he not suffered that great oppression and tragedy. Upon ascending to the Prussian throne, he began his military conquests by attacking Austria and claiming Silesia during the Silesian Wars, winning military renown for himself and Prussia. By the end of his life, Frederick had conquered Polish territories and connected most of his kingdom.  Aside from these militant pursuits, Frederick continued his interest in music and philosophy. An ardent flutist, Frederick wrote hundreds of pieces by the end of his life while still patronizing other arts and philosophers. Voltaire was a personal friend who took residence in Fredrick’s favorite palace, Sanssouci, for years.  Fredrick was called ‘the great’ starting halfway through his career for no small reason.

Moving on to the permanent exhibit, which we looked at later that day, it was immense and fabulous and documented the history of Deutchland from the very beginnings with the movements of the Celts all the way to current happenings. It had a vast collection, so I’ll just mention some highlights (or at least those that I also got good photos of). First off, we saw the horn of Rolland.

We saw this very comical and image of Martin Luther posting the 95 Theses with a pen that’s knocking off the Pope’s hat. Look closely to find the other Martin Luthers in this photo (can you find them all?)

Also… they had Napoleon’s hat. From Waterloo. The Germans stole it, and his sword, out of his carriage as he fled the battle. That. Is cool.

I really can’t say more without beginning to summarize the entirety of German history, a task I am not willing to uptake.

Day 10   6/13/12

We began the day by walking around the area right near our apartments, reading the historical placards with information about the area. Our apartments stand on the area that used to be the location of the Nazi bunkers; the bunker where Hitler shot himself was only about a block away. On a nearby street corner there is this pole in the shape of a face. It is dedicated to Georg Elser, with a base plate stating “Ich habe den Krieg verhindern wollen.”, which translates to ‘I wanted to halt the war.’  Elser was a Jewish man who attempted to assassinate Adolf Hitler in Munich on November 8^th, 1939 in order to prevent the war begun by Germany from spreading. A couple of minutes before the bomb exploded, the dictator left the assembly hall, surviving the blast. Elser was captured trying to immigrate to Switzerland and was handed over to the Gestapo; after five years in concentration camps, Elser was executed at Dachau in 1945.

Following this, we went to the site where one of the last remaining pieces of the Berlin wall stands. This location has double significance, for it was also the location of the former SS headquarters, demolished by the soviets after the war. Today there is a museum and a timeline following Hitler’s rise to power and progression through the war.

In the evening, we climbed to the top of the Reichstag to look out across Berlin from the new dome (The old having been destroyed by a fire during the Nazi’s rise to power, an event they used as a reason for the persecution of their political opponents). The new dome is architecturally profound, with a large glass and metal frame open to the sky. Also, there was a pretty good view.

Day 11   6/14/12

Our first stop of the morning was the CDU central office. The CDU is the reigning party in the German government; during our tour, we were shown Angela Merkel’s office and chair in the conference room. Merkel is the Chancellor of Germany and Chairwoman of the CDU (Christian Democratic Union). 

We visited the Nordic Embassy in Berlin, where Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, and Iceland placed their individual buildings inside the same exterior shell to share a common courtyard. 

Aside from the buildings being architecturally interesting, the furnishings of said building were also modern and interesting. Something I never took note of prior to this trip was that many architects design furniture and other household objects, either to suit the house or to just have made a chair. Usually they seem to be pretty good at it, and there was some really cool furniture at the embassies. 

Speaking of cool things at the embassies, one last thing to note would be that the Norwegian embassy had a sauna in it. For use by the (few) workers and their families. Because, you know, who doesn't need a sauna at work?