Excursion Part 1 (because there were too many cool things to put in a single post):

Day 13   6/16/12

We left Berlin bright and early to begin our southern Deutchland excursion. Aside from driving, today we visited the Bauhaus Institute in Dessau. The Bauhous was a German school of art and design (and architecture) started in the 1920’s by Walter Gropius. Its innovative teaching style focused on inventing novel ways to create everyday objects and kind of bringing art back to the common people. It was truly a center and birthplace of the ‘modern’ movement across the artistic fields. The National Socialists were against the Bauhous’s radical methods and opposed the institute, eventually shutting it down when they came to power in the 1930’s. We had a tour of the institute’s Dessau building and grounds, which were designed by Gropius when the Bauhous moved to Dessau in 1925. The entire building was designed to be open and changing; the windows shown here, which appear throughout the building, are mechanically opened and closed by a hand crank located to the side of the windows.  We also got a tour of the Masters houses near campus (houses built as part of the same project to house the most important teachers at the institute) and looked at an exhibit of Marcel Breuer, who was a master carpenter who after joining the Bauhous as a teacher did innovative work with steel tube furniture and who later moved into architecture.

Day 14   6/17/12

We woke up in Nuremberg and set off to explore the city. Our first stop was the Nuremberg Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady), a Catholic church consecrated in the 14^th century. After visiting the church, we headed up to the old castle; on our way we passed a statue of Albrecht Durer, who is considered by some to be the greatest artist of the Northern Renaissance. Born in Nuremberg, he became famous as a printmaker, painter, mathematician, and theorist. 

Approaching the castle is an uphill walk; this castle was a fortress and appears at the base to be almost carved into the mountainside. We didn’t go inside the castle, but we did get in the outer gate and up onto the battlements. Looking out from the battlements we could see a sea of buildings with red and brown shingled roofs with the odd green (church) spire or dome protruding from the masses. A medieval city, Nuremberg has that unique quality of being rather jumbled together, with winding streets and crowded buildings.  

Also, I learned what the notches in castle walls were called: crenellations.  

On our way back to the bus we walked by St. Lorenzkirche, a twin-towered gothic cathedral from the 13-15^th centuries.

This was also one of my first days experimenting with the panorama setting on my camera. Twas pretty dang cool.

After wandering around the old city center we went to the Nazi Party Rally Grounds (Reichsparteitagsgelade in Deutch).

 These grounds and the attached documentation centre was one of the most interesting places we visited the entire trip.  Approaching the building, you see this immense white-stone structure with a jagged steel and glass structure protruding from it—the entrance to the documentation center. The building, the Congress Hall, was originally built for the Nazi party as part of the grounds planned by Hitler’s favorite architect Albert Speer; the buildings were meant to show the immense power and grandeur of the party. After Hitler’s fall, the building was preserved and the north wing of the unfinished Hall was converted into the documentation center using a design by Jewish architect Gunther Domenig.  Instead of remodeling or simply using the space as it was, Domenig designed this museum as a large glass and steel structure piercing the Congress Hall, an addition symbolically stabbing that center of the Nazi Regime. 

The museum inside focused on Hitler and the National Socialist German Worker’s Party (NSDAP)’s rise to power and the German experience of the war and the period leading up to it. It focused on the Hitler cult, German propaganda (like Leni Riefenstahl’s film Triumph of the Will), Hitler’s superbly-engineered displays of power (Albert Speer’s architecture and the Nazi Party rallies), and essentially sought to explain how and why the Third Reich came into being.  It made clear Hitler’s astounding aptitude as a communicator and laid out how he came to power using words, laws, politics, and passion. Most certainly one of the most interesting museums (though, as its name states, it’s more of a documentation center than a museum, providing information rather than artifacts). 

 We had a guided tour of parts of the other grounds, walking down the Groβe Straβe (the Great Road) to the Zeppelinfeld. On the edge of the expansive field was the famous grandstand built for Hitler by Speer, the design of which was passed upon the Pergamon Alter. Smaller grandstands surrounded the field. This was the location of countless parades and marches and performances for the Nazi Rallies; to be present or to be chosen to perform was one of the greatest honors of the regime and Hitler chose only the best looking and most presentable of the German troops to be present so as to present a perfect and attractive image for Nazi Germany.  It was at this field Hitler and his most important party members gathered to preside over the Nazi’s greatest extravaganza, surrounding by Speer’s most innovative design—the so called Cathedral of light. As Hitler was trying to present the image of a strong, handsome, blond-hair, blue-eyed Germany, he and his unattractive colleagues did not fit in with the image. Thus they endeavored to hide this fact by surrounding themselves by bright lights. 130 anti-aircraft lights were placed at their back and pointed to the sky, casting their faces in shadow and surrounding Hitler by lights reaching towards the heavens. The lights were so bright and shot so high in the air that on a clear night they were able to be seen from the Czech Republic.

Again, it was a fascinating place.

That afternoon we drove to Munich and briefly stopped by the old city center where we saw the Frauenkirche (the Dom zu Unserer Lieben Frau—the Church of Our Dear Lady) built in the 15^th century. The church was interesting in its resplendent ornate detailing and lack of color. It was located on one side of Marianplatz, which has been the city’s main square since the 12^th century and was the location of Hitler’s famous failed attempt to seize power in the famous Beer Hall Putsch.

Day 15   6/18/12

In the morning we went to the Dachau Concentration Camp.

We spent the afternoon at the BMW World dealership (designed by Coop Himmelblau) and the Olympic village where the 1976 Munich Olympics were held (designed by Frei Otto and Gunter Behnisch).

The Olympic Natatorium was really awesome.

And the grounds/park was really wonderful. Having a massive park in the middle of a giant city is an astoundingly good idea.