BlackandWhite – Ostberliner

Neue Nationalgalerie

The museum building and its sculpture gardens were designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and opened in 1968. The building is considered an icon of modern architecture.

Mies van der Rohe reverted to two of his older architectural designs that remained unrealized. One was the administration building of the rum producer Bacardi in Santiago de Cuba, the other the building of the Museum Georg Schäfer in Schweinfurt. Mies‘ solution, with its latent classicism, is a modern transposition of the ancient podium stamp and built on a 105 x 110-meter granite terrace with a 1260 ton steel roof structure.

In 2012, it was announced that British architect David Chipperfield will oversee a major renovation of the building. The reopening is scheduled for early 2021.

Department Store Jonas & Co

Designed in the „Neue Sachlichkeit“ (New Objectivity) in 1928 as a seven-story department store with a rooftop restaurant by Jewish owners.
The concept was groundbreaking for the time: customers paid a quarter of the purchase price, received a receipt, and could pay off the rest in four monthly installments. The option of buying in installments was particularly convenient for the financially weak population in the nearby „Scheunenviertel“ (Barn Quarter) and the tenement buildings on Prenzlauer Allee.

In 1933, after the expropriation of the Jewish owners, the building was rented to the Reich Youth Leadership and served as the headquarters of the organization.
In 1945, it became the seat of the Central Committee of the Communist Party. In the late 1950s, the building was converted into the Institute of Marxism-Leninism. The extensive party archives were stored in the basement.
In 2007, a German-British investor group acquired the building and in 2010 opened „Soho House“ as an up-and-coming creative membership club in Berlin’s Mitte district. The original concept of the builders remains history. An architectural history that should be made into a film.

Alte Nationalgalerie

Old National Gallery in Berlin. The Museum Island Master Plan will be completed in 2020 and will connect all five museums, all of which have been completely renovated in the last two decades (UNESCO World Heritage Site).
In the spy film „The Torn Curtain“ (1966) by director Alfred Hitchcock, the museum served as a backdrop for some essential scenes, but only as a dummy, as no filming permit was granted.

Volksbühne

Volksbühne Berlin. Old theater (1892) well known for its ambitious performances. In 2003, Marilyn Manson shot his video „mObscene“ at the Volksbühne (remixed together with Rammstein).

Reichstag Kuppel

In 1992, Norman Foster won the architectural competition to rebuild the building. The large glass dome at the very top of the Reichstag offers a 360-degree view of the surrounding Berlin cityscape and a breathtaking view from above into the German parliament. A free visit to the dome is available via online registration. Well, you won’t see Angela, the dome is closed during plenary sessions.

Reichstag

Neues Museum

The museum was severely damaged during the Second World War. In 1997, planning for its reconstruction resumed and the English architect David Chipperfield was officially commissioned with the project. Reopened in 2009.

Strausberger Platz

The Strausberger Platz is a large urban square in the Berlin district of Friedrichshain. The square was the starting point for the East German uprising of 1953. A large fountain has stood on a lawn in the middle of the roundabout since 1966. In the Middle Ages, this was the place of execution (f.e. Hans Kohlhase was executed in 1540).

Alexanderplatz

Historic GDR panel building at Alexanderplatz.

Kino International

The cinema was opened on November 15, 1963 in the presence of the Chairman of the Council of State Walter Ulbricht and was the most important premiere cinema of the former GDR until 1989. It is popular among Berlin moviegoers as a cinema with tradition and a special atmosphere.

Café Moskau

Café Moscow (originally Restaurant Moscow) was opened in 1964 with a total of 600 seats. At the opening, the life-size Sputnik, a gift from the ambassador of the USSR, was installed. One of the legendary party venues in Berlin between 2000-2007 (WMF, GMF).

Gendarmenmarkt

Lion statue with an angel on the Gendarmenmarkt. This square is commonly considered the „most beautiful square in Berlin“ and is home to one of Berlin’s most popular Christmas markets.

Kollhoff Tower

Kollhoff-Tower at Potsdamer Platz in Berlin. Great viewing platform on the top floor.

Reichstag

Potsdamer Platz

Rollschuhbahn

The old roller skating rink at the „Poststadion“ in Berlin (built in the 1950s).

Poststadion

The entrance to the old „Poststadion“ in Berlin (1929). During the 1936 Summer Olympics, several soccer matches were played at the Post Stadium. On August 7, underdog Norway knocked Germany out of the tournament by winning 2-0 in the quarterfinals in front of 55,000 spectators. The Post Stadium was the largest stadium in Germany at the time.

Polizeipräsidium

Built in 1932 as Karstadt headquarters (reinforced concrete skeleton structure), the „Thousand Windows“ building proved too large for a department store and was taken over by the Reich Ministry of Finance in 1934. From 1948 it was the headquarters of the Berlin Police and was used by the GDR People’s Police and as a prison until the fall of the Wall in 1989.
1990 Filming for „The Lives of Others“.

GDR state border sign.

The national emblem of the GDR. The wreath of wheat ears is looped in the lower part with a black-red-gold ribbon. The hammer symbolizes the working class, the ear wreath the class of peasants and the compass the social class of the intelligentsia (academics).

Marx Engels Monument

The Marx-Engels Monument was part of the former Marx-Engels Forum, a public park near Alexanderplatz. The park was created by the authorities of the former German Democratic Republic (GDR) in 1986.
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, the authors of the 1848 Communist Manifesto, are considered two of the most influential figures of the socialist movement.
The inscription „We are (not) guilty“ spray-painted on the base of the monument after the fall of the Berlin Wall has since been removed.

Spätkauf

„Spätkauf“ Term for a kiosk that is open outside of normal store hours (Convenience Shop). They originated in the 1950s in the GDR and served to supply shift workers with basic foodstuffs, as all regular stores closed at 6 p.m. at that time. There are about 1000 such kiosks in Berlin, and they are an integral part of Berlin’s neighborhood culture. It is a supermarket, meeting place, Internet café, bakery, drugstore, lottery retailer, post office, and gift store.

Moltkebrücke

Near the Reichstag building in Berlin. In the last days of the Battle of Berlin, the bridge acquired strategic importance when units of the Red Army led the attack on the Reichstag building, unaware that the Reichstag had not been used as such for years. In fact, from 1943 to 1945, it housed a sick bay, an air raid shelter, and the gynecological ward of the nearby Charité hospital. About 60-100 children were born in the Reichstag building.

Moscow Metro

The Moscow Metro was built in 1935. Park Pobedy station is 84 meters below the surface and has the longest escalator in the world (126 m, 740 steps).

Moscow-VDNKh

The main entrance to the VDNKh, the „Exhibition of Achievements of the National Economy“. The exhibition was founded in 1935 and from 2005 was expanded as a trade fair venue and also serves as a recreational park, one of the largest in the world (2,375,000 square meters).

Rheinberger Gefängnis

The prison went into operation in 1916 with twelve single and two communal cells and an apartment for the prison warden. After the war, empty cells were also rented for war refugees. Until the 1980s, the building also served juvenile detention. In 2012, the building was demolished.

Dog in the Window.

Moscow Condominiums

Russia’s growing new middle class loves condominiums in high-rise buildings. Around 90 percent of Russians live in a condominium or house.