Category Archives: Art

Gallery: Leipzig

Leipzig gets its name from from the Slavic word Lipsk, meaning “village where the linden trees grow”. I took the train from Berlin and stayed overnight in Leipzig in order to see St. Thomas Church where J. S. Bach served as a cantor and is buried. I rented a car here and drove to Opfermoor Vogtei, Geismar, Kassel, Externsteine, and Hannover from here.

Gallery: Altes Museum (Old Museum)

The Altes Museum was built in the early 19th century to contain the Prussian royal family’s collection of art. As lovely as it looks in photos, in real life it is stunning. My traveling companion and I toured the museum for hours, studying the Ancient Greek, Roman, and Etruscan works. At 6pm the bells of the Berlin Cathedral began to ring the call to Vespers, so we ran outside to listen. Once out there, we saw a Syrian wedding party arrive in the Lustgarten out front. They danced and played music while the crowds gathered around and clapped. Later in the trip, I discovered that this exact location was used by the Nazi’s for rallies during WWII. In the image below, I would have been standing about where Hitler is standing as I filmed the New Berlin being celebrated.

Berlin Kundgebung zum 1. Mai 1936 am alten Museum im Lustgarten. Attribution: Bundesarchiv, B 145 Bild-P022065 / CC-BY-SA 3.0
Berlin
Kundgebung zum 1. Mai 1936 am alten Museum im Lustgarten. Attribution: Bundesarchiv, B 145 Bild-P022065 / CC-BY-SA 3.0

Syrian Wedding Party, Lustgarten, Berlin. Photo by Scarlett Messenger
Syrian Wedding Party, Lustgarten, Berlin. Photo by Scarlett Messenger

Gallery: Friedhöfe vor dem Halleschen Tor

I spent the day in Kreuzberg with my friends Elliott and Ben. We found this cemetery that had not only Felix Mendelssohn’s grave, but also E.T.A. Hoffmann, the Romantic-era author of the book The Nutcracker was based on, as well as the protagonist of Offenbach’s opera Tales of Hoffman.

Angela Brower (Nicklausse) and Diana Damrau (Giulietta) in the 4th act of Jacques Offenbach’s “Les contes d’Hoffmann” in a production by Richard Jones. Bayerische Staatsoper 2011.

Gallery: Viktoriapark

I went to Viktoriapark in Kreuzberg with my friends Elliott and Ben. We had radlers in the Biergarten and then walked up the hill to the Prussian National Monument for the Liberation Wars, which actually predates Germany as a nation (1821). It is a beautiful Neoclassical spire commemorating the German Campaign of 1813 during the Napoleonic Wars. From the top of Kreuzberg you can see the entire city. It was a fun afternoon.

Ben on a zipline, Viktoriapark, Berlin-Kreuzberg.