That is me, weaving my fingers together.
Hey, it was the next photo in the list and i have only a scant few of myself so far. This post will take us through the Brandenburg Gate, one of the more familiar structures of Berlin, and through a fraction of Tiergarten to Das Denkmal für die ermordeten Juden Europas (Memorial for the Murdered Jews of Europe). In order to get these photos online in due time, i’ll be brief about the writing and let the photos speak for themselves as much as i can. Also, i found some amazing photos of the gate to share, and a painting of once upon a Napoleonic invasion.
Hey look, it’s Scarlett!
Brandenburg Gate, commissioned by King Frederick William II of Prussia at the end of the 18th century. It leads to Unter den Linden which then leads to the Berliner Stadtschloss (Royal City Palace) which we haven’t seen yet.
Played at editing this photo, rotating and accentuating colors, and then saved over the original file… I like it alright, except it leaves me feeling dizzy to look at it too long… Pretty sky though, with that odd glow about the gate.
Here’s the gate at night, photo by Runner1928 – , CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=32267037
A closeup of the Quadriga atop the gate, with Victoria at the helm. Couldn’t have snapped this one with my telephone, i am certain… So i borrowed this one from א (Aleph) under the CC BY-SA 2.5 license, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2120337
A painting by Charles Meynier from 1810 when the Quadriga was no even on the gate! In 1806, Napoleon defeated the Prussians and took the Quadriga to Paris, where it stayed until his defeat in 1814. Victoria’s olive branch was replaced with an iron cross at that point, which stayed there until about 1945… It ended up being reattached in 1990. Man, history rocks.
Here is a photo of the gate in 1928 by an unknown photographer.
Seeing the gate from the East German side in 1984, the same side we approached from in my photo. Note the wall still standing beyond the pillars. Ya couldn’t really get to the gate until after the reunification of Germany. Photo by George Louis at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=38385638
Remember this one from the last post? We are on the West Germany side here, the Eastern reaches of Tiergarten are on the right side.
A shoddy photo of the map we found near that Eastern entrance (Red dot on the right). We didn’t get far, as far as the larger clearing to the SW of our point of ingress, and i await continued exploration with eager anticipation!
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- Goethe memorial 01
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- Goethe memorial 02
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- Goethe memorial 3
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- Goethe memorial 04
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- Goethe memorial 05
This may appear to be nothing more than a block of stone, but it is actually the Memorial to Homosexuals Persecuted Under Nazism, built in 2008.
On the left side of the block (compared to the last photo) is this small window.
Peering in through the window, you will see a short, looped video of these two men kissing in the park. There was outcry that women were not represented, so it was decided that every 2 years the video will be switched between this one and another of two lesbians kissing.
Close to the last monument in the aforementioned clearing is another interesting testament to understanding and an embrace of differences.
I’ll let the sign explain what follows:
The five stones are visible; offhand i know not whence each emanated…
Scarlett observes the Easternmost stone.
Then we went and got lost in the veritable forest of stone blocks that is Das Denkmal für die ermordeten Juden Europas. And one really does feel lost in very little time. It is unnerving how quickly the confusion sets in, which was likely the point of the experience. Closed in, trapped, and lost may well represent the feelings of those for whom the stones stand.
This is the thing from space via Google’s maps. All 2,711 blocks. Tiergarten is to the left.
Tiergarten still to the left. From Wikipedia: “The stelae are 2.38 m (7 ft 10 in) long, 0.95 m (3 ft 1 in) wide and vary in height from 0.2 to 4.7 m (7.9 in to 15 ft 5.0 in)”
Photo by de:Benutzer:Schreibkraft – Own work (own photography), CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=181090
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- This one is supposed to be a 360° panorama. I like it for what it is, chunky and awkward. I will try to pull this off again i hope.
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- A better panoramic with the tops cut off.
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- Skewed the camera on this one. It felt like i added my own tilt on the confusion aspect of the memorial.
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- Scarlett reading a plaque on the ground.
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- Scarlett looking out across the stelae.
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- Me at the Holocaust memorial
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- Holocaust memorial 01
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- Holocaust memorial 02
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- Holocaust memorial 03
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- Holocaust memorial 04
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- Holocaust memorial 05
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- Holocaust memorial 06
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- Holocaust memorial 07
There is more to that Tiergarten adventure but i will show the rest of those next time, along with the Soviet War Memorial. It is past sleeping time for me here. It is 1am here, so that means 4pm yesterday afternoon back home… To end on a high note, when it was that time over here, this is what we were seeing:
Somewhere (Southeast?) of Kassel. Those clouds look like oil paint… Beautiful countryside here. I did enhanced the light and color a wee bit, fyi.
Until next time, may your dreams be meaningful!!