A Tour through East Berlin

The day started out warmer than yesterday plus the sun was out and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. We got breakfast at a little cafe and kept on walking to our first destination. We arrived at the Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm Centre which is a library that is part of Humboldt University. It was designed by Max Dudler and opened in 2009. The first thing I noticed was the windows on the exterior were different sizes and wasn't until I went inside realize it was reacting to the space. Skinnier windows were in the stack areas while larger ones were in reading areas. Also the center of the building was a large atrium like space where the floors stepped up from the center to provide study areas for students. It is a beautifully designed building.

Interior of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm Centre

Next we stopped at St. Hedwig's Cathedral. It differed greatly from all the cathedrals that we have seen thus far. The building was round and domed and had one center space for everything to occur. It was very obviously modeled after the Pantheon in Rome. It was an interesting building but not one I liked as a church. I liked it as a building but I have a view on churches now after seeing so many. From there we walked around the corner to Gendarmenmarkt which is a plaza that houses the French Church, the German Church, and the Konzerthaus. It was cool to see those all in one place but we didn't enter them. Also the German and French Churches looked almost identical. We got lunch across the street and made a plan for the remainder of the day.

St. Hedwig's Cathedral

Our next stop was the German Historical Museum which told of the history of Germany. It was an interesting building that had been restored following World War II. An additional exhibition building was added on in 2003 by I.M. Pei. This part of the building is very reminiscent of the interior of the East Wing of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. The space was beautiful and the exhibits were interesting.

Interior of I.M. Pei Addition

From here we walked to the König Gallerie. It is an art gallery that exists in the former St. Agnes Church. It is of a brutalist style of architecture were heavy concrete plays a huge role. The spaces were divided up differently than what they were used for as a church so the sizes felt a little off. The quality of the spaces didn't suffer though. From there we went to the East Side Gallery where over a mile of the Berlin Wall still exists and is used as an outdoor art exhibition. It was quite an experience to walk along the wall and get a feel for what it used to be like.

Berlin Wall

To end our day, we made our way back over to the Sony Center and had a nice dinner. It was a long day and involved a lot of walking. Tomorrow I leave Berlin by train in the mid-afternoon to Prague. I have some time to go to places I hadn't seen yet.

Sony Center