Thursday, November 6, 2014

Nov 6    Construction      
                                                                                                     
While many public and private buildings have been renovated since the Fall of the Wall, there are many others that continue to undergo major renovations.  New buildings continue to sprout like mushrooms.  Berlin is a challenged city in the best of times, but all this construction only adds to the general hubbub.  So no wonder what Germans think of their capital:  "Berlin is over the top:  Dirty, noisy, full of ugly buildings and gigantic construction sites".  (Mobil, Deutsche Bahn, 11/2014, page 62).  

True in all respects.




 
Renovating the Opern Palais (where Senta and Stefan got married when it was still a wonderful, run-down building with faded furniture --- and affordable)

 
Renovating the Opera:  All construction and renovation in swampy Berlin is difficult because of the high ground water table.  The Opera House, for example, is floating on about 5 feet of water. I have seen photos of workmen standing up to their chests in water.







 
Re-building "Das Schloss", the castle where the German kings resided till 1918 when Kaiser Willhelm II resigned.  It was completely destroyed in World War II.  The East Germans tore down the remnants and instead built the "Kultur-Palast", the culture palace. For decades it was a popular place of entertainment for the East Berliners, with a bowling alley, dance floors, cafeterias, a cinema.  After the fall of the Wall, it was torn down by the new government to be replaced with the former castle   ----  to the great regret of the East Germans.  The re-building of the Schloss is a divisive topic (maybe even more than the street car issue on Columbia Pike) where West and East Berliners have very different opinions.  The West Berliners would like to see Berlin re-built with beautiful buildings, while the East Germans nostalgically remember the good times in the Kultur-Palast.





The modern building in front of the construction site is called "Humboldt Box".  It is open for anyone who wants to find out more about the history of the castle and the progress of the construction (Visitors can make donations; they can even buy parts of the exterior Baroque decorations).


A view of the Humboldt Box in front of the new
Schloss:

 



Looking south towards the Brandenburg Gate:

 

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