June News from Berlin


Through September 20, 2015 there is a stunning exhibition of Impressionist and Expressionist paintings, called ImEx, at the Alte National Gallerie, one of the museums on Museum Island. Carefully assembled it includes paintings from Berlin and other German, and French, British

museums as well as private owners.  The exhibit explores the similarities and contrasts of the two art movements.  There is even a Berthe Morisot on loan from the Women's Museum in Washington, DC.  Before we return to Arlington we intend to see these great paintings at least once more.  www.imexinberlin.de
 

The Schloss,"the Castle" -- the former palace of the Prussian kings, destroyed in World War II, torn down and re-built as a modern glass building called the people's palace during Communist times, which in turn was taken down again after re-unification ---  is now buing rebuilt to look like the original Schloss building.  Once finished in 2019 it will be open to the public for all kinds of events, plus it will house the Far Eastern and Pacific Collections of the Dahlem Museum (which are currently in a museum in one of Berlin's Western suburbs).
There was an important public event this weekend celebrating the finishing of the exterior concrete walls --- important for several reasons: to show the progress of this project to all those interested; to secure continued financial support from private sponsors (many millions of Euros are still needed), and to get the support of the East Berliners many of whom have been watching the construction of the Schloss with unease because they perceive the replacement of their people's palace with the former Schloss as another symbol of the end of their way of life. 

 

We have been lucky to watch the construction of the cupola from our apartment, one steel beam at a time.  This photo was taken on Museum Island, not from our apartment. (Our view of the cupola is distant and squeezed in between other buildings.)

 

 

June has been unseasonably cold, which did not deter us from doing more exploring of Berlin and environs. Below Bill's text and a few of the thousands of photos taken on one of our bike excursions by subway and train to the outskirts of Berlin:

 

We took a 50 km bike ride in rural Brandenburg, through fields of rye, wheat, peas, and one amazing huge field of something that was blooming blue. These villages were first settled in the 13th century as Germanic folk moved into Slav areas. But the swampy nature of the region (hard to grow crops) and disease led to the abandonment of most of the settlements, until the 17th century when the ruling prince imported Dutch and coastal Germans who knew how to arrange drainage of the land. These settlements were destroyed, in turn, during the 30 years wars by the contending forces from Sweden, Austria (Holy Roman Empire), and France.

The remainder of the ride, we, like Hansel and Gretel, got turned around in a forest and ended up at a remote meadow-bog, just us and the cows. The cows don't care about history, or us, and seemed very content to stroll along the water course grazing as they went. We took a train out of Berlin, rode the route, and caught another train back into town from the other end of the ride. Very practical.

 In the background one of the typical villages nestled among fields, forests and lakes.

 

 The blue field of linen plants

 

 See the stork?

  

 

 One of many monastery ruins

 



 

 

 

Many churches have been restored from the outside but much, in many cases everything, remains to be done on the inside.