Album Berlin from Martin M. Miles

Berlin - Berliner Schloss

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Tue, 08 Jul 2025 20:11:38 +0000

The Berliner Schloss (Berlin Palace) was the main residence of the Electors of Brandenburg from the House of Hohenzollern, who rose to Prussian kings in 1701 and German emperors in 1871. Begun in 1443 the palace was rebuilt on behalf of Frederick I between 1698 and 1713 and is considered a masterpiece of European Baroque. It was one of the largest buildings in Berlin. Its dimensions, and its 70-meter-high dome, added in the 19th century, have always shaped the cityscape.

The heavily damaged building partially burned down at the end of the WWII in 1945 and was blown up in the GDR in 1950/51 despite international protests to make room for a parade ground, which was later built on the Spree side by the "Palace of the Republic".

After the "Palace of the Republic" was demolished after the reunification. From 2013 to 2020, its exterior was largely reconstructed following a resolution of the German Bundestag. This reconstruction was disputed. The new building serves as an exhibition and event venue for the Humboldt Forum.

Berlin - Berliner Dom

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Tue, 08 Jul 2025 19:38:19 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

The Berliner Dom (Berlin Cathedral) is located in the Lustgarten on the Museum Island The Neo-Renaissance building was built between 1894 and 1905 on the orders of Wilhelm II. It is the largest Protestant church in Germany and one of the most important dynastic burial sites in Europe. Severely damaged during WWII in 1944, the exterior was altered until 1984 and the interior was faithfully rebuilt by 2002.

Originally, the cathedral was 114 meters long, 73 meters wide, 114 meters high and offered 2,100 seats. Today it is 90 meters long, 98 meters high and offers 1,390 seats.

Berlin - Berliner Dom

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Mon, 07 Jul 2025 21:23:02 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

The Berliner Dom (Berlin Cathedral) is located in the Lustgarten on the Museum Island The Neo-Renaissance building was built between 1894 and 1905 on the orders of Wilhelm II. It is the largest Protestant church in Germany and one of the most important dynastic burial sites in Europe. Severely damaged during WWII in 1944, the exterior was altered until 1984 and the interior was faithfully rebuilt by 2002.

Originally, the cathedral was 114 meters long, 73 meters wide, 114 meters high and offered 2,100 seats. Today it is now 90 meters long, 98 meters high and offers 1,390 seats.

Berlin - Berliner Dom

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Mon, 07 Jul 2025 21:10:38 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

The Berliner Dom (Berlin Cathedral) is located in the Lustgarten on the Museum Island The Neo-Renaissance building was built between 1894 and 1905 on the orders of Wilhelm II. It is the largest Protestant church in Germany and one of the most important dynastic burial sites in Europe. Severely damaged during WWII in 1944, the exterior was altered until 1984 and the interior was faithfully rebuilt by 2002.

Originally, the cathedral was 114 meters long, 73 meters wide, 114 meters high and offered 2,100 seats. Today it is now 90 meters long, 98 meters high and offers 1,390 seats.

Berlin - Alte Nationalgalerie

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Fri, 04 Jul 2025 20:25:04 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

The Alte Nationalgalerie (Old National Gallery) on Museum Island is a museum with 19th-century works of art from the collection of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation.

Designed by Friedrich August Stüler on behalf of King Frederick William IV from 1862 onwards, it was completed in the Neo-Classical and Neo-Renaissance styles by 1876.

The building was severely damaged during WW II by bombing. It was reopened in 1949, but reconstruction took until 1969. Between 1998 and 2001 the museum was extensively renovated.

Berlin - Alte Nationalgalerie

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Mon, 30 Jun 2025 20:17:40 +0000

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Berlin - Alte Nationalgalerie

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Mon, 30 Jun 2025 20:05:46 +0000

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Berlin - Nollendorfplatz

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Sun, 29 Jun 2025 21:42:16 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

The Nollendorfplatz subway station is the only subway station where all four subway lines (U1 to U4) of the Berlin U-Bahn stop. The station consists of an elevated station with a large domed structure, where U2 trains stop, and a two-level underground station (U1, U3, and U4).

The elevated station was opened in 1902 as a station on Berlin's first elevated line.

Berlin - Berliner Bär

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Sun, 29 Jun 2025 20:40:00 +0000

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The Berlin Bear has been Berlin's heraldic animal since around 1280 and still adorns its coat of arms today.

Here, the (crowned !) bear guards the doorbells at the entrance.

Berlin - Katchi

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Sun, 29 Jun 2025 18:00:13 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

Katchi ice cream is perhaps one of the best handmade ice cream flavors in Berlin. At least, that's what we were told. And there's even a vending machine for late-night customers.

Berlin - Mailbox

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Sun, 29 Jun 2025 17:04:14 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

Berlin mailboxes are very susceptible to loneliness and are prone to depression. They feel most comfortable in small groups.

Berlin - Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Sat, 28 Jun 2025 20:52:02 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

The "Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche" (aka "Gedächtniskirche") is located in the centre of the Breitscheidplatz amidst high rising modern structures.

The original church on the site was a Neo-Romanesque structure built in the 1890s. It was badly damaged in a bombing raid in 1943. It was by not beyond repair as a remnant of the spire and much of the entrance hall survived intact. It was decided to rebuild the church, but the manner in which this should be done was contentiously debated until the late 1950s.

Architect Egon Eiermann initially proposed for the remnant of the old spire to be torn down, in favour of a completely new construction. This provoked a public outcry in which the ruined tower was characterized as the "heart of Berlin". Eiermann revised the design to preserve the ruined tower as a memorial for peace.

Berlin - Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Sat, 28 Jun 2025 20:26:59 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

Berlin - Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Sat, 28 Jun 2025 20:06:07 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

Berlin - Potsdamer Platz

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Sat, 28 Jun 2025 19:46:37 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

Berlin is the capital and largest city of Germany.

The first records of towns in the area of present-day Berlin date from the late 12th century. The central part of Berlin can be traced back to two towns. Cölln on the Fischerinsel is first mentioned in 1237 and Berlin, across the river Spree in 1244. The two towns over time formed close economic and social ties, and profited from the staple right on the two important trade routes Via Imperii and from Bruges to Novgorod.

In 1415, Frederick I became the elector of the Margraviate of Brandenburg. His successors established Berlin-Cölln as capital of the margraviate, and subsequent members of the Hohenzollern family ruled in Berlin until 1918, first as electors of Brandenburg, then as kings of Prussia, and eventually as German emperors.

The Thirty Years' War (1618 - 1648) devastated Berlin. The city lost half of its population. Frederick William ("Grosse Kurfürst") initiated a policy of promoting immigration and religious tolerance from 1640 on. In 1685, Frederick William offered asylum to the French Huguenots. By 1700, approximately 30 percent of Berlin's residents were French Huguenots.

The Industrial Revolution transformed Berlin during the 19th century; the city's economy and population expanded dramatically, and it became the main railway hub and economic centre of Germany. Additional suburbs soon developed and increased the area and population of Berlin. In 1871, Berlin became the capital of the newly founded German Empire.

In 1933 the Nazi Party came to power. After the "Kristallnacht" pogrom in 1938, thousands of the city's Jews were imprisoned in the nearby Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Starting in 1943, many were shipped to death camps, such as Auschwitz.

During WW II, large parts of Berlin were destroyed by air raids and the 1945 Battle of Berlin. Around 125,000 civilians were killed. After the end of WWII, by Berlin received large numbers of refugees from the Eastern provinces. The victorious powers divided the city into four sectors, analogous to the occupation zones into which Germany was divided. The sectors of the Western Allies formed West Berlin, while the Soviet sector formed East Berlin.

The Berlin Wall was a barrier that divided the city from 1961 to 1989, when it fell. In October 1990, the German reunification process was formally finished.

Potsdamer Platz (Potsdam Square) was a very bustling traffic intersection, that had the first traffic lights in the 1920s. It was the centre of Berlin and the heart of its nightlife. It had acquired an iconic status, just like Piccadilly Circus in London or Times Square in New York. The air raids during WWII turned the whole area into rubble and after the war, the American, British and Soviet Occupation Zones converged there, what made it to a centre of the "Black Market". With the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961, the Potsdamer Platz now found itself physically divided in two. It became totally desolate.

On the western side, an observation platform got erected for tourists to gaze over the Wall at the wilderness beyond. It was a huge, empty, dirty and very strange place.

When the Berlin Wall "fell" in November 1989, here the wall was breached to create a new border crossing. In July 1990 Roger Waters (Pink Floyd) performed with numerous artists "The Wall". The show had a sell-out crowd of over 350,000 people, but just before the concert to gates were opened to allow another 100.000 people in.

Then Potsdamer Platz developed Europe's largest building site, creating a cold, futuristic centre of commerce in the centre o Berlin. Part of this is the "that has an interesting dome construction over the large patio.

Berlin - Photoautomat

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Fri, 27 Jun 2025 20:31:01 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

Such photo booths could be found at every train station a few decades ago. A set of four photos today costs four euros. So, the ATM machine next to it isn't really necessary.

Berlin - Khinkali Station

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Fri, 27 Jun 2025 20:07:45 +0000

Martin M. Miles has posted:

Having tried Georgian cuisine in Eastern Europe a few years ago, I know that Khinkali are delicious dumplings - and Adscharuli Chatschapuri Sulguni cheese and a fried egg, are even better. What a surprise to find this little makeshift restaurant.

Berlin - Nikolaikirche

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Thu, 26 Jun 2025 21:49:40 +0000

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Nikolaikirche (St. Nicholas Church) is the oldest intact church building in Berlin's historic center. Deconsecrated in 1938, the church has been a museum belonging to the Berlin City Museum Foundation since the late 1990s, where concerts are also regularly held.

The present church dates back to at least two predecessor buildings. The first was built around 1230 and corresponded to the regional type of a late Romanesque, 40-meter-long, three-aisled pillar basilica.

The name of the church and its associated parish goes back to Saint Nicholas of Myra. The patronage of Saint Nicholas indicates that it was the church of a merchant settlement. As the oldest building in Berlin, it formed the core of the developing trading city of Berlin, while on the opposite bank of the Spree, the settlement of Kölln grew around St. Peter's Church.

Around 1270, the nave of the basilica was demolished and converted into a three-aisled early Gothic brick hall. Work began before 1379 on replacing the late Romanesque choir of the original building with a significantly expanded ambulatory choir. The floor plan of the choir with the ambulatory is based on the model built in the 1360s, the St. Nicholas Church in nearby Spandau – which in turn was based on St. Sebald in Nuremberg.

After the city fire of 1380, a comprehensive new construction as a late Gothic hall church took place by around 1470. The five-bay nave was given a new ambulatory choir.

After the Berlin Reformation of 1539, around 150 hereditary burials for Berlin statesmen, scholars, and wealthy citizens were created in the choir and side aisle niches.

In the years 1876–1878, Hermann Blankenstein restored the main church building and, again preserving the early Gothic basement, had the neo-Gothic double spire added.

In 1944, before the end of the war, the spires, roof, and part of the vault collapsed after air raids. Further damage was caused by a fire inside the church at the end of the war, followed by years of weathering and looting by thieves.

The Evangelical Church of the GDR was unable to raise the funds for reconstruction. Since the state also refused to contribute, the church ruins were transferred to the city of Berlin in 1969. The widely feared demolition of the ruins was finally abandoned by the GDR government in 1978, when it began planning what would later become the Nikolaiviertel district.

Berlin - Zum Nußbaum

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Fri, 27 Jun 2025 20:00:43 +0000

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Zum Nußbaum is a historic inn, formerly located in the Alt Cölln district on Fischerinsel, and was rebuilt in the nearby Nikolaiviertel after its destruction in WWII. The historic Zum Nußbaum Inn was one of the last late medieval gabled houses in Berlin. According to a date above the cellar entrance, it was built in 1571. It was named for the nut tree which formerly stood outside.

In connection with the reconstruction of the old Berlin Nikolaiviertel in the years 1985–1987 on the occasion of the 750th anniversary of Berlin, the planning architect built a copy of the Zum Nußbaum inn on the corner of the newly built street and planted a walnut tree in front of it.

Berlin - Marienkirche

nobody@ipernity.com (Martin M. Miles) — Wed, 25 Jun 2025 21:34:35 +0000

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The Protestant Marienkirche is the oldest municipal parish church still in sacred use in Berlin. According to architectural experts, it was built around 1270.

The foundations of St. Mary's Church are made of fieldstone, over which a hall church made of red bricks in the Brandenburg Brick Gothic style was built. Following fire damage, the parish rebuilt the tower in the Baroque style between 1663 and 1666. The current spire(46m) is the result of a remodeling in 1789 in the Neo-Gothic style.

After the repair of the war damage from WW II, the GDR had the building restored once again in 1969/1970 as part of the completed redesign of Alexanderplatz and its surroundings.

Today the church is in a completely different urban context. While it dominated the densely built-up urban space at the former Neuer Markt until 1945, it now stands as a solitary building in a spacious open space surrounded by multi-story new buildings. It remains the only visible reminder in this part of the city that Berlin's historic city center was located here.