happy steps

Continued from Berlin day tour: Lustgarten (Pleasure Garden)

An imposing landmark at the Museumsinsel (Museum Island) in Berlin is the Berliner Dom (Berlin Cathedral) located to the northeast of the Lustgarten (Pleasure Garden). The Dom was built in the late 18th to early 19th century, and as an Evangelical Church, its design is deemed by some to be the Protestant equivalent of the St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City.

The massive columns lined up along the cathedral’s front hallway.

The facade of the Berliner Dom as seen from the Lustgarten.

A closer look at the front of the Dom. Sitting on the front steps were some boy scouts tired from a day’s tour.

One can’t help but gaze at the building’s artistic design and inspect the intricate details of the doors, ceilings, statues, the column capitals, and other wall décor and mouldings.

Berliner Dom opening hours:

9:00 AM – 8:00 PM (Mondays through Saturdays)
12:00 NN – 8:00 PM (Sundays and Holidays)
From October 1st through March 31st, closing at 7 pm

Note that visits are not allowed during church services or events. Cathedral tours are also offered for tourists.

Next stop: Neue Wache (New Guard House) war memorial and other buildings at the Bebelplatz

Continued from Berlin day tour: Museumsinsel (Museum Island)

The Museumsinsel (Museum Island) in Berlin is not all about museums actually. Visitors will be greeted by two famous landmarks, the Berliner Dom (Berlin Cathedral) and the Lustgarten (Pleasure Park), before they can reach the Altes Museum (Old Museum).

The Lustgarten as seen from the Berliner Dom entrance.

The Lustgarten is a notable spot in Berlin’s history and went through interesting developments. Originally a kitchen garden to the palace, it was then developed into a landscaped garden with fountains. During the time of King Friedrich Wilhelm I, it was converted into a parade ground. Aside from being a public park, the Lustgarten was also used for public rallies and political demonstrations. For instance, Hitler used to hold mass rallies in this site.

This is the fountain at the center of Lustgarten where an equestrian statue of Friedrich Wilhelm III used to be.

Today, the Lustgarten is a simple park with a fountain at the center where visitors and tourists going to and from the museums rest for awhile. It is also a good place to get great views of the facades of the Altes Museum and the Berliner Dom.

photo Tourists at the Lustgarten with the façade of the Berliner Dom in the background

Next stop: Berliner Dom (Berlin Cathedral)

For those who will be touring Museumsinsel (Museum Island) in Berlin, here are some informative parts of its map posted on a large guide board at the side of the Altes Museum. There are five museums in the Museumsinsel complex as shown in the map, with their corresponding numbers and an arrow guide for tourists to follow when visiting the museums.

(1) Altes Museum (Old Museum)
Antikensammlung/Agyptisches Museum
Collection of Classical Antiquities/Egyptian Museum

(2) Alte Nationalgalerie (Old National Gallery)
Malerei und Skulptur des 19.Jahrhunderts
19th Century Painting and Sculpture

(3) Neues Museum (New Museum), Re-Opening 2009
Agyptisches Museum/ Museum fur Vor- und Fruhgeschichte
Egyptian Museum/Museum for Pre- and Early History

(4) Pergamon Museum
Antikensammlung/Vorderasiatisches Museum / Museum fur Islamische Kunst
Collection of Classical Antiquities/Museum of the Ancient Near East/Museum of Islamic Art

(5) Bode Museum formerly Kaiser Friedrich Museum
Skulpturensammlung/Museum fur Byzantinische Kunst/Werke de Gemaldegalerie/Munzkabinett
Sculpture Collection/Museum of Byzantine Art/Works from the Gemaldegalerie/Numismatic Collection

The Neues Museum (3) building is grayed out in the map since it is still undergoing restoration. Click on the thumbnail image below for a larger version of the whole map.

More information about the Museum Island posted at the guide board:

Masterplan Museumsinsel Berlin

Bordered by the River Spree and the Kupfergraben, Berlin’s Museumsinsel is an incomparable ensemble that has developed from the unique history of Germany’s cultural and museum heritage. It was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1999. Along with Berlin’s other major museums - located in the Kulturforuj, Dahlem, Charlottenburg and Köpenick - Museumsinsel demonstrates how significant the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (National Museums in Berlin) are as a universal museum dedicated to human culture from its very beginnings to the present day. The Master Plan for restoring Museumsinsel is already bearing fruit: the Alte Nationalgalerie reopened in all its magnificence in December 2001. The Bode-Museum was opened in October 2006; the Neues Museum is due to open its doors again in 2009. Then the restoration of the Pergamonmuseum and the Altes Museum will go ahead.

Continued from Berlin day tour: Alexanderplatz and nearby points of interest

The Altes Museum (Old Museum)

The Museumsinsel (Museum Island) in Berlin is a group of notable museums - Altes Museum (Old Museum), Neues Museum (New Museum) which will be re-opening in 2009, Alte Nationalgalerie (Old National Gallery), Pergamon Museum and the Bode Museum formerly known as the Kaiser Friedrich Museum - situated in the Spreeinsel (Spree Island) in the Berlin-Mitte district. This tourist destination is easily accessible by subway via the Alexanderplatz station and is just within walking distance along the Unter Den Linden Avenue when you’re coming from the Marienkirche.

A closer look at the façade of the Altes Museum

The Museum Island complex is a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1999 and some of the buildings are currently undergoing renovation thus we were not able to tour the whole of it.

The façade of the Alte Nationalgalerie (Old National Gallery) amidst ongoing restoration of the complex.

For museum lovers or those who are fond of learning more about art, culture and history, the Museum Island is a must-visit. The museum buildings are just within walking distance from each other and it’s best to allot at least a day in visiting all of them since going through museums usually takes time.

Next stop: Lustgarten (Pleasure Garden)

I now know the story behind the colorful bear statue we saw in one of the sidewalks of Berlin which I just fondly named as the Berlin Bear. Well, that’s what you get with surfing in the net; you end up with some interesting information. The bear statue we saw is actually one of the United Buddy Bears.

A buddy bear (or friendship bear) is a painted sculpture made of fiberglass about two meters in height.

The buddy bears were displayed in previous art exhibitions in Berlin (2003 and 2006) and Warsaw (2008) with the motto: “We have to get to know each other better; it makes us understand one another better, trust each other more, and live together more peacefully.” The exhibition also went on global tour and was hosted in Hong Kong, Sydney, Tokyo, Warsaw and other cities.

The United Buddy Bears exhibition at Bebelplatz, Berlin-Mitte (Photo credits: Wikipedia)

The United Buddy Bears’ message is about the art of tolerance, to promote international understanding among different nations.

One of the familiar buildings near Alexanderplatz is the Marienkirche or St. Mary’s Church. Since visitors are allowed to go inside, the curious me decided to take a peek.

There was an ongoing renovation that time, with some temporary steel framework set up at the left side and the right side pews arranged facing to the left. Nevertheless one can still appreciate some of the artistic parts of the church such as the ceiling vault, the pipe organ above the church entrance, and the detailed artwork in the pulpit.

Here are some of the church photos:

At the entrance door

The ceiling and the organ

The ceiling vault

The pulpit

The church organ up close

Marienkirche is one of the oldest churches in Berlin along with Nikolaikirche, with most of its structure made of brick and granite.

Our first stop at the Berlin-Mitte disctrict was Alexanderplatz, a public square and a major transport center in Berlin where the Weltzeituhr (World Time Clock), the Fernsehturm (TV Tower), Park Inn Berlin and other buildings are located.

The World Time Clock and the Park Inn Berlin

The Fernsehturm (TV Tower) and the Bahnhof Alexanderplatz (Alexanderplatz station)

The TV Tower is a familiar structure of the Berlin-Mitte skyline and can be seen along the Unter Den Linden Boulevard and other neighboring areas.

The Rotes Rathaus (Red Town Hall)

Near Alexanderplatz, is the Rotes Rathaus (Red Town Hall) where the governing mayor holds office. This renaissance-styled red brick building built in the mid-18th century was heavily damaged during the World War II and subsequently reconstructed according to the original plans during the 1950s.

Few steps from the town hall is the Marienkirche (St. Mary’s Church) and the Neptunbrunnen (Neptune Fountain). I will be posting about Marienkirche and its interior in a separate post later.

The Marienkirche (St. Mary’s Church)

Neptunbrunnen (Neptune Fountain)

The huge circular Neptunbrunnen with a height of about 10 meters highlights Neptune at the center, the god of the sea according to Roman mythology (known as Poseidon in Greek mythology). Around him are four women representing Germany’s four main rivers.

Are we tired yet? Still so many points of interest lined up! Okay, off we go walking again…

Next stop: Museumsinsel (Museum Island) and Berliner Dom (Berlin Cathedral).

After the mid-noon Mass at the St. Albert Magnus Church in Berlin, we headed off to the Charlottenburg Palace (Schloss Charlottenburg) since it’s within the same district of Charlottenburg. The Charlottenburg Palace, built in the 17th century, is Berlin’s largest palace. We brought with us lots of food (yup, we’re not just travel bugs but pacmans as well) in the car and had a picnic at one of the benches in the palace grounds.

At the Charlottenburg Palace gate

A closer view of the palace dome

A statue inside the palace grounds

For a fee, tourists can get inside the Old Palace where there are many rooms with intricate details of architectural styles; while behind the palace is a large garden. At the right wing is a souvenir shop where you can find Charlottenburg Palace keepsakes and Berlin souvenirs and other trip essentials such as Berlin travel guides and photography books. We decided not to go inside and explore more of the palace since we had other tourist attractions lined up in our day tour itinerary and it was already past noon.

Next stop: Alexanderplatz

Not only is Berlin known for its historical significance but it is also one of Europe’s top tourist destinations along with Paris, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Athens, Venice and other popular cities for travel bugs. Thus, a day tour in Berlin, being the capital of Germany and its largest city, was added to our travel itinerary in Europe considering that ours was a Schengen Visa and it was good to make the most of it by traveling to nearby Schengen states. And why wouldn’t we take time to visit Berlin when it is just about three hours travel from Prague?

Berlin is best enjoyed not just for a day though, but for those who haven’t got the luxury of time, a walking tour around the Berlin-Mitte (center) district would be sufficient since most of the main tourist attractions are concentrated here.

Below are some of the major points of interest to visit in the Berlin-Mitte district:
Alexanderplatz
Rotes Rathaus (Red Town Hall)
Marienkirche (St. Mary’s Church)
Neptunbrunnen (Neptune Fountain)
Museumsinsel (Museum Island)
Berliner Dom (Berlin Cathedral)
Unter Den Linden Boulevard
Zeughaus (Old Arsenal) which houses the German Historical Museum
Neue Wache (New Guard House) war memorial
Staatsoper (Berlin State Opera)
Sankt-Hedwigs-Kathedrale (St. Hedwig’s Cathedral)
Humboldt University
Bebelplatz
Brandenburger Tor (Brandenburg Gate), shown in the above photo
Reichstag building

Other points of interest we’ve visited outside the Berlin-Mitte district: Schloss Charlottenburg (Charlottenburg Palace) as our first stop located at the Charlottenburg district and Checkpoint Charlie (via subway) in the Friedrichstadt suburb.

Note: Photos and details of each point of interest to follow in separate posts.