Neue Synagoge, Berlin

This splendid building is on Berlin’s Oranienburger Strasse. It has had a tragic history that continues to this day, as is evident from the fact that armed policemen stand guard over its entrance right round the clock and visitors must pass through a metal detector before being admitted.

The “Neue Synagoge” (New Synagogue) no longer acts as the main synagogue of Berlin but it contains prayer rooms and the Jewish Centre – a research facility and museum relating to the local Jewish community.

The building is a reconstruction of what was originally built here between 1859 and 1866. It was a highly innovative design that was a masterpiece of 19^th century civil engineering, particularly in its use of ironwork. It its heyday the synagogue could accommodate 3,000 worshippers.

Everything changed on the night of 9^th November 1938 when organized protests against the Jewish community took place that have gone done in history as “Kristallnacht”, the “night of broken glass”. The synagogue was badly damaged, with more destruction following due to Allied bombing during World War Two. The ruins were completely demolished in 1958.

Reconstruction began in 1988 and was completed in 1995. The building now looks from the outside just as it did when first built, including the splendid eye-catching dome.

Despite the much greater tolerance towards Jews (and all religious minorities) that is evident in Berlin today, the sad fact remains that anti-Semitism is still rife – hence the armed guards outside the door.

©John Welford

The Altiplano of South America

The Altiplano is a high plateau in the Andes Mountains that stretches into Bolivia, Peru and Chile. Despite the apparent hostilities it presents to life, many species manage to survive and thrive, and there are more than a million people who live in the region today. It is known that some of the villages here have been occupied continuously for 10,000 years.

The Altiplano towers over the southern Andes, forming a high plateau between the eastern and western Andean chains. It covers an area of some 65,000 square miles (168,000 sq kms) and has a mean elevation of 12,000 feet (3,650 m).

It formed millions of years ago when an ancient sea was raised together with the peaks. The sea eventually retreated to leave many salt pans behind. There has also been considerable infilling by sediment eroded from the mountains. The lowest point of the plateau is occupied by Lake Titicaca, which is the world’s largest high-altitude lake.

Climate and Vegetation

The climate of the Altiplano is generally cold and dry, although two climatic regions can be distinguished. These are the “puna” to the south and the “jalca” to the north, with the jalca getting more rainfall than the puna.

The puna vegetation consists mainly of dwarf shrubs and grasses, while the jalca can support larger plants such as varieties of puya (bromeliads that are noted for their tall short-lived flower spikes).

More than 400 plant species are found in the Altiplano, many of which are endemic.

Wildlife

In some areas of the Altiplano freshwater swamps form from seasonal snowmelt, and these support large flocks of flamingos that feed on algae and shrimps.

Vicuna and guanaco are protected species of wild camel that are found in Lauca National Park near Arica in Chile, as are huemel (wild deer).

More than 140 species of bird are found in the Altiplano.

© John Welford

Märkisches Museum, Berlin

This is an extraordinary building that is well worth a visit if you are in Berlin. It lies on the south side of the River Spree, just opposite Fischer Island which adjoins the much more famous Museum Island. Whereas the five museums on the latter island are always well patronized, you should find yourself with a lot less company as you tour round the Märkisches Museum and take a leisurely stroll around its attractive grounds.

The museum looks at first as though it must be an accumulation of buildings that once housed a medieval monastery, but it actually dates from between 1901 and 1908, having been purpose-built as a museum to showcase exhibits from the local area of Berlin and Brandenburg.

The neo-Gothic architecture (by Ludwig Hoffmann) was inspired by buildings in the region that were built in true Gothic style, notably Wittstock Castle and St Catherine’s Church in the city of Brandenburg. In the entrance hall of the museum is a statue of the traditional hero Roland, this being a copy of a 15^th-century original.

The main hall features the original Gothic portal from the Berlin palace, demolished in 1931, of the Margraves of Brandenburg. Also to be seen is one of the original horse’s heads that was once part of the Quadriga on top of the Brandenburg Gate.

There is much more on show here that chronicles the history of Berlin from when the district was first settled up until the present day. Exhibits include the history of the theatre in Berlin and mechanical musical instruments that are played by musicians once a week – on Friday afternoons.

© John Welford

The Reichstag, Berlin

The Reichstag is the home of Germany’s Parliament, and it has also proved to be a highly symbolic site – for various reasons - throughout its existence.

It was originally built – construction began in 1884 and was completed in 1894 – to symbolize German reunification after the Franco-Prussian War and the declaration of the German Empire that began in 1871.

The design, in a neo-Renaissance style, was by Paul Wallot and was intended to capture the spirit of German optimism. The building was funded by reparation payments made by the defeated French Republic.

In 1916, at the height of World War I, the words “Dem Deutschen Volke” (meaning “to the German people”) were added to the façade and are still in place today. At the end of the war in 1918, German defeat led to the formation of the Weimar Republic, the declaration of which was made by Philip Scheidemann at the Reichstag.

The symbolic importance of the building became apparent in February 1933 when the main hall of the Reichstag was destroyed by fire. Many explanations have been offered down the years as to how the fire started, but at the time the blame was placed on a young Dutch Communist named Marinus van der Lubbe, who was later executed for the crime.

Adolf Hitler had become Chancellor of Germany only four weeks before the fire, and the Nazis used the event as potent ammunition in their fight against the Communists.

The Reichstag had not been rebuilt by the time that World War II broke out in 1939, and further damage was caused during the war by air raids and the 1945 Battle of Berlin. The Soviet troops that captured the city made a beeline for the Reichstag and flew the hammer and sickle flag from the top of the building to symbolize German defeat.

Between 1957 and 1972 much of the damaged stonework, including the dome, was removed. The building had no official function at this time, given that Germany was again divided, with the Parliament of West Germany located in Bonn.

When the Berlin Wall was erected in 1961 it passed close to the Reichstag, but on the eastern side. It could therefore form a highly symbolic backdrop for demonstrations and events, such as rock concerts, held on the western side that could be heard on the other side of the Wall, much to the annoyance of the East German authorities.

Following the reunification of Germany in 1990, reconstruction of the Reichstag began in 1995 and was completed in 1999. The result was a modern meeting hall built within the original shell, and with a highly original design for the dome that was the work of the British Architect Sir Norman Foster. This takes the form of a glass structure that visitors can walk around on the inside, looking down into the main hall and out across Berlin.

The Reichstag is an iconic building that has packed a huge amount of history into its relatively short existence.

© John Welford

Tiergarten, Berlin

Tiergarten is the largest park in Berlin, occupying an area of 495 acres (200 hectares) at the heart of the city.

It was originally a forest used as the hunting reserve of the Electors of Prussia, but during the 1830s it was transformed into a landscaped park by Peter Joseph Lenné. Towards the end of the 19^th century a Triumphal Avenue, lined with statues of German statesmen and rulers, was laid out at the eastern end, but this was destroyed during World War II.

Postwar reconstruction included a great deal of replanting and the erection of many statues and memorials to famous Germans.

The park contains many delightful vistas, especially over the many lakes and ponds it contains, and it is a popular place for Berliners to walk, jog or cycle.

At the centre of Tiergarten is Grosser Stern (Great Star) which is a large five-way roundabout with a triumphal column (Siegessäule) in the middle. This column, which has a viewing platform at the top, was built to commemorate victory in the Prusso-Danish War of 1864. After further military successes, against Austria in 1866 and France in 1871, the figure of “Goldelse”, representing Victory, was added at the top.

It was moved to its present position in 1938 and can now be seen if one looks straight through the Brandenburg Gate down the Strasse des 17 Juni.

© John Welford

The Five Old Ladies of Museum Island, Berlin

Five elderly ladies live on Museum Island. Or, to be more accurate, they don’t actually live in the generally accepted meaning of that word, because they are the spirits who hover over five iconic buildings and who invite anyone who passes by to visit their homes.

The ladies may not be real, but the buildings they haunt most certainly are. Museum Island is a real place, being in the heart of Berlin and surrounded by the narrow waterways of the River Spree and the Spree Canal. This is where you will find Berlin’s four oldest museums and its original art gallery, plus the magnificent cathedral known as the Berliner Dom. There are no other buildings at the northern end of the Island.

The ladies issue their invitations with a few conditions. One is that you pay a few euros for the privilege and that you leave your backpack in the cloakroom before you start looking around. However, a free audioguide – in your own language if not too obscure - is offered and is well worth accepting.

The most senior of the ladies is the spirit of the Altes Museum. This was opened in 1830 in a magnificent neo-classical building that was originally built to house the Prussian monarch’s collection of paintings and antiquities. It now stages permanent exhibitions of the art and culture of Ancient Greece downstairs and Etruscan and Roman art upstairs.

Next in line is the lady who looks after the Neues Museum, whose home first opened in 1855 as a means of relieving pressure on the Altes Museum, the collections of which were growing too fast for the available space. Bomb damage during World War Two meant that it had to undergo considerable rebuilding and it did not reopen until 2009, but it now houses a major collection of Egyptian art with the world-famous bust of Queen Nefertiti as its star exhibit.

Another major collection at the Neues Museum features the Stone Age and other prehistoric eras.

The third old lady presides over the Alte Nationalgalerie, which opened in 1876. The building is a copy of a Greek temple, reached by a double staircase. This lady has a name, which is Germania, the patroness of German art, and her image forms part of the tympanum above the entrance to the gallery.

The national art collection has now vastly exceeded the capacity of the Alte Nationalgalarie and it is now also housed in five other buildings around Berlin. The original building displays works by German masters such as Caspar David Friedrich, but there are also paintings by French Impressionists and even a few pieces by John Constable, although these are not easy to find.

The Bode Museum is the preserve of the fourth lady, her home having been opened in 1904. This museum had to be built to fit the space available at the top end of the island, which is a rough triangle cut off from the rest by a railway line that runs across the island.

The museum is named after Wilhelm von Bode, who was Director of the Berlin state museums at the time the museum opened, but before 1956 it was known as the Kaiser Friedrich Museum. The collection is somewhat mixed, including sculptures, Byzantine art, and an outstanding coin collection that includes items from ancient Athens and Rome.

The new kid on the block, as far as our old ladies is concerned, is the patroness of what is arguably the most remarkable museum of the lot. The Pergamon Museum, which opened in 1930, is unlike anything one is likely to see anywhere else in the world, and it owes its existence to the activities of German archaeologists who worked in the Middle East during the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries and sometimes acted in ways that many people today would question. That said, the results of their efforts are well worth seeing.

The Pergamon Museum is currently undergoing a major redevelopment, which means that the main reason for its naming is not available to view. This is the Pergamon Altar, which was discovered in the ancient city of Pergamon in western Turkey and reconstructed in Berlin at around the turn of the 20^th century. The Pergamon Museum was built specifically to display the Altar and associated friezes and other objects from the site.

The Museum was expanded to allow for the display of other huge monuments, and these are what can be seen at present in the South Wing of the Museum while the other parts remain closed.

You can therefore walk down the Processional Way of the city of Babylon and then, like King Nebuchadnezzar, walk through the Ishtar Gate. Both of these are adorned with thousands of brick-shaped glazed blue tiles that are decorated with images of real and mythical animals. These were discovered in fragments and shipped to Berlin in more than 500 huge crates, to be re-assembled according to documentary evidence from the time of Nebuchadnezzar.

When you go through the Ashtar Gate you find that you have also walked through the Market Gate from the ancient Greek colonial city of Miletus. This is a massive two-storey structure that stands nearly 95 feet across and 55 feet high. It dates from the 2^nd century AD and stood as a link between two public areas in the town until it was felled by an earthquake in the 10^th century.

The reconstruction in Berlin contains around 60% of the original marble blocks, despite further damage having been caused during World War Two.

The Miletus Hall also contains a superb mosaic floor from a house in Miletus, a round tomb from north of Rome, and a partial reconstruction of a porticoed hall from Pergamon, this being one of the few items currently on display in the Pergamon Museum that actually came from that city.

Go upstairs and you will find exhibits relating to Islamic Art. These include the remarkable Aleppo Room, consisting of painted wall panels from around 1600 that once adorned a merchant’s house in the Syrian city of Aleppo. It is probably just as well that the panels are now in Berlin, seeing that the building, which had survived for hundreds of years, fell victim to bombing in the recent conflict in that region.

The five old ladies are doing a grand job in looking after a huge quantity and variety of treasures in Berlin. Long may they continue so to do.

© John Welford

The Blue Grotto, Capri

The Blue Grotto is an oval-shaped sea cave on the coast of the island of Capri, on the south side of Italy’s Bay of Naples. It takes its name from the fact that daylight enters the cave in such a way that the water absorbs all wavelengths except for blue. It has been described as entering a giant sapphire.

It can only be entered by boat through a tiny entrance, and only when conditions permit. Visitors must lie on the floor of a small boat which is taken into the grotto by the boatman pulling on a rope attached to the wall.

The grotto has been known about for thousands of years and was known to be a favourite place of the Roman Emperor Tiberius. The walls of the cave were adorned with statues of gods, some of which have been recovered from the seabed within the cave.

Needless to say, this is a popular tourist destination and long queues of boats form on fine days, which is the only time when access is possible.

© John Welford