Berlin has a lot to offer when it comes to art, but of course we are pretty spoiled in Brussels with all the museums and galleries. I visited just one museum in Berlin, but there’s a lot of street art to discover when walking through the city.
East Side Gallery
The East Side Gallery is quite famous. It’s an original piece of the Wall that is covered with paintings from different artists after the wall came down in 1989. A lot of the artworks have been damaged over the years, some of them have been restored. I had very high expectations but when I finally saw it, I felt a bit disappointed. I think it’s overrated, although it was probably very impressive as a statement in 1990.
Teufelsberg
Teufelsberg means ‘devilish mountain/hill’ in German. After World War II, they created this hill by using the remains of ruined buildings from Berlin. Underneath was a nazi military school that was so strong that it couldn’t be blown up, so they decided to create a hill to make it disappear. In the 50’s the Americans created a massive interception system on top of it to spy on the communists. They used it until 1990. A few years ago you could visit it illegally by using one of the many holes in the fence, but today it’s watched by a group of people who organise ‘silent tours’ for €7 per person. It doesn’t look fair to me, but they say they help to protect the building from vandalism. If you are a bit creative, you can still manage to get in without paying the entrance fee.
Hamburger Bahnhof
Hamburger Bahnhof is a museum of contemporary art, located in a former railway station, presenting paintings, sculptures & installations from the 60’s until today. The most famous artists in this museum are Andy Warhol, Joseph Beuys, Cy Twombly & Mathew Barney. There was a temporary exhibition of Michael Beutler, an artist I never heard of before, but I could really appreciate his work.
This was part II of my Berlin travel report. Make sure you see part I about city impressions & part III about the concentration camp in Sachsenhausen (coming soon).
See you next time!