The New Berlin
24 September - 2 October 2012
Tour Highlights
- Highlights of this tour, led by Dr Iva Rosario and Kenneth W. Park include:
- • Visiting the Reichstag Conversion and walk inside its glass cupola for a spectacular view over the city
- • Daniel Leibskind's Jewish Museum
- • Attending a musical performance at one of Berlin’s great theatres, such as the Berlin Philharmonie (date and venue subject to concert programming)
- • Exploring the Potsdamer Platz, Berlin’s spectacular ‘gallery’ of modern architecture, led by an architectural guide
- • Exploring the remarkable collections of art & antiquities gathered from both halves of Berlin at the Pergamon Museum, the Gemäldegalerie & the Alte Nationalgalerie
- • Making an excursions to the beautiful palaces of the Prussian monarchy at Sanssouci and Charlottenburg
Visits include Major Art Collections & Museums (Gemäldegalerie, Pergamon Museum, Ägyptisches Museum, The Jewish Museum, and the Alte Nationalgalerie - including masterpieces by Caspar David Friedrich); Architectural Highlights (The Reichstag, Potsdamer Platz, Palaces of Sanssouci & Charlottenburg, and Checkpoint Charlie)
About the Tour
Berlin is undergoing a renewal in art & architecture, planning & performance, music & the myriad aspects of modern urban life that makes it one of the most exciting and fascinating cities in Europe. The reunification of the city has unleashed a vibrant and creative wave of energy that is transforming the great monuments, the extensive art collections, the cultural and physical fabric of the old Berlin. It has become a showpiece of the very latest architecture, counterpart to the lovely monuments of its eighteenth century rulers, and a symbol of German identity in the 21st century. During this tour we will visit the magnificent museums built to house vast collections of ancient, European and modern art. You will explore exciting new architectural projects like the Reichstag Conversion, Daniel Leibskind's new Jewish Museum, and the Potsdamer Platz (consisting of a range of projects designed by leading international architects including Renzo Piano, Arata Isozaki & Richard Rogers). You will also take excursions to the beautiful palaces of the Prussian monarchy, Sanssouci and Charlottenburg and attend a musical performance at one of the great theatres of the city. There will be time at leisure to follow your own paths through the new Berlin, to visit its museums, galleries and shopping areas.
Historical Background
Berlin, located on the Spree river in the broad flat plains of North Germany, began life in the 13th century as a trading centre. As North European trade developed, Berlin became one of the members of the Hanseatic League, and enjoyed a similar prosperity to the other Hanseatic towns. Its economic wealth made it a target for ambitious princes, such as the Hohenzollern, who made it the capital of the principality of Brandenburg. Berlin did not enjoy royal status, however, until the 17th century when it became the capital of Prussia. The Brandenburg rulers of Prussia transformed the medieval city by constructing wide Baroque avenues which connected the centre of Berlin to suburban palaces at Charlottenburg and Sanssouci. They also began to collect classical and western art, a form of conspicuous consumption which underlined their wealth but also their status within Europe, and their inheritance of an imperial tradition dating back to the Holy Roman Empire and ultimately Rome itself. The industrial revolution changed Berlin into one of the main industrial centres of 19th-century Europe, adding factories and railways to the urban fabric, whilst the creation of Germany and a German colonial empire added extra-European artefacts to Berlin’s art collections. After its growth from the 17th to early 20th century, after it gained the status of imperial capital, Berlin was rent apart by World War II and the subsequent division of Germany and Berlin itself into eastern and western sections. The reunification of East and West Germany has, however, triggered a new era of dynamic development in Berlin, centred on the Potsdamer Platz at its heart but replicated across the city in efforts to create a new unified capital capable of expressing contemporary German experience and identity.
