@chrisjohndewitt

East Berlin 1979. The frontage of the Palast der Republik, the seat of government of the DDR. The massive communist symbol of the state seen here was the first thing to disappear when the East German Communist party (SED) lost power in 1990. It was never officially abolished, apparently, just forgotten about once Germany reunited. 

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East Berlin, a view towards Friedrichstraße and the Weidendammer Brücke in 1979. The old Friedrichstadt-Palast, a popular show-venue, can be seen extreme left. One year later from this photograph, it was closed down due to a poor safety report on the building’s foundations.

East Berlin 1979. The Berliner Dom under scaffolding. Taken with my little Russian ‘SMENA’ camera with the bad viewfinder. As so often with this camera, it is sharp but misframed. I suppose I should have tested it out before using it on something important.

East Berlin Friedrichstraße Bahnhof in February 1979. I was using a little Russian camera called a “SMENA’ in East Berlin, as I was scared to take my good equipment into the ‘Russian Zone’. The lens on the SMENA was sharp, but the viewfinder was terrible, hence the random framing, with way too much sky.

East Berlin Weidendammer Brücke 1979. Friedrichstraße Bahnhof centre right, with the ‘Tränenpalast’ visible above the moored boats. There’s a Stasi on the bridge staring at me, you may notice.

Berlin, the Reichstag building, February 1979. The Berlin Wall can be seen passing behind on the lower right.

West Berlin Kurfürstendamm 1979. Neu Waffo Waffeln.

West Berlin 1979. ‘Bistro 1′ just around the corner from my hotel. A cheap place for tourists on a budget, as I was. It turned into a Chinese restaurant not long after.

Berlin Schlüterstraße 1979. My first hotel in Berlin, the Hotel Bogota was one of the first tourist hotels in Berlin to be bookable worldwide with ‘package’ holidays. This is why I stayed there, very much a Berlin newbie.

Berlin Kurfürstendamm 1979.

Berlin Kurfürstendamm March 1979. The junction up ahead is with Bleibtreustraße.

Berlin March 1979. Kurfürstendamm. One of the first pictures I took on my first trip to Berlin. Three gentlemen chatting, each with a different hat on, is probably what took my attention here.

Berlin Hackescher Markt in March 2018.

Bahnhof Berlin-Charlottenburg in 2018. These are the old platforms at this station, which now serve the regional trains, and the main-line and International services, when required. The new S-Bahn platforms are a short distance upline. At this date there were a lot of interruptions of service on the S-Bahn line due to construction work, so passengers had to use the regional services to complete their journeys across town. 

Berlin Ackerstraße at the corner with Linienstraße in 2018. In my books about the 1920s in Berlin, I had seen the name Ackerstraße, as murders were committed there, and the artists George Grosz and Otto Dix had made grotesque drawings of the people they saw there, so the name resonated with me.

Berlin Torstraße 2018.

Berlin Linienstraße in the Mitte district, 2018.

Berlin Große Hamburger Straße at the corner with Krausnickstraße in the Mitte district. This area played a part in the 1848 revolution by citizens of Berlin demanding social and political change, as part of a national movement inspired by the French revolution. The text on the wall of the building on the right explains what happened there and nearby.

Potsdam, the Old Market, with the newly rebuilt Stadtschloss on the right, and the Barberini Museum centre left. Picture taken 2018.

The view from the Monbijou Hotel Berlin in 2019.

Berlin Museum Island 2019. The colonnade around the Old National Gallery, with the early morning midsummer sun just getting through the columns for an hour or so.

Museum Island 2019. The main facade of the New Museum incorporates the  colonnade enclosing the garden area of the Old National Gallery. Much of this was still in ruins from the war when I first came here in ‘79. The skill and dedication of the modern architects and restorers is admirable. But there is light and dark in everything, unfortunately.

The Neues Museum on Museum Island in Berlin. It was an empty ruin until 2009, when it was reopened after being renovated, redesigned and rebuilt with a modern twist by the celebrated architect Sir David Alan Chipperfield CBE RA RDI RIBA. I personally like it a lot. View taken from Bodestraße in July 2019.

cjdphotoblogno2 :

Lady Macbeth and the RSC Theatre in January 2013

Berlin Lustgarten from the portico of the Altes Museum in July 2019. Some people rejoice at the restoration of this famous view. Others are unhappy at the ‘Disneyfied’ replica of the Schloss facade. I say, it’s done now, why argue about it?

Berlin Schloßplatz 2019. The former Marx-Engels Platz of East Berlin.

Berlin Alexanderplatz 2019. After the East German state ceased to exist, establishing who were the rightful owners of property in East Berlin was a thorny question. In this picture another empty site has been built up again, and it looks like the big property developers got hold of it in the end. A modern shop with a global presence occupies the building in this 2019 shot.

Berlin Alexanderplatz 2019. The ‘Saturn’ electronics shop was built on a previously empty area, bringing a slightly more human scale to the square.

cjdphotoblogno2 :

Hanbury Hall formal garden yesterday.

Berlin Alexanderplatz July 2019. Picture taken around 7 am on a vintage Russian camera, a Zorki 4K, very solidly built. I had trouble holding the camera steady when the shutter fired, such was the recoil of the powerful mechanism.