Theater des Westens in Berlin

14 March 2024 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Berlin, Opera Houses, Theaters, Libraries Reading Time:  7 minutes

© flickr.com - Sergey Galyonkin/cc-by-sa-2.0

© flickr.com – Sergey Galyonkin/cc-by-sa-2.0

The Theater des Westens (Theatre of the West) is one of the most famous theatres for musicals and operettas in Berlin, Germany, located at Kantstraße 10–12 in Charlottenburg. It was founded in 1895 for plays. The present house was opened in 1896 and dedicated to opera and operetta. Enrico Caruso made his debut in Berlin here, and the Ballets Russes appeared with Anna Pavlova. In the 1930s it was run as the Volkstheater Berlin. After World War II it served as the temporary opera house of Berlin, the Städtische Oper (Municipal Opera). In 1961 it became the first theatre in Germany to show musicals. Since then it has become the “German equivalent of Broadway extravaganzas”, putting on plays and musical comedies.   read more…

Hotel Telegraphenamt in Berlin

18 February 2024 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Berlin, Hotels Reading Time:  7 minutes

Hotel Telegraphenamt © Fridolin freudenfett/cc-by-sa-4.0

Hotel Telegraphenamt © Fridolin freudenfett/cc-by-sa-4.0

The former main telegraph office at Oranienburger Straße 73–76 in the Berlin Mitte neighborhood in the district of the same name is a listed architectural monument. From its opening in 1916 until 1992, it served as the headquarters of Berlin’s telegraph facilities. The monumental building complex has been owned by an investor since 2001. After several years of renovation, a hotel opened in the building in 2022.   read more…

Lollapalooza in Chicago

4 February 2024 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Berlin, Paris / Île-de-France, Events Reading Time:  9 minutes

© flickr.com - Aneil Lutchman/cc-by-sa-2.0

© flickr.com – Aneil Lutchman/cc-by-sa-2.0

Lollapalooza (Lolla) is an annual American four-day music festival held in Grant Park in Chicago. It originally started as a touring event in 1991, but several years later, Chicago became its permanent location. Music genres include alternative rock, heavy metal, punk rock, hip hop, and electronic dance music. Lollapalooza has also featured visual arts, nonprofit organizations, and political organizations. The festival, held in Grant Park, hosts an estimated 400,000 people each July and sells out annually. Lollapalooza is one of the largest music festivals in the world and one of the longest-running in the United States.   read more…

House of One in Berlin

24 December 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Berlin Reading Time:  8 minutes

House of One model © Thaler Tamas/cc-by-sa-4.0

House of One model © Thaler Tamas/cc-by-sa-4.0

The House of One is a religious structure being built in Berlin. It will be the world’s first house of prayer for three religions, containing a church, a mosque, and a synagogue. The construction costs, which are estimated at 43.5 million euros, come roughly equally from the federal government, the city of Berlin as well as donations and a crowdfunding campaign.   read more…

Fraenkelufer Synagogue in Berlin

9 November 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Berlin Reading Time:  11 minutes

© Jörg Zägel/cc-by-sa-3.0

© Jörg Zägel/cc-by-sa-3.0

The synagogue on Fraenkelufer (German: Fraenkelufer Synagoge) in Berlin‘s Kreuzberg district was built as an Orthodox Synagogue between 1913 and 1916 according to plans and under the direction of the master builder of the Jewish Community of Berlin, Alexander Beer. The structure was located on Kottbusser Ufer 48–50, today’s Fraenkelufer 10-16. On Kristallnacht, the evening of November 9-10th, 1938, the main building of the synagogue was badly damaged. Further destruction in the following years led to the structures ultimate demolition in 1958/1959 after the end of World War II. Today the surviving outbuilding, previously used for the youth service, has been renovated and is home to a Conservative Synagogue. A complete reconstruction of the main synagogue that was destroyed by the Nazis is being planned for its original location.   read more…

Rykestrasse Synagogue in Berlin

13 October 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Berlin Reading Time:  15 minutes

Nave © Mazbln/cc-by-sa-3.0

Nave © Mazbln/cc-by-sa-3.0

Rykestrasse Synagogue, Germany’s largest synagogue, is located in the Prenzlauer Berg neighbourhood in the Pankow borough of Berlin. Johann Hoeniger built the synagogue in 1903/1904. It was inaugurated on 4 September 1904, in time for the holidays of and around Rosh Hashanah. The synagogue stands off the street alignment and is reached by a thoroughfare in the pertaining front building.   read more…

Prenzlauer Berg in Berlin

4 October 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Architecture, Berlin Reading Time:  13 minutes

Stargarder Straße © Stevy76/cc-by-2.5

Stargarder Straße © Stevy76/cc-by-2.5

Prenzlauer Berg is a locality of Berlin, forming the southerly and most urban district of the borough of Pankow. From its founding in 1920 until 2001, Prenzlauer Berg was a district of Berlin in its own right. However, that year it was incorporated (along with the borough of Weißensee) into the greater district of Pankow.   read more…

Schöneberg in Berlin

11 July 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Berlin Reading Time:  16 minutes

Metro station Nollendorfplatz, the gate to the traditional LGBTQ/Rainbow neighborhood © Babewyn/cc-by-sa-4.0

Metro station Nollendorfplatz, the gate to the traditional LGBTQ/Rainbow neighborhood © Babewyn/cc-by-sa-4.0

Schöneberg is a locality of Berlin, Germany. Until Berlin’s 2001 administrative reform it was a separate borough including the locality of Friedenau. Together with the former borough of Tempelhof it is now part of the new borough of Tempelhof-Schöneberg. The locality of Schöneberg includes the neighborhoods (Stadtquartiere) of Bayerisches Viertel (English: “Bavarian Quarter”), an affluent residential area with streets named after Bavarian towns) and the Rote Insel (English: “Red Island”) as well as Lindenhof and the large natural park area Südgelände (English: “south grounds”) on the outside of the Ringbahn railway circle line.   read more…

Palace of Tears in Berlin

1 April 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Berlin, House of the Month Reading Time:  7 minutes

© Matthias Süßen/cc-by-sa-4.0

© Matthias Süßen/cc-by-sa-4.0

The Tränenpalast (English: “Palace of Tears”) is a former border crossing point between East and West Berlin, at Berlin Friedrichstraße station, which was in operation between 1962 and 1989. It is now a museum with exhibitions about Berlin during the Cold War period and about the process of German reunification. It was the border crossing for travellers on the S-bahn, U-bahn and trains going between East and West Germany. It was used only for westbound border crossings. It had separate checkpoints for West Berliners, West Germans, foreigners, diplomats, transit travellers and East Germans. The term Tränenpalast is derived from the tearful partings that took place in front of the building between western visitors and East German residents who were not permitted to travel to West Berlin.   read more…

Return to TopReturn to Top