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…

Greiz in Thuringia

4 March 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  4 minutes

© Steffen Loewe/cc-by-sa-4.0

© Steffen Loewe/cc-by-sa-4.0

Greiz is a town in the state of Thuringia, Germany, and is the capital of the district of Greiz. Greiz is situated in eastern Thuringia, 40 kilometres (25 mi) east of state capital Erfurt, on the river White Elster.   read more…

Inner new town of Dresden

30 October 2022 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  9 minutes

Hauptstraße © VSchagow/cc-by-sa-4.0

Hauptstraße © VSchagow/cc-by-sa-4.0

The Innere Neustadt (Inner New City) is a neighborhood in Dresden within the administrative district of Neustadt. The name is derived from “Neue Königliche Stadt” (New Royal City), the name given to the former district of Altendresden when it was rebuilt after a fire before 1732. In contrast to the Äußere Neustadt (Outer New City), the Innere Neustadt was within the city fortifications and, for that reason, is also known as the historic Neustadt. Its population is 7,761 (2020). The Innere Neustadt is located in the administrative district of Neustadt, on the right bank across the Elbe and to the north of the Innere Altstadt (Inner Old City). The River Elbe forms an enclosing arc around the Innere Neustadt. Four bridges cross the Elbe, connecting the district with the southern bank of the Elbe. Of these, only Augustusbrucke is historic. The streets leading to these bridges cross the Innere Neustadt and join at Albertplatz (Albert Place), at the northern end of the district (originally called Bautzner Platz).   read more…

Inner old town of Dresden

30 October 2022 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

Inner old town © Zinneke/cc-by-sa-3.0

Inner old town © Zinneke/cc-by-sa-3.0

The inner old town is a neighbourhood in the district of Altstadt and the historic city center of the Saxon state capital Dresden. It is part of the Altstadt I district. Many of Dresden’s best-known buildings are located in the inner old town. In addition to the Frauenkirche, these are the Zwinger, the Semperoper, the Residenzschloss, the Katholische Hofkirche, the Kreuzkirche and numerous other buildings. Important squares are the Altmarkt, the Neumarkt, the Theaterplatz and the Schloßplatz. There are also parks in the small district, such as the Brühlsche Garten at the eastern end of the Brühlsche Terrasse and the pond at the Zwinger.   read more…

Schorfheide-Chorin Biosphere Reserve in Brandenburg

20 May 2022 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Environment, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  5 minutes

Glambecker Mühle © Uckermaerker/cc-by-sa-3.0

Glambecker Mühle © Uckermaerker/cc-by-sa-3.0

The Schorfheide-Chorin Biosphere Reserve, often shortened to Schorfheide, is a biosphere reserve in the German State of Brandenburg near the Polish border. The reserve was established on 1 October 1990 following the German Reunification and is under the protection of the UNESCO Man and Biosphere Reserve Programme. It stretches over the German districts of Barnim, Uckermark, Märkisch-Oderland and Oberhavel and incorporates an area of 1,291 square kilometres (498 sq mi). Notable towns are Eberswalde, Joachimsthal and Friedrichswalde. The core area of the reserve is formed by the Schorfheide forest, one of the largest cohesive woodlands in Germany.   read more…

St. Nicholas Church in Potsdam

13 May 2022 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Architecture, Berlin Reading Time:  12 minutes

© Bärwinkel,Klaus/cc-by-3.0

© Bärwinkel,Klaus/cc-by-3.0

St. Nicholas Church (German: St. Nikolaikirche) in Potsdam is a Lutheran church under the Evangelical Church in Berlin, Brandenburg and Silesian Upper Lusatia of the Evangelical Church in Germany on the Old Market Square (Alter Markt) in Potsdam. The central plan building in the Classicist style and dedicated to Saint Nicholas was built to plans by Karl Friedrich Schinkel in the years 1830 to 1837.   read more…

The Kyffhäuser Monument

6 April 2018 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Museums, Exhibitions, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks Reading Time:  8 minutes

© Burghof Kyffhäuser/cc-by-sa-3.0

© Burghof Kyffhäuser/cc-by-sa-3.0

The Kyffhäuser Monument (German: Kyffhäuserdenkmal), also known as Barbarossa Monument (Barbarossadenkmal), is an Emperor William monument within the Kyffhäuser mountain range in Thuringia. It was erected in 1890–96 at the site of medieval Kyffhausen Castle near Bad Frankenhausen. The Kyffhäuser Monument is the third-largest monument in Germany, after the Monument to the Battle of the Nations (Völkerschlachtdenkmal) commemorating the 1813 Battle of Leipzig and the Emperor William Monument at Porta Westfalica, both of which also were designed by architect Bruno Schmitz (1858–1916).   read more…

Oranienbaum Palace in Saxony-Anhalt

6 December 2017 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Museums, Exhibitions, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks Reading Time:  9 minutes

Oranienbaum Palace © Michael Sander/cc-by-sa-3.0

Oranienbaum Palace © Michael Sander/cc-by-sa-3.0

Oranienbaum Palace is located in the town of Oranienbaum-Wörlitz in Saxony-Anhalt. It belongs to the Dessau-Wörlitz Garden Realm. The castle, which is located in the district Oranienbaum, is located east of Dessau-Roßlau, only a few kilometers from the Wörlitzer Park. Oranienbaum Castle is one of four castles named after the House of Orange in Germany. They were built for four sisters, German rulers, who were born to the House of Orange. Besides Oranienbaum there are Oranienstein Palace near Diez and Oranienburg Palace in Oranienburg. The fourth, Oranienhof Palace near Bad Kreuznach, does not exist anymore. The former Dutch Queen Beatrix is patron of the restoration of the castle Oranienbaum. In 2004 and 2012 Beatrix visited Oranienbaum and visited the castle.   read more…

Theme Week Potsdam – Cecilienhof Palace

13 November 2017 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Berlin, Hotels, Museums, Exhibitions, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  14 minutes

© Gryffindor

© Gryffindor

Cecilienhof Palace is a palace in Potsdam, Brandenburg built from 1914 to 1917 in the layout of an English Tudor manor house. Cecilienhof was the last palace built by the House of Hohenzollern that ruled the Kingdom of Prussia and the German Empire until the end of World War I. Cecilienhof has been part of the Palaces and Parks of Potsdam and Berlin UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1990. Cecilienhof is located in the northern part of the large New Garden park, close to the shore of the Jungfernsee lake. The park was laid out from 1787 at the behest of King Frederick William II of Prussia, modelled on the Wörlitz Park in Anhalt-Dessau. Frederick William II also had the Marmorpalais (Marble Palace) built within the Neuer Garten, the first Brandenburg palace in the Neoclassical style erected according to plans designed by Carl von Gontard and Carl Gotthard Langhans, which was finished in 1793. Other structures within the park close to Schloss Cecilienhof include an orangery, an artificial grotto (Muschelgrotte), the “Gothic Library”, and the Dairy in the New Garden, also constructed for King Frederick William II. The park was largely redesigned as an English landscape garden according to plans by Peter Joseph Lenné from 1816 onwards, with lines of sight to nearby Pfaueninsel, Glienicke Palace, Babelsberg Palace, and the Church of the Redeemer.   read more…

Return to TopReturn to Top