My Trip to Berlin

On 20th May 2023 I spent a day in Berlin.

Potsdamer Platz is a public square and traffic intersection in the center of Berlin. In the late 19th and the early 20th century it became the most bustling traffic intersection in Europa. The area was totally destroyed during World War II and then left desolate during the Cold War era when the Berlin Wall bisected its location. Since German reunification, Potsdamer Platz has been the site of major redevelopment projects.

The Kulturforum is a collection of cultural buildings in Berlin. It was built up in the 1950s and 1960s at the edge of West Berlin. The Kulturforum is characterized by its innovative modernist architecture includung the Philharmonie by Hans Scharoun. Today the Kulturforum lies immediately to the west of the redeveloped Potsdamer Platz.

The New National Gallery at the Kulturforum is a museum for modern art in Berlin with its main focus on the 20th century. The museum building and its sculpture gardens were designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and opened in 1968.

The Picture Gallery is an art museum. It houses one of the World's leading collections of European paintings from the 13th to the 18th century and the largest part of the art collection of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation. It was opened in 1830.

The Kaufhaus des Westens, abbreviated to KaDeWe, is a department store. It is the second-largest department store in Europa after Harrods in London.

The Equestrian Statue of Frederick the Great on Unter den Linden avenue was created from 1839 to 1851 by Christian Daniel Rauch. It is a masterpiece of the Berlin school of sculpture marking the transition from neoclassicism to realism.

Schlesisches Tor is a Berlin U-Bahn station on lines U1 and U3.

I also bought some cards about famous German movies from the time of the Weimar Republic.

22nd/23rd March 2023: Disney Centenary, Germany

For the Centenary of Disney a special stamp was issued in Germany. I used them on these three cards, but the gummed version did not survive the postal system, while the self-adhesive version remained.

Thank You very much Anita for helping me with the cards!

22nd March 2023: Max Reger, Germany

7th March 2023: Märchenbrunnen in Berlin, Germany

The Märchenbrunnen is a monumentail fountain in Berlin's Volkspark Friedrichshain. It includes statues of many famous fairy tales and was opened in 1913. Designed by Ludwig Hoffmann, it is considered to be among the most beautiful fountains in Germany's capital. 

7th March 2023: Berlin State Opera, Germany

The Berlin State Opera  was built by order of Prussian king Frederick the Great from 1741 to 1743 according to plans by Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff in the Palladian style. It is the World´s oldest state opera and the first theater anywhere to be, by itself, a prominent, freestanding monumental building in a city.

My Trip to Berlin

The Berlin Palace was once the main residence of the Prussian Kings and thus the German Emperors, but was damaged during World War II and later demolished. However in recent years the palace was reconstructed and now houses the Humboldt Forum, which opened to the public in 2021. The Humboldt Forum is a museum dedicated to human history, art and culture. It is named in honour of the Prussian scholars Wilhelm and Alexander von Humboldt. Considered the "German equivalent" of the British Museum, the Humboldt Forum houses the non-European collections of the Berlin State Museums, incorporating the former Ethnological Museum of Berlin and the Museum of Asian Art. Despite multiple controversies it quickly became one of the most visited museums in the World. 

The James Simon Gallery is a centrally located visitor center and art gallery on Museum Island in Berlin. It opened in 2019.

Berlin Potsdamer Platz is a railway station in Berlin. It is completely underground and situated under Potsdamer Platz in central Berlin.

The International Congress Centrum Berlin was one of the largest conference centres in Germany. It is used for conventions, theatrical productions and concerts. In April 2014 it was closed in order to remove asbestos contamination, and remains closed as of 2024. It is an important example of the High-Tech Architecture.