Thursday, July 3, 2008

A New City: Berlin

Berlin has been through so much for the past century. I knew about the war and the history behind it, but I never expected the scars the war have left behind to be cut into the city so deep. There are very few old buildings left in Berlin, as most of them have been hit by bombs during WWII.

Berlin is constantly changing, with new buildings coming up every so often. The city skyline is crowded with cranes at work. But speaking of new buildings, much of the old classical building can be quite deceiving as they were built in early 20th century. Basically, they were built to look old. A good example right now is the construction of the Old Royal Palace. The royal palace was originally demolished during the communist period and was replaced by a social building. This communist social building is now being demolished (picture above) and a replica of the Old Royal Palace will be build on its old site. All the details, building plans and statues were dug up from the archives and will be rebuild to look like the original.

Its an interesting city no doubt, with a rich and brutal history. But Berlin is a city that looks at the present and towards the future without destroying its past.

1 comment:

Backpack Joe said...

Wow! You have nice pictures there! We're going to Berlin next month, and it seems that every blog or review I read makes we want to go to there even more! We will be staying for a few weeks there, renting an apartment from this List of Berlin Apartments and hopefully we can visit all that needs visiting.

Thanks for the post! Wish us Luck!