Germany
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Sophiensæle
Behind the street frontage on Sophienstraße, the brick building now known as Sophiensæle began as a clubhouse for Berlin’s craftsmen’s association. Built in 1904–1905, it provided a setting for workers’ education and collective activity. The clubhouse also became a meeting place for the political left. Rosa Luxemburg, Karl Liebknecht, Clara Zetkin, and Erich Mühsam spoke […]
Hackesche Höfe
Behind the street façades near Hackescher Markt, eight interconnected courtyards reveal another side of Berlin’s urban history. Opened in 1906, the Hackesche Höfe brought residences, businesses, workshops, and entertainment spaces together within a single complex. Passages between the courtyards connected activities that a view from the street could easily conceal. Architect Kurt Berndt developed the […]
New Synagogue
With its gilded dome rising above Oranienburger Straße, Berlin’s New Synagogue was a prominent expression of Jewish communal life when it opened in 1866. Its scale and elaborate architecture reflected a community establishing a visible place within the growing capital. Built to designs by Eduard Knoblauch, the synagogue drew on Moorish architectural forms. Its richly […]
The Kolonnadenhof, Museum Island
On our trip to Berlin, we spent time exploring the museums on Museum Island. There was so much to see inside that it would have been easy to hurry from one collection to the next. Instead, we found ourselves lingering in the Kolonnadenhof, the garden shared by the Alte Nationalgalerie, the Neues Museum, and the Pergamon Museum. It gave […]
Block of Women
In a small park on Rosenstraße in central Berlin stands a group of fractured red sandstone blocks carved with human figures, Jewish symbols and German words. The monument is known as the Block der Frauen, or Block of Women. Created by German sculptor Ingeborg Hunzinger, it commemorates one of the most remarkable acts of public protest against Nazi persecution: the Rosenstraße Protest […]
The Burgtor
During our visit to Lübeck, we passed through the Burgtor, or Castle Gate, one of the surviving entrances into the city’s historic center. Although it is less widely recognized than Lübeck’s famous Holsten Gate, the Burgtor is the older of the two and has guarded the northern approach to the city for centuries. Lübeck was […]
Bäckerbreitergang
While visiting Hamburg, we walked along Bäckerbreitergang, where this row of carefully restored half-timbered houses offers a rare glimpse of the city’s earlier residential neighborhoods. The photograph was taken beside number 49, the first house in a surviving group extending from numbers 49 through 58. The buildings date from the late eighteenth and early nineteenth […]
The Salt Storehouses
Standing along the Trave River near Lübeck’s Holsten Gate, the six buildings known as the Salzspeicher, or Salt Storehouses, preserve the story of a commodity that helped make this northern German city wealthy and powerful. Their rows of windows, steep red roofs, and distinctive stepped gables reflect in the water, creating one of Lübeck’s most […]
Historic Fish Auction Hall
During our visit to Hamburg, we explored the waterfront that has shaped the city’s identity and prosperity for centuries. Along the Elbe River stands the historic Fish Auction Hall, or Fischauktionshalle, a reminder of the time when fishing boats, merchants, and dockworkers filled this part of the harbor. The fishing tradition in this area dates […]
The Elbphilharmonie
We had the opportunity to explore some of Hamburg during the time we spent teaching there. Our work has taken us to cities around the world, and whenever our schedule allowed, we tried to experience something of the history and character of the place we were visiting. In Hamburg, one of the most striking sights […]
Alexander von Humboldt
While walking along Unter den Linden in Berlin, we came across this imposing statue in front of Humboldt University. It honors Alexander von Humboldt, one of the great scientists, explorers and thinkers of the 19th century. His name was familiar to me, but seeing his monument in front of the university that bears the Humboldt […]
Charlottenburg Palace
While exploring Berlin, we visited Charlottenburg Palace, a place that opened another window into the city’s long history. Berlin is so often associated with the dramatic events of the 20th century that it can be easy to forget that for centuries it was also a royal capital. Charlottenburg takes us back into that earlier world […]
