A well kept secret of Berlin: Georg Kolbe Museum

Berlin is the city of special museums, but only few of them are on the usual touristic routes. Some of them are hidden in secret corners of the city, out of sight, but easy to be found by the real lovers of art. Take, for instance, Georg Kolbe Museum. It is situated in an area without high tourist attractions, but easy to be reached after visiting the Olympic Stadium, either by train - S-Bahn Heerstrasse and around 10 minutes or walking - or by bus. 

I wanted to visit this museum for a long time, but there were always new temptations around in my area so I left it for later. This autumn, without too many opportunities to go out of the city as often as I wanted to, and determined to see the Jean Arp exhibition - Navel of the Avant-garde - before closing, I finally made it. Representative of the Berlin Secession movement, Kolbe was considered one of the biggest sculptors of Germany. He collaborated with Mies van der Rohde for the building of Barcelona Pavillion and had a relatively limited collaboration with the far-right regime.  

The museum is the first open in West Berlin after the war, in 1950, hosted in the house that Kolbe used to work between 1929 and 1947.

Human bodies are spread all over the garden and the entrance, silent apparitions at human scale. Their tensed postures made you think that they are alive and ready to share with you some secrets.

Only the wild nature balances the wild energy of the statues. The huge trees put everything in a new perspective. It is so much strength and natural power everywhere that I start my tour with a long stay in the garden, trying to feel the synchronisation and contrasts between human and nature forces. 

The exhibition spaces are big,wrapped in the natural light coming out of the wall-sized windows. It also has a library. I met Jean Arp's work before, at the Modern Art Museum in Strasbourg. The exhibition at Kolbe Museum was focused on the pictorial sign of the navel, carved in stone, shaped in plastic or bronze, considered the humankind bond to nature. Arp puts into question many of the principles of the traditional art not only through sculptures, but also collages and paintings. 

Outside, more human bodies are watching the entrance, surprised in their private worlds but still keeping the sight outside, like a warning to the accidental visitor that they are there to stay.

From the terrasse of the Cafe K, serving vegetarian dishes and good coffees, I finished my museum trip spending more time looking at the forest of bodies. Nature not only inspires art but also show to the art and artists in general the right proportions. 

A different Museum of the Allies

I consider myself quite a knowledgeable person when it comes to every hidden museums of Berlin, but it seems that as in the case of many other issues, it is hard to keep up always with the changes. As usual, the more I walk in less known place, the more I learn about the city. No wonder then, almost one month ago, while doing research before the European Maccabi Games, I discovered the West Alliirte in Berlin Museum. It is a free private museum, hosted in a small house with a view over the tennis courts of the Stadium, open only on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays or by request. 

For a rainy Sunday afternoon, the museum was quite full of visitors, from all over the world. Situated in what once used to be the British sector, it offers a variety of objects from the everyday life of the troops and the military stationed in this part of the city. Noteworthy, compared with the similar museum from Clayallee, it focuses more on the British and French sections. 

Do not expect surprising revelations or some information that may change dramatically your perception abou the post WWII times. The visitor will find a lot of basic documents - in the sense of the new history trends - about that times, from uniforms to issues of the French Gazette, warning signs and objects used in the daily life of the military. 

The space is not that big and the materials not necessarily punctilioulsy organised, but someone with already a basic knowledge about those times will have a better picture about the daily life on that part of the Curtain.

By using objects provided by private collections, various camp facilities were rebuilt.

A lot of documents and reconstructions are dedicated to the time of the blockade when, among others, Hershey's chocolates landed in Berlin, throwed up with white napkins as parashutes from the Allies airplanes. 

Walking the museum was an interesting applied lesson of history, always interesting, especially when it comes to facts that are still part of the everyday life. Sometimes, in order to understand complex things, you need to start by basic daily facts and this small museum has the potential to bring something different to its visitors. Cold War histories are still popular in Berlin.

A visit at the Communications Museum

Berlin has so many museums that it is difficult sometimes to decide where to go first. Almost 5 years after moving here, I have a long list of places that I want to see in the next weeks, and the Communications Museum was on the first pole position. One of the main reasons was the curiosity to see what can be hidden behind the walls of massive building, not exactly my idea of host for such a thematic exhibition. I was not the only one impressed, as the Emperor Wilhelm the IInd remarked when saw it the first time that it is made in a 'Good, pure and simply dignified style!'. As at the time the main communication was made through the postal services, the aim of the building was to present the big achievements of the Germans in this domain. After the war, it was used as the Post Museum of the GDR. 

If one visits the museum on a weekday, expect a lot of school chidren visiting the place, sometimes noisy, sometimes only interested to see how it is to play soccer funny looking robots. At the first sight, you may take them as two big vacuum cleaners. They move in the direction of the ball, but not always as fast as the children. However, the idea of playing with and against two unmanned machines create a lot of action and fun for them. 

With the exception of the robots, the rest of the exhibition follows a relatively classical line. It has over 3,000 objects, covering various stages of development of the communications. The Treasure Chamber, for instance, has a lot of remarkable items featuring stamps, old cards or the first European telephone exchange with automatic dialling that took place in 1869 in Hildesheim. From time to time, spectacular presences are waking up the visitor from the lethargy induced by too much information. It is the case with the postal carriage from 1880, reconstructed piece by piece at one of the upper levels of the building. In the corners of the building adorned with classical statues words in neon lightning were intercalated as reminders of the times we are living in.

The visitor from the 21st century should not expect many details about the modern networked societies, as it seems that the research stops at the TV era for now - even though there is a small Internet room provided. Social media aren't very popular here and one of the reason might be the long weight of too much history. Instead, one can learn how to use the Morse system and understand the intricate network of communication, made by boats, buses or air planes or the force of the steam power, not only cables sending instant e-mails from the opposite corners of the world. 

The museum is very intensive in terms of the information shared, and is useful especially for the children who grew up with Internet and modern communications in general. As a once in a lifetime cultural experiences, it was interesting for the adult in me too, mainly for the historical references and other details regarding the development of communications in Germany. 

Afternoon at the Ceramic Museum

Almost three years ago, it was a beautiful spring day and I left home having in mind to visit the Ceramic Museum. But I don't remember what happened and my plans were switched for some outdoor activities probably. This time, with the snow being around the corner, it was cold enough to be very strict about my schedule. The small museum is situated in Charlottenburg, a couple of minutes away from Richard-Wagner Platz U-Bahn station. 

The visitors are invited to see three different exhibitions: one permanent collection of German porcelain from the 19th century, and two other temporary exhibitions changed almost every 6 months. The main collection includes beautiful samples of local art, with or without flower and natural prints in general, produced by German manufacture. Many of them were and still are popular items in the living rooms of the middle class local society.

The exhibition halls are distributed through the building. The museum is hosted in the oldest construction in Charlottenburg, originally built in the 18th century. What is nowadays the main garden with stylish arcades used to be a huge dancing hall that was destroyed over night by the 1980s owners. A very bad and unauthorized decision, as the building was and still is part of the local heritage. After this experience, it was transferred under the authority of the townhall who subsidize it.

One of the main temporary exhibitions features the coffee and dining culture from 'Urbino' to 'Stambul'. It presents various items produced by the KPM Porcelain Manufactur in the 1930s and later on, one generation later. It features various works by Marguerite Friedlaender and Gerhard Marcks, brand names of the local design scene for years. It is not easy to find the charm of the strict monotone geometry and the strict lack of colour diversity, but there is some mystery of the geometry that cannot be neglected. The exhibition hall has also a small corner where the coffee drinkers can rest and sip their take away coffees in an inspiring ambiance.

The last exhibition is dedicated to the German artist Walter Rhaue, that brings back the colours into my day. Besides the religious subjects, he also decorated plates and small statues in lively nuances and in a humorous way. 

I wished my visit in this warm space with so many colours and shapes lasts longer. Before leaving, I had a look at the selection of books from the local library - good looking hard covered books with many useful information about the German porcelain traditions - and was introduced a bit more into the history of the building by the director of the museum. This may be the advantage of visiting a small homely place: you will always find nice people ready to tell you local stories. 

The Foreigner in Berlin went to the Pergamon Museum (again)

When many people take the full advantage of a full sunny Sunday for some outdoor activities and eventually a pick nick in the middle of the town, the Foreigner in Berlin went to museum. At the Pergamon museum, a place where I've been less than 6 months ago. This time, I was interested in the temporary exhibition dedicated to the antique city of Uruk.

Apparently I was not the only one who decided to spend some hours at the museum, as there were plenty of people, mostly guided groups of tourists interested in the history of the Middle East. 

The king fighting the lion

Located in South Mesopotamia - nowadays South of Iraq - Uruk is considered the oldest major city in the world. It started ad a 2,5 sq.km locality and developed further as a 5.3 sq. km. town, a huge accomplishment at the time - 4th century CE. The development imposed certain changes in the social structure and determined at a great extent the development of writing, first as a way to record various merchandises and to organize the daily productive activities - one of the first clay tablets recorded are aimed to keep the record of workers and their shifts. Interesting construction techniques were developed, as for instance the cone facade, partially reconstructed, presented at the exhibition. The city was not rich in natural resources so many of the raw materials were brought from abroad. Thus, it was exposed to interesting cultural and human exchanges that can be noticed in the decorations and some of the jewellery discovered in tombs. 

Uruk is considered a legendary town also as directly associated with the adventures of Gilgamesh and Enkidu, but the historians quoted by the organizers of the exhibition

say that there it s not a clear record of Gilgamesh's deeds.

The special cones technique

The artefacts presented at the exhibition are the result of 100 intensive years of excavations. Due to the tensed situation in the region from the 1980s, the researches were mostly stopped. After the end of the Saddam dictatorship, the internal fights and social problems continued to affect the researches and extended archaeological programs are impossible. Besides Berlin, the objects exposed were brought from France or from the British Museum in London. 

The history of the city is presented either through various digital reconstructions and short movies presenting the progress of the archaeological findings, or through thematic introduction in the daily life of the city. In a simple and organized way, we are introduced to the pantheon of local deities, the social structure, the first traces of the discovery of the writing. You don't have to be a scientist to understand it and the audio guided tour provided for free at the entrance is very helpful in explaining what we see. 

If you are not yet interested in the complicated and fascinating history of the region, you might be after this exhibition. In any case, it is a good way to spend your free time in Berlin. 

Currywurst Museum, the class about the cult and fast food in Germany

One of the five-star curry place in Berlin

Wherever you go, at least in Berlin, one may see more fastfoods than in Texas. No wonder, as one of the creators of the concepts in Europe were the German brothers August and Carl Aschinger that moved from Swabia to Berlin in 1892 and by 1900 they already had a network of 30 fastfood points in Berlin. 

You are about to leave the Checkpoint Curry

There is more than hotdog and hamburgers to buy, but nothing has less success than the currywurst. I do not have any curiosity to taste it, but as a historian I am interested in the human and social side of this food cult. 

And where else can you learn more about a food that you don't know how it tastes but in a Museum. Yes, there is a Currywurst Museum, and even a German one, (where else) but in Berlin. According to the official data, out of the 800 million currywurst portion sold in Germany every year, 70 million are eaten in Berlin alone. 

Why to go to a Museum to learn about curried sausage?

Teenagers from all over Germany

Counting the curry

I wonder if it is any pizza museum? Or a French fries museum (I vaguely heard about one in Belgium) ? After one hour spent in the Currywurst archives, I left behind all the snobbery and decided that it is an interesting place where I've learned a lot about the history of Berlin, of its food and the fast food life in general.

Welcome in the world of curry

With guided tours available in German and English, the museum is an interactive journey not only in the history of the currywurst, but focus on the architecture of fast food counters, the recycling process of the paper plates used for the regular eating of such a meal, and the spices that may be combined for the preparation of the sauce. 

The main attraction of the museum

The corners of spices

Both children and adults will have a lot of fun playing 'CurryUp', when a virtual Currywurst must be prepared, or when one can go on the other side of the counter of a fast food box and play the vendor. The attraction point is the red ceiling with huge drops of ketchup pouring down. The tired visitors can relax on a yellow-brown sausage sofa. The design is very modern yet simple and relaxing, exactly what you need before a spicy meal - the famous food can be tasted on the spot, it is said, but I skipped this experience. 

Recycling the paper plate

Splashes of curry and cartoons messages

A secret recipe

The patent certificate

The currycouch

In case that you want to look for the recipe of the original curry sauce, you will not find it in any cookbook. Herta Henwer who invented it - by accident, as any invention, on 4th September 1949, when she combined some spices obtained from the British soldiers stationed in Berlin after the war - brought the secret with her on the other side of the world. When her husband died in 1987, all the docs where the recipe was mentioned in a way or another were destroyed. The respectable German lady was trained in dressmaking, domestic science and cooking and in 1946 was cleaning the rubble in the city. In her TV appearances aired in the Museum, she looks 'normal', like any grandma ready to share some recipes and home tips. The type of post-war star, without a daily exposure of her romantic adventures or shopping extravaganza. 

Awake the fast food lover in you!

A study quoted in Spices section says that curry have not only healing effects, but also can make you happy. For many, happiness can be found in a small slice of currywurst.