Lomography

Alexanderplatz
written by wil6ka on April 27th, 2008 (3 votes)

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The Alexanderplatz is a living myth that belongs to Berlin like the Brandenburg Gate. It was a market square, which received his name, based on the russian zar as he was visiting Berlin, in 1805. But it became a legend just after it was connected to U- and S-Bahn in the 20s of the last century and even more so after the Second World War.
The “Alex”, how we Berliner call him, was vastly destroyed by the bombs of the allies and just an open field for quite some decades after 1945. Which is mainly due to the fact, that it laid in East-Germany and they just didn’t have the money for a great renovation. But then they came back in style. The Central Committee ordered the construction of the marvellous “Fernsehturm” and of the magical “Weltzeituhr” at site.

They built the largest and probably only eastern shopping centre with the “Centrum”. The “Haus der Lehrer” and some other interesting sites. The whole architecture was very much zeitgeist and socialistic style. But even now architects adore these buildings and they remain the pride of the East-Germans, because the square was GDR at its best. Fairs and Circuses were held here and it was the only place, where you could buy something of your desire, of course with restrictions, because where is the fun, when you can buy what you want. After the reunification they didn’t really know what to do with the square and they still don’t really know. They kind of have the money but some outrageous skyscraper-plans caused a turmoil among the proud Berliners. It is still a sensitive issue, but I think the Berlin Mayor has a grip now for it.

Nowadays you can still enjoy the great monuments, even in the internet, where there are web-cams watching the Alex. And hence Berlin became a magnet for European artists and tourists, it is quite easy to jump into a low fare carrier and enjoy the Alex for yourself.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexanderplatz
http://www.alexanderplatz.com/
http://www.berlin.de/webcams/index.php/alex
http://www.alexanderplatz24.de/
http://www.alexanderplatz.de/