BERLIN SIDEWALK » be Berlin

Festival of Lights 2011

Carsten — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 01:37:56 +0000

Once again, one of the largest illumination festivals in the world, the Festival of Lights, takes place in Berlin and world-famous landmarks and monuments are dressed in spectacular light. German and international artists and lighting designers present extraordinary illuminations, light art and creative designs. All 81 illuminated buildings will shine in different colors until October 23th daily from 7:30pm till 0:00am.

~~I will update this article with more pictures during the next week.~~

Festival of Lights 2010 – A Fairytale of Light and Colour

Carsten — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 00:59:25 +0000

The Festival of Lights has finally ended and during the last two weeks, I took a couple of pictures from Berlin’s most known Landmarks. Sadly, due to restoration works, the Victory Column wasn’t illuminated this year, but I got some nice shots from the Berliner Dom, Schloss Charlottenburg and the Brandenburger Tor.

~~And If you missed this years event, the date for the 7th Festival of Lights is already set: from 19th to 30th October 2011 Berlin will again turn into a fairytale of light and colour.~~

Festival of Lights 2010

Carsten — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 14:22:27 +0000

Again in 2010 more than 60 buildings will be illuminated during this years Festival of Lights. Many landmarks and buildings – including the Brandenburg Gate, Berlin Cathedral and the TV Tower – will be staged with light, events, projections and fireworks. The Potsdamer Platz will serve as the point of contact for visitors to get information about the locations and events of the Festival of Lights.

The Festival of Lights has become one of the most important international public events in Berlin. For nearly two weeks (From October 13th to October 24th 2010 from 7 pm to 12 am [core time]) , numerous illuminations and events transform the German capital into a sparkling metropolis, where Berlin’s world-famous landmarks, buildings and sites are the stars of the show.

Berlin’s Walk of Fame

Carsten — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 21:10:49 +0000

From now on, you don’t have to travel all the way to Hollywood to see some stars, because Berlin got his very own version of the Walk of Fame. The Boulevard der Stars (Boulevard of the Stars), located in the middle of the Potsdamer Platz is Berlin’s newest tourist attraction.

The boulevard features German celebrities such as Marlene Dietrich, Romy Schneider or Michael Ballhaus. The first 40 brass stars were embedded in the ground over the last few weeks, while organisers say up to 150 can be laid there.

Madame Tussauds Berlin

The Largest Mosaic Picture of the World

Carsten — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 13:30:30 +0000

The City of Berlin has just set a new World Record for the largest mosaic picture of the world.

Berlin Tempelhof Airport – 150 people created, with over 6400 garbage bins, a picture of a polar bear walking on an ice floe. The world record is part of a new waste separation and recycling campaign to prevent the creation of CO2. The campaign started on September 18th.

Berlin Victory Column under construction

Carsten — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 14:49:15 +0000

Due to restoration works, Berlin’s Victor Column (or Siegessäule) is completely scaffolded at the moment and will remain like this until Spring 2011. Only the golden statue of Victoria or Goldelse, like a Berliner would say, is visible.

The Victory Column stands at 61.5m high and provides excellent views of Berlin from the center of Tiergarten. The statue of the victory goddess Viktoria that stands on top of the Victory Column was created by F Drake and weighs an impressive 35 tonnes.

Postdamer Platz, Berlin Wall Memorial

Carsten — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 04:08:27 +0000

Postdamer Platz and Leipziger Patz, both near the U- and S-Bahnhof Potsdamer Platz, are the most blatant expression of how the Wall put a stop to Berlin’s urban development. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, new densely-populated quarters rose phoenix-like from the ashes of the old border wasteland.

Today, several Wall fragments and a single watchtower survived in Erna-Berger-Straße, where the new Ministry for the Environment has been established in the old Prussian Agricultural Ministry building once integrated in the hinterland wall. The lobby of the new building extension incorporates these remaining Wall fragments in their original position, thus making them accessible to the public.

The Berlin Domino Wall – Thousand Pieces of Art

Carsten — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 03:24:40 +0000

As I mentioned yesterday, today was Berlin’s 20th anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall. Many World leaders and dignitaries were invited.

Chancellor Merkel said some Words in front of the Brandenburg Gate, she herself grew up in East Germany and was one of thousands to cross into the West on Nov, 9, 1989 – “Today marks a truly happy moment of the German and the European history,” She said. “Twenty years ago the door to freedom opened up and a seemingly invincible wall that divided a people and an entire continent suddenly became permeable. For me, it was one of the happiest moments of my life.”

The Main Event was a symbolic Fall of the Wall in form of 1,000 dominoes to symbolize fall of the communist regimes and iron curtain in Eastern Europe. The first stone was pushed by the former Polish politician Lech Wałęsa.

The 1,000 Stones, 2,5m high, all hand-painted, were lined a 1,6km long portion of the route once occupied by the wall. I took a couple of pictures from some very interesting Stones.

East Side Gallery, walking alongside the Berlin Wall

Carsten — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 03:59:23 +0000

Tomorrow is a big day, the City of Berlin will celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall.

For that reason, the big East Side Gallery was repaired and repainted. The Berlin Wall East Side Gallery is a 1.3km-long section of the wall near the center of Berlin. Approximately 106 paintings by artists from all over the world cover this memorial for freedom and make it the largest open air gallery in the world.

The Gallery tells with its pictures the story of Berlin and Germany’s history. Many artists were invited to repaint their pictures which were created about twenty years ago. The paintings and the wall were in an extremely deteriorated condition through weather, air pollution, vandalistic collectors, and simply time.

The East Side Gallery is located near the Ostbahnhof.

Comparisons:

30 Seconds TV Spot on CNN International

Carsten — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:12:44 +0000

A new Trailer for Berlin’s image campaign “be Berlin” will be aired on CNN International in 148 countries worldwide. The 30 seconds clip shows a few of Berlin’s landmarks, people and shall show Berlin’s transformation to a unique and dynamic metropolis, 20 years after the fall of the Wall.

30-Secounds TV Spot: