Winter is coming, well not yet, but soon. Right now, fall is in the air and Berlin changes its color from green to red and yellow. Sometimes, I take a walk in the park early in the morning and this time, it was Berlin’s Tiergarten (German for Animal Garden) which surrounds the Victors Column in the borough of Mitte.
Walking through all these beautiful colored trees gives you a relaxed feeling and what else do you need for a good start in the day.
Last year, I mentioned that Berlin’s Siegessäule (Victory Column) is under construction. Now, the scaffold was removed and the golden Statue of Victoria again shines in all her glory in the middle of the Great Star.
During the refurbishment works, about 1200 gram of gold leaf were put on the bronze sculpture of Victoria, which is 8.3 meters high and weighs about 35 tons. If you want to pay her a visit, you have to climb 285 steps upstairs to reach the observation platform on top of the monument. There is no elevator but your effort will be rewarded with a great view on Berlin Tiergarten.
The City of Berlin has placed a 14 meters high and 53 meters wide Hollywood Sign in the middle of the Tiergarten between the Brandenburg Gate and the Potsdamer Platz.
The Holly- wait.. there is only one L? Oh boy, something went terribly wrong…
Just kidding, the Holywood Sign is a creation by the artist and filmmaker Ralf Schmerberg and part of a Climate Protection campaign, to plant 10.000 new trees all across the City.
So from now on, it’s “Welcome to HolyWood”.
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.