Travels in the 2nd half

I am not a big fan of government buildings. I try to avoid garish displays of uncritical nationalism, and capitals usually offer that in abundance. But the historical and architectural significance of The Reichstag made it a capital that I wanted to see. Construction on the Reichstag began in 1884, thirteen years after German unification. Paul Wallot’s as a neo-baroque design was inspired by Philadelphia’s Memorial Hall . The building was completed in 1894 and opened as home to Germany’s Bundestag. After World War I, as Germany transformed from a parliamentary monarchy to a republic, the Reichstag served as the seat of Germany’s government.   The REichstag - 1932, Bundesarchiv, Bild 102-13744 / CC-BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons On February 27, 1933, one month after Adolf Hitler was named Chancellor, the Reichstag was gutted by an arson fire . The Nazi government blamed communists and used the fire as a reason to suspend most civil liberties in the country. Whil...

Ishtar Gate at the Pergamon Museum Any discussion of visiting art works in Berlin must start with a look at Museum Island . This collection of five museums in the middle of the Spree River is home to a vast collection of art and artifacts dating from ancient times through the end of the 19 th century. There are five buildings currently on the island. The oldest, the Altes was built in 1830, while the newest is the Pergamon which opened in 1930. Each houses a different part of the State Collection and is worth a trip. To see them all would probably take a full day, at least. I came had two specific exhibits     I wanted to explore, but I found a lot more. The Bode Museum The Bode I started my visit at the Bode Museum . The building opened in 1904 as the Kaiser-Fredrick Museum, and it was renamed in 1956 after its first curator, Wilhem von Bode. I chose this museum to start because I think it is the most beautiful building on the island. The interior underwe...