Berlin: To the Bauhaus

It was another sunny day on Thursday. We headed out of breakfast and to the garage for our bikes and were soon on the road, the long Oranien str. that takes us straight into the city's centre. We made a bread stop in readiness for lunch. Then it was a nice clear ride to Potdamer Platz and after some niffy map work we were outside No 14 Klingelhofer str at theThe Bauhaus Archiv.

It may be an Archiv it is also a shrine to all that is good, functional, balanced, chromatically perfect. All this is achieved in architecture, furniture, objects and art and typography. Inspirational.

I drifted, salivating, between one exhibit and another so pleased to be so close to the most important design movements of the twentieth century who's influences are still being felt: Apple Computer, Terence Conran and Ikea.  

The collection documents the history of Bauhaus in art, teaching, architecture and design. It includes teaching materials, workshop models, architectural plans and models, photographs, documents and a library.

Strictly Bauhaus

Here, in one place, are works by my hero’s; Johannes Itten, Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky, László Moholy-Nagy, Werner Drewes, Gunta Stölzl and Oskar Schlemmer. The drawings, watercolours and prints are exquisite! After ninety minutes I retired elated. 










We cycled around and into the Tiergarten, we found a quiet and shady spot, the perfect place for our picnic lunch.  The Tiergarten is, I suppose, Berlin's Hyde Park. However it is criss-crossed by tracks and punctuated by statutury. Whether on foot or on bike it is a love place to explore.   

The culmination of our post-lunch Tiergarten exploration was the discovery of nicely camp monument dedicated to German composers. In 1904 the sculpturer Rudolph Leopold Siemering and his son, the architect Wolfgang Siemering created this 10 meter high baroque memorial statue in marble.Its three sides are adorned with a dome, on top of which three amorines are holding a laurel wreath.On the three sides are figures of Beethoven, Haydn and Mozart.  

Tiergarten

Mid afternoon we headed back via an ice cream and prepared for the fifteen minute ride East, back to the hotel, relatively easy and we saw that part of the Wall (Die Berlin Mauer) that carries all the graffiti art. Crowds were gathering around the picture of the Bresnev-Hocner kiss.

Another great day, the epilogue was an excellent kebab, a short walk from the hotel.