The Empty Museum

Far away from this weekend's Art Forum Berlin at the Messehalle, is an empty museum open to the public -- the best tip I received for the week. 

Photo: ⓒ Adrian Welsh

Berlin's Well-Kept Secrets
Berlin has seen the "empty museum" phenomenon  before.  In 1999, visitors who took part in an architectural tour of the Jewish Museum before a single exhibit had been moved inside, sensed the powerful atmosphere created by Daniel Libeskind's design. In March this year,  the empty Neues Museum on Museum Island (due to open this October) invited in the public one weekend and created a sensation.

This time it is the Bauhaus Archive/Museum of Design. All its exhibits are currently at the Martin-Gropius-Bau in the largest Bauhaus exhibition ever to be presented: "Bauhaus: A Conceptual Model,"   which runs till October 4. In the meantime, the Bauhaus Archive, stripped of its collection, is open to the public.

Photo: ⓒ Adrian Welsh

A Space Transformed
In its empty state, the building has undergone a dramatic transformation.

Originally designed in the 1960s by Walter Gropius for a steeply sloping site in Darmstadt, the museum was finally built ten years later on flat terrain in Berlin's Tiergarten. When architects had to adjust the ground plans, they turned the building's axis 180°. This meant that the large exhibition hall, with its floor to ceiling windows, now faced south instead of north, constantly open to sunlight. The curators worried about protecting the exhibits from over-exposure.

The solution was dark shades that covered all the glass and viewing galleries around the building, as well as the skylights on the saw-toothed roofs. This worked for conservation purposes but, of course, changed the character of the building as envisaged by its creator.

Now the shades are off. Light floods in through the South Hall windows, the galleries and the skylights. Suddenly, the whole building is transparent. Interiors harmonize with the surrounding landscape as the vista of the Landwehr Canal, curving alongside, opens up. Ah! you think, here -- finally! -- is the real beauty of Gropius's plan.

Don't Miss
Here are five things not to miss when you visit:
1. A guided tour or audio-guide -- both have interesting anecdotes about past and future plans for the building
2. The replica of Gropius's 60s chrome breakfast bar, left over from a previous exhibition and standing in the South Hall
3. The cafe, which offers a Create your Own Sandwich special. The concept is graphic designer Susann Unger's, and is pure Bauhaus. You "build" your sandwich on a plain wooden board -- your choice of bread with a selection of spreads arranged in small glass jars, all specialties from local manufacturers: three peppercorn or tomato-basil butter, pure raspberry, apricot-lavender or ricotta-mint. Perfect!
4. An old patio table by the Landwehr Canal where you can enjoy your creative sandwich under the trees in peace and quiet
5. The museum shop, which has wonderful design items (some of them quite affordable) for the home and office. (I have my eye on a certain teapot.)


The empty Bauhaus-Archiv/Museum für Gestaltung is open to the public in its "schön anzusehen" ("a beautiful sight") program, which runs till October 4. The museum is located at Klingelhöferstraße 14 (S and U-Bahn Zoologischer Garten). Take Bus 100 from the station till Budapesterstraße, then walk north to the Lützowerufer, cross the bridge over the Landwehrkanal, and you will see the distinctive industrial-style roof of the museum on your right -- about a 5-10 minute walk.


The museum is open daily, except Tuesdays, from 10 am to 5 pm. Tickets are 3 EUR (reduced fee, 1.50 EUR) and include an audio guide. The program also includes architectural tours and film shows.
More information is at www.bauhaus.de


This year is the 90th anniversary of the foundation of the Bauhaus.

September Picnic at the Jewish Museum

While Berliners are used to blustery, grey Septembers, this year the weather has been grand -- a long, hot summer, and now balmy Fall weather. Days are perceptibly shorter, so people are out savoring the golden September. And the city has so much on offer: sidewalk cafes, beer gardens and beach bars by the River Spree.

My tip: head to the Jewish Museum. No, not for for the exhibition this time, but for the beautiful garden behind the museum.

Walking through the garden, planned in the 1980s by architect Hans Kollhoff, you move through a sequence of landscapes. If you look carefully, you will see the sharp zig-zags of the Libeskind building appear in the garden landscaping in a gentler variation.

From the glass courtyard, you walk out into an archway of cascading wisteria boughs, under which tables have been set for dining. If you're here simply to while away the hours, though, you can move on to a flat, cool green space under the shade of plane trees.

Or, on a gentle slope overlooking the light-flooded glass courtyard designed by Daniel Libeskind, you can spread out a blanket and picnic lunch (both provided by the Restaurant Liebermanns) under cherry trees.  If you can tear yourself away from this spot, move further up where the garden becomes a series of terraced slopes, leading to a fountain. The slopes are dotted with the red lawn chairs of those who have sought solitude, a view and a book for company.

You can bring a brown bag lunch, but if you feel like splurging on a picnic for two, leave it to Julia Tannhof, chef of the Restaurant Liebermanns. She will pack you a delicious picnic basket with hummus, falafel, grilled mushrooms, aubergine caviar, couscous, tabouleh, tahini and Kalamata olives. The basket includes her special mint lemonade, a picnic blanket, plates and silverware.

From June to August, the Jewish Museum's summer cultural program (Kultursommer) takes place in the garden, and its Jazz im Garten Sunday matinee series is a local favorite. But I find the best time to be here is September, when the music lovers and picnicking families have left, and the garden is quiet -- a wonderful spot in which to read, have a late lunch or simply hold on to the last of the late summer sunshine.


The Jewish Museum is on Lindenstr. 9-14 in 10969 Berlin, Kreuzberg and is open from 10 am to 8 pm Tuesday-Sunday, and 10 am to 10 pm on Monday. Public transportation: U1 to Hallesches Tor or U6 to Kochstr. or Bus M29, M41 or 248. 


The Restaurant Liebermanns' picnic basket for two costs 23.50 Euros, and must be ordered at least 24 hours in advance (Tel. +49 (0)30 25 939 76). You can add a bottle of wine at an extra charge. You do not need a museum ticket in order to enter the garden. After going through security, make your way toward the restaurant, which leads out into the garden.
For more information go to www.jmberlin.de

Discover Berlin's Historic Buildings

One of my all-time favorite events that takes place every year across the country kicks off this weekend: Open Day of Historic Buildings ("Tag des Offenen Denkmals"). Since Berlin has at least 320 historic sites, it has extended the Open Day to two days over the weekend (Saturday, September 12 and Sunday, September 13).

This is your chance to take in some spectacular buildings and sites, some of which are not open to the public through the rest of the year. Several offer free tours by architects and historians who fill us in on the stories behind these buildings and spaces, and their novel transformations.

The Theme for this year's event is "Genuss" or Pleasure. Of the 320 Berlin sites open to the public this weekend, over a hundred fall into the category of Pleasure/Leisure. Here are my Top Five Favorites.

Wading in Culture
One: Stadtbad Steglitz, the beautiful Art Nouveau public pool with its high light-filled dome and mosaic ornamentations. The mosaic centerpiece in the sauna area uses clusters of tiny golden mosaic tiles while cast iron moldings in the shape of sea horses and sea shells clamber around the tops of columns.

A Historic Preservation site since 1982, the Stadtbad Steglitz closed in 2002 because it needed extensive renovation. To the rescue came investor Gabriele Berger, who bought the site for a symbolic sum of one Euro and agreed to find the several million Euros it will take to renovate and restore it to its original use. In the meantime she has converted it into an atmosphere-filled venue for theater or music performances, dances or parties.


Forget the XXL Tub of Popcorn
Two: The Astor Film Lounge at Kurfürstendamm 225, a cinema theater with a touch of class. Its history goes back to the late 40s when it opened as the Kino im Kindl, or KiKi. Restructurings made in the 1950s have survived till today, giving the theater a wonderful retro feel. From the 60s till very recently, it was the Film Palast. But just about a year ago, film buff and entrepreneur Hans Joachim Flebbe decided that if he applied a new concept to the 1950s theater,  he could create the ideal experience for finicky cineasts.

At the Astor you can ask that your car be valet parked, have a welcome cocktail at the bar, sink into adjustable leather reclining seats, order champagne and finger food at your own private table and enjoy state-of-the-art sound, lighting and projection technology. Bliss!




The GDR's Premiere Cinema
Three: Kino International at Karl Marx Allee 33, the 1960s cinema theater that screened legendary film premieres in the GDR and even today is a favorite for premiere showings and Berlinale screenings.

 Located opposite Cafe Moskau, which used to be the watering hole for GDR party members, the theater has been a Historic Preservation site since 1995. It is well worth a visit any time for its monumental post-Stalinist structure, grand foyer with crystal chandeliers, twin staircases, upholstered seating and sequined curtains. But a visit this weekend gives you a grand opportunity to discover more about its past.


Lakeside Splendor
Four: Schloss Wannsee, comprising six late-nineteenth century buildings on the shores of Lake Wannsee, including a picturesque half-timbered villa. Originally a recreation spot for sailboat-owners. the villa was used as a restaurant and the other buildings as boathouse, summer kitchen, restaurant and dance hall. This year extensive renovations are restoring all six buildings back to their turn-of-the-century glory. Since Schloss Wannsee is under private ownership, this is a rare chance for the public to view its charming interiors.


Historic Villa-and-Garden Ensembles
Five: an ensemble of three villa and garden landscapes planned by Mies van der Rohe in Zehlendorf in the early 1900s. Now used by the Parzival Schule, the three villas --  Haus Werner, Haus Perl and the Garten Haus -- are usually closed to the public, but this weekend Berliners are treated to a well-researched tour through the buildings and grounds, each of the three representing a distinct architectural style: neo-Classical, Bauhaus and Landhaus (or European country house).




Stadtbad Steglitz is at Bergstr. 90 (U-Bahnhof Schloßstraßse or U/S-Bahnhof Rathaus Steglitz). Open this Saturday and Sunday, 10 am to 6 pm. More information at www.stadtbad-steglitz.de
The Astor Film Lounge is at Kurfürstendamm 225 (U-Bahnhof Kurfürstendamm).  Open this Saturday and Sunday, 10 am to 12 midnight. More information at www.astor-filmlounge.de
Kino International is at Karl-Marx-Allee 33 (U-Bahnhof Schillingstraße). Open this Saturday for three tours at 11:30 am, 1 pm and 2:30 pm.  There will be an additional tour next Saturday, September 19 at 12 pm. More inf ormation at www.yorck.de
Schloss Wannsee is at Kronprinzessinweg 21 (S-Bahnhof Nikolassee). Open this Sunday from 10 am to 3 pm. 
The Mies van der Rohe Villas are at Quermatenweg 6 (U-Bahnhof Krumme Lanke). Open this Sunday from 10 am to 2 pm. The villas are presently owned by the Parzival Schule. Their information is at www.waldorf.net/therapeutikum