Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
This new exhibit at the Kulturbrauerei uses original documents and objects (including a
camper-style Trabi car) to teach the rest of us about daily life in East Germany. Four themed
sections juxtapose the lofty aspirations of the socialist state with the sobering realities of
material shortages, surveillance and oppression. Case studies show the different paths indi-
viduals took to deal - and cope - with their situation.
CULTURAL CENTRE
PFEFFERBERG
This rambling listed ex-brewery complex harbours several culture and gastro venues as well
as a hostel and the
Bassy
nightclub. Beer production resumed in 2013 with the opening of
the
Pfefferbräu
microbrewery. At the Christinenstrasse (northern) entrance, the
Museum für
9090;
www.tchoban-foundation.de
;
Christinenstrasse 18; adult/concession €5/3; 2-7pm Mon-Fri,
1-5pm Sat & Sun; Senefelderplatz)
is housed in a spectacular pile of relief-decorated sand-
stone cubes designed by Sergei Tchoban. Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson has his stu-
dio next door.
CHURCH
GETHSEMANEKIRCHE
This 1893 neo-Gothic church was a hotbed of dissent in the final days of the GDR and thus
a thorn in the side of the Stasi, which, as late as October 1989, brutally quashed a peaceful
gathering outside its portals. Ernst Barlach's
Geistkämpfer
(Ghost Fighter, 1928) sculpture
stands outside the church, which is usually closed except for concerts and Sunday services.
PLANETARIUM
ZEISS GROSSPLANETARIUM
030-421 8450;
www.sdtb.de
; Prenzlauer Allee 80;
currently closed;
Prenzlauer Allee)
The people of East Berlin were not allowed to see what was across the Wall, but at least
they could gaze at the entire universe at this fine planetarium. It opened in 1987 as one of
the largest star theatres in Europe, boasting a 'Cosmorama', back then the finest star project-
or ever built. Under restoration at the time of writing, the venue should reopen in 2015.