The rebuilding of Potsdam

I came upon a video from The Aesthetic City about the history, and more especially the destruction and then the recent, and continuing, rebuilding of Potsdam.

The video likens the city to Versailles, but I think it could also be seen in many ways as the Prussian equivalent of Windsor, or of other continental royal sites as Drottningholm or Aranjuez.

This is the type of film, and more importantly the type of project, that, as I have written before, I find deeply emotional. Videos about the work to rebuild the north-west tower of St Denis, about the restoration of Wentworth Woodhouse, or the rebuilding of the Frauenkirke in Dresden and of the Royal Schloss in Berlin bring a tear to my eye and a lump to my throat. So to did this. All are a triumph of counter-culturalism. Destroyig Potsdam so very late in the war in April 1945 surely served no military purpose and the actions of the DDR seeking to eradicate the history of Prussia was an early example of “woke”. To such forces of blind destruction undone is miraculous to me, and is, I hope, to all right thinking people.

The video also seeks to draw general lessons about how to create the right cultural climate in which to achieve such remarkable results that can be applied in other historic towns and cities. The same principles can be used in new developments such as Poundbury.

Amongst the interviews I especially liked the lady who as a local resident had been a leading voice and campaigner to get the rebuilding underway and then carried forward. We need more ladies like that in every country.

The video can be seen at They Rebuilt Germany's Versailles And It's GLORIOUS

Fall of the Berlin Wall

Twenty five years ago tonight the Berlin Wall fell. It was, I think, one of the most memorable and moving nights of my life.

There had been reports of people leaving East Germany to reach countries from where they could travel freely to West Germany and claim citizenship. There were also garbled reports of attempts to prevent this at train stations. Something was happening, but quite what was unclear. Nothing prepared one for putting on the 9pm BBC television news and the report beginning with the fact that the East German government had resigned and opened the Berlin Wall. Crowds were streaming to the Brandenburg Gate.

The Brandenburg Gate

Built in 1788-91 and now restored and once more open

Image:blog.foreigners.cz

This was something that one might have hoped would happen, but never was sure would happen.After so long - I recall the creation of the Berlin Wall in 1961, if not the division of Germany and Europe at Potsdam - here was real and profound change, and change, real and positive cahnge for the better. Here was hope indeed.

The next day I was, mid-morning, in my usual tea and coffee shop in Pontefract.Therte I found agroup of friends, men of Conservative sympathies, stiing around atable looking glum. Was n't the news bad they said - this would lead to German reunification and "in ten years they'll be invading everywhere." I replied that as Conservatives they should be rejoicing that people had been set free from forty plus years of Communism - surely that was what Conservatives, and the Iron Lady herself wanted. They should be rejoicing I said.

The events of that night still strike an emotional chord with me - recalling it my eyes prick with the urge to cry for sheer joy at true liberation for the people of Germany after all they had gone through since 1933.

Neil MacGregor on German History

Continuing the German theme of the last two posts this one is to encourage readers to listen to Neil MacGregor's excellent series on German history which is being broadcast on BBC Radio 4, and can be found on the Radio 4 website at Germany: Memories of a Nation.

I missed the first one - on the Brandenburg gate - but the second and third, dealing respectively with the Berlin Wall and its legacy and with those great German cities of Prague (with the oldest German University and former seat of government of the Holy Roman Empire) and Königsberg (the ceremonial capital of Prussia and home of Kant) which are no longer German, were excellent, and provided fifteen minutes of erudition and insight to keep you thinking long afterwards.

For those who want more there is an online article, with links to other pieces on the cathedral and other features, about Königsberg here, and another article about current discussion of plans to rebuild the city centre at Architectural Competition Held to Rebuild Königsberg City Center.

A suggestion for Frau Merkel

Reports that Angela Merkel is looking for a cross-party candidate to replace the German President who resigned yesterday - the second such holder of the largely ceremonial post to do so in succession - leads me to think that maybe Frau Merkel should reach for the Almanach de Gotha and look under families such as Hohenzollern, Wittelsbach, Wettin, Guelph and Teck, not to mention the Grand Ducal, Ducal and Princely families.

Not only would she find families with no little experience of governance but who are also not compromised by their recent careers as politicians, but who do represent the traditions of the country over many centuries. The Federal Republic could very easily become a Federal Empire, each state with its own dynasty, and with perhaps a variant on the pre 1806 arrangement to elect one or other as German Emperor. Certainly better than simply recycling tired old policos...Go on, you know it makes sense.

Arms of the German Empire from 1889

Image: Mediaphotobucket