Whenever I have friends in town, if our schedule allows, I like to take them to the Nikolaiviertel in Mitte for lunch or dinner. This lovely little medieval quarter of town sits by the banks of the River Spree, and attracts tourists in droves with its ancient cobbled streets, its palaces, and Berlins oldest building - the Nikolaikirche. The only problem is that this is all bollocks. The Nikolaiviertel was built, almost from scratch, to commemorate Berlins 750th birthday in 1987. It doesnt take a trained eye to spot that all of these lovely old buildings were built using East German prefabricated modular panels. But despite this being little more than a low-budget East German Epcot Center attraction, the Nikolaiviertel is still to me an essential strand in Berlins historic and cultural fabric. Recognizing it for what it is, particularly in relation to what it aspires to be, just makes me want to hug it all the more.
Posted on: Wed, 26 Nov 2014 08:44:40 +0000
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