Last year on a beautiful blue sky summer day I walked from Berlin Hauptbahnhof to Spittelmarkt – always along the Spree and later the Spree Kanal. It’s a wonderful walk that I could recommend every visitor of this vibrant city.
I was stepping through a lot of history of this city and my own life. Without intentionally looking for them I saw several mosaics on the way.
On Bertold-Brecht- Platz stands a typical Berlin late 1900 multi story building which houses the famous restaurant “Ganymed” . Above the entrance door with the restaurants name (also a mosaic) you find in an imaginary niche another small beautiful mosaic.
The mosaic was installed in 1892/93 to attract visitors to the theater “Berliner Ensemble” . Only in 1997 it was discovered again. The workshop “ wandwerk” restored this mosaic to its full beauty.
Walking on along the Spree Canal my glance gets attracted by a huge mural on the Friedrichsgracht 58. It’s the mural “ Man, measure of all things” by Walter Womacka, who has designed this epic mural in 1968 for the ministry of construction of the former East German Government. It would do a good illustration for Yuval Harari’s book “ Homo Deus”
Then I take a bike to Alexanderplatz and its huge 4lane avenues. At the crossroad of Otto-Braun-Strasse/Karl-Marx-Allee I finally take a close look at the large mosaic mural of Walter Womacka on the former “Haus des Lehrers”. It’s described as one of the largest mosaic murals in Germany and is present in my memory since childhood days.
Now I have to go up the hill to visit a friend in one of the typical Berlin residential areas “Botzow Viertel” On my way my eyes spot these adorable mosaic figures on a playground in Pasteurstrasse (opposite building 24)
contemplating about these mosaics it strikes me that mosaic art is present in our lives since centuries. Only on this walk I came across mosaics from 1890s, 1960 and the present. Not even set out to look for them. They just sprang into my eye on an afternoon walk.
“The learning process of making mosaics was so fascinating. Your studio is like an enchanted place decorated with your exquisite mosaic works, with all kinds of materials and tools in good order, and serene music in the background. Here I met friends from all over the world. We shared the same enthusiasm and enjoyment of learning the mosaic art. We learned from, inspired and appreciated each other’s work. You gave each of us individual attention and insightful detailed instructions for our projects.” ——Chaoying from China 来自中国的超英
