Hamburg ~ Cruise Stop #7

 The ship docked at the German port city of Kiel. OFD and I chose to visit Hamburg via a bus ride and to explore the city on our own. OFD had done the research on a couple of historic places and a place to eat. Hubby chose to stay at the port city, close to the ship, after the long day in Berlin.

St. Michaelis 

The present church building is the third one at this site. The first one was built from 1647 to 1669. In 1786, a new construction was completed. This is the church as we know it today.

The church was reconstructed twice in the 20th century: after catching fire in 1906 during construction work and after the bombings of 1944 and 1945. ~ Wikipedia

Martin Luther

The (bronze) statue, unveiled in 1912, was sculpted by Otto Lessing. It depicts Martin Luther in his priestly robes, holding a Bible and clutching his robes, symbolizing his faith. ~ AI

doorway from the narthex to the sanctuary

I could not find any information or the significance of this Bible in the narthex of the church. It was under glass and on a pedestal, but there was no signage.

This is an Offering Box. It was also in the narthex. It is about 2' wide and 2' tall and weighs 400 lbs.

From the signage: Donated in 1763 by Ernst Georg Sonnin, the church architect Forged from iron, the baroque-style offering box was used to collect alms for the poor. Along with the marble baptismal font, which also stems from 1763, it is the only work of art to survive the fire that consumed the old church in 1906. To this day, the box is still used to collect funds for our congregation's social and welfare activities.

Made from wood, the predecessors of today’s altar weren’t so lucky and, after the second fire at St. Michael’s in 1906, the Hamburg residents had learned their lesson, creating the new altar from marble. The parish also wanted the retable, which illustrates the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, to be able to survive a fire. If you look very closely, you’ll notice that the image is not painted, but rather comprises many small glass tesserae. ~ St. Michaelis

Whilst the old wooden pulpit was destroyed in the 1906 fire, today’s marble pulpit was made to resemble its predecessor. ~ St. Michaelis 

The sculptor Otto Lessing from Dresden created the pulpit in 1910. The large pulpit roof is crowned by the Angel of Annunciation. ~ Wikipedia

The angel on the roof of the pulpit just might be the most beautiful  St. Michael’s. The reason he’s here in the first place is the uncertain fate of his predecessor, who fell from the pulpit during the extensive bombing strikes of 1945. When it came time to dig up the 200 kg heavenly messenger from the rubble, he had suddenly gone missing without a trace. Apparently stolen. There’s been no sign of him ever since. Instead, the new angel stands watch above the pulpit. ~ St. Michaelis

Family pews. This was the first church that we toured on this cruise that had the family pews, with doors and high sides. We had seen them in churches in some areas of the northeast US, like Boston and New York City. Each Family Pew had its own carvings and ornamentation.

atop the altar

From the crypt to the loft, organs can be found throughout St. Michael’s, with six instruments delivering a unique sound experience. That makes them part of a grand tradition, as the church has had extraordinary instruments since the 18th century. 

Each of the organs at the church today has its own unique characteristics and some even have a secret. One organ rings tubular bells, another seems to make it rain, and yet another conceals a nightingale in the form of a small pipe which sounds like the call of the bird. Combined, all the St. Michael’s organs boast more than 11,000 pipes. ~ St. Michaelis

The Great Organ

Organ builder G. F. Steinmeyer & Co. based in Oettingen, Bavaria, rebuilt the imposing instrument in 1962.  It was completely overhauled in 2009, whilst a glockenspiel was added in 2015 for an especially festive sound. St. Michaelis

The Concert Organ (built in 1914)

The concert organ was damaged during the devastating nights of bombing in Hamburg in World War II, but was later renovated and updated. During the 2009 repair, it was returned to its original state. ~ St. Michaelis

The Carl-Philipp-Emanuel-Bach Organ

The concert organ is the son of the famous Johann Sebastian Bach, referred to as ‘Hamburg Bach’. Whilst built for a baroque sound in 2010, it offers features that make it a modern instrument. It occasionally surprises listeners with one of its 676 pipes, which sounds like the call of a nightingale. ~ St. Michaelis

ceiling in St. Michaelis

Tympanum window of St. Michael's Church, Hamburg, where "The Holy Spirit pours his blessing on Hamburg". The dove symbolizes the Holy Spirit and God's blessing, which spreads over the church and the city. It was made by August Vogel in 1911. ~ StainedGlassHeaven

 

bronze doors from the narthex to the church

the south street entrance

St. Michael's Victory over the Devil, sculpture above the main entrance

Berlin ~ Cruise Stop #6 ~ Berlin Cathedral

 The third and final "Must See in Berlin" on OFD's list was the Berlin Cathedral, which required another train ride and offered a glimpse of some magnificent nearby buildings.

sculptures along the bridge to Museum Island

Berlin Cathedral

Berlin Cathedral, also known as the Evangelical Supreme Parish and Collegiate Church, is a monumental German Protestant church and dynastic tomb at the Lustgarten on the Museum Island in central Berlin. ~ Wikipedia

The Berlin Cathedral was built during the reign of Kaiser Wilhelmina II during the years 1894 to 1905. A smaller baroque cathedral had previously stood on the same site.*

The Cathedral congregation has been in existence since 1608. The Cathedral includes three churches: the main church, the baptism and marriage chapel, and the memorial church (crypt).*

In May 1944 a firebomb hit the dome and damaged the building severely. The dome burned down and as it collapsed it destroyed a large part of the interior and the tombs.*

In the following years the damage was only provisionally repaired. In 1975 the rebuilding of the cathedral began in earnest. The memorial church was torn down. The baptism and marriage chapel was reopened in 1980.*

In 1993, after 18 years of construction work, the main church was rededicated. By 2002, the last of the reconstructed dome mosaics was revealed.*

The organ from the Wilhelm Sauer manufacturer is regarded as the largest and most important intact instrument with pneumatic action from the German Late Romantic Period.*

This organ, with its 7269 pipes, 113 stops, and four manuals, possesses an incredibly broad sound palette, so that it can create all kinds of musical shadings.*

The three windows in the altar area represent the birth, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. The oval windows contain angels representing faith, love and hope.

The altar, made of white marble and yellow onyx, is a creation of Friedrich August Stüler. Behind the white altar is The Apostles' Screen, by Karl Friedrich Schinkel, which is made of gilded bronze. The two ceremonial candle holders made of gilded iron were created by Karl Friedrich Schlinkel (as was the Apostles' Screen).*

The pulpit, on the far left, is made of carved oak following the sketch by Otto Raschdorff, the son of the Cathedral construction chief.*

* Information taken from the Berlin Dom pamphlet.

ceiling over the altar area

Ceremonial sarcophagus of Sophia Charlotte of Hanover

wife of  Friedrich I

(1668-1705)

by Andreas Schlüter

Golden ceremonial sarcophagus of Friedrich I of Prussia

(1657-1713)

by Andreas Schlüter

Altes Museum

OFD made a quick trip inside the museum while Hubby and I looked for a couple of geocaches in the Lustgarten, the park on Museum Island.

reconstructed Berlin Palace

Formerly known as the Royal Palace, it was the main residence of the Electors of Brandenburg, Kings of Prussia and German Emperors from 1443 to 1918. The original palace was destroyed in WWII. Completed in 2020, the palace now houses the Humboldt Forum museum. ~ Wikipedia

a copy of East Gate of the Great Stupa of Sanchi in India

at the Berlin Palace & Humbolt Forum

We boarded our private NCL train, along with other NCL tour groups who spent the day off the ship, for a two-hour ride (less train traffic on the tracks) back to the port city of Warnemunde. It was light enough at 9 PM to find and sign the geocache near the port for another German state souvenir. 

Next: Hamburg

Berlin ~ The Wall & Check Point Charlie

Our cruise ship docked at the German port city of Warnemünde at 7 AM. We boarded a train and left the port around 9 for a 3-hour private train ride to a station in central Berlin. Our plan for the day was to explore three specific landmarks in Berlin. OFD had researched the trains we would need to take to get to our first destination, The Wall.

The Berlin Wall was a physical barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) that physically and ideologically divided Berlin from 1961 to 1989. It symbolized the Cold War and the division of Europe into communist and capitalist blocs. The wall was erected to prevent East Germans from fleeing to the West, and its fall in 1989 marked a major turning point in the Cold War and the reunification of Germany. ~ AI

The original wall, built of barbed wire and cinder blocks, was subsequently replaced by a series of concrete walls (up to 15 feet high) that were topped with barbed wire and guarded with watchtowers, gun emplacements, and mines. By the 1980s that system of walls, electrified fences, and fortifications extended 28 miles through Berlin, dividing the two parts of the city, and extended a further 75 miles around West Berlin, separating it from the rest of East Germany. ~ Britannica

The East Side Gallery is the longest surviving section of the Berlin Wall. In 1990, more than 100 artists from over 20 countries decorated this stretch of the hinterland wall with their art works. ~ Visit Berlin

Once it was the Berlin Wall; today it is the longest open-air gallery in the world at 1.3 km.

Touch the Wall by Christine Kühn

There are memorials and museums that we did not see, related to the history of The Wall.

On the evening of 9 November 1989, the Berlin Wall fell. It was a night when innumerable East and West Berliners made history. They climbed over the concrete walls, crowded through the narrow border crossing points, went at the Berlin Wall with hammers, and retook their city in its entirety. The images of this historical event were shown around the world. ~ Visit Berlin

in a park, across the street, near the end of The Wall

The fall of the Wall left unused spaces in the urban landscape. Residents and visitors adopted these abandoned areas as creative spaces – from the art scene in Brunnenstraße to the Berlin start-ups at Moritzplatz – or simply enjoyed the new access to the River Spree.  ~ Visit Berlin

the west side of The Wall; no graffiti that I could see

Today, more than 30 years on, Berlin is no longer a walled city, but a world city. Since those days, millions of visitors have come to Berlin, Germany’s capital city, to see this change for themselves. ~ Visit Berlin

From the area of The Wall and the museums, we took the train to Check Point Charlie.

The guard house is in the middle of the street, a busy street I might add. People were lined up to have their photo taken. (OFD made $5 for taking a photo of the two gentlemen in line in front of us!)

the line for photos

the backside of Check Point Charlie

Across the street from Check Point Charlie, was a small park and a couple of sections of The Wall, and a geocache.

Between 1961 and 1989, the East German government changed the design of the barrier four times along many sections of the border strip.

"Border Wall 75" was erected from 1975-76 on.

A decision was taken to erect a construction that would form a completely insurmountable barrier.

Refugees found it almost impossible to climb over Wall model UL 12.41.

The piping along the top prevented people from pulling themselves up the Wall.

The long concrete foot pointed into the border strip, making it impossible for barrier-smashing vehicles from East Berlin to demolish sections of the Wall.

The world-famous Berlin Wall was the front barrier (facing West Berlin).

During the 1980s, the front wall would be sprayed with graffiti and

huge pictures painted on the West Berlin side.

After the Wall fell on 9 November 1989

Wall segments on the East Berlin side were painted too. ~ The Sign

This "graffitied" section of The Wall was at our next stop, food.

currywurst, which was actually quite good

although I stuck with a traditional bratwurst

Hubby had French fries

geocaching souvenir for Berlin

OFD had one more stop related to the Berlin Wall and its history: 

Brandenburg Gate

The Brandenburg Gate is an 18th-century neoclassical monument in Berlin. One of the best-known landmarks of Germany, it was erected on the site of a former city gate that marked the start of the road from Berlin to Brandenburg an der Havel, the former capital of the Margraviate of Brandenburg. 

It was built from 1788 to 1791 by orders of King Frederick William II of Prussia. ~ Wikipedia 

(Berlin had 18 gates leading to the city. The Brandenburg Gate is the only one remaining today.)

When the Revolutions of 1989 occurred and the wall was demolished, the gate symbolized freedom and the desire to unify the city of Berlin. Thousands of people gathered at the wall to celebrate its fall on 9 November 1989. On 22 December 1989, the Brandenburg Gate border crossing was reopened when Helmut Kohl, the West German chancellor, walked through to be greeted by Hans Modrow, the East German prime minister. Demolition of the rest of the wall around the area took place the following year. ~ Wikipeda

It was near the Brandenburg Gate that we learned (relearned) the role Ronald Reagan played in the fall of The Berlin Wall. 

Lego Giraffe

OFD also took us to Potsdamer Platz which has existed since the 18th century. The square had its heyday at the beginning of the 20th century: traffic was humming and life was bustling here. As early as 1924, the first traffic light system on the continent guided omnibuses, trams, carriages and vehicles. The cultural elite also met in the cafés and restaurants around the square. The Second World War left behind a devastated square, which then became the "border triangle" between the Soviet, British and American sectors. After the end of the war, the Berlin Wall divided the area, and so Potsdamer Platz spent more than 40 years in a deep sleep - as an urban wasteland between East and West. In 1993, in just five years, a new urban centre was created out of nothing on the largest construction site in Europe. ~ Visit Berlin

She had a museum she wanted to visit. The Lego store is in the area of Potsdamer Platz. We just waited in the area for her return, but I did notice the metal strip embedded in the plaza. The strip was a reminder that The Berlin Wall had been there just 35 years earlier. 

Next: Berlin Cathedral