Berlin 2009 – Holocaust Denkmal
July 17, 2009
Berlin 2009 – Holocaust Denkmal
Originally uploaded by let².
Berlin 2009, Germany – Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe //
The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe (German: Denkmal für die ermordeten Juden Europas), also known as the Holocaust Memorial (German: Holocaust-Mahnmal), is a memorial in Berlin to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust, designed by architect Peter Eisenman and engineer Buro Happold. It consists of a 19,000 square meter (4.7 acre) site covered with 2,711 concrete slabs or “stelae”, arranged in a grid pattern on a sloping field. The stelae are 2.38m (7.8′) long, 0.95m (3′ 1.5″) wide and vary in height from 0.2 m to 4.8m (8″ to 15’9″). According to Eisenman’s project text, the stelae are designed to produce an uneasy, confusing atmosphere, and the whole sculpture aims to represent a supposedly ordered system that has lost touch with human reason. A 2005 copy of the Foundation for the Memorial’s official English tourist pamphlet, however, states that the design represents a radical approach to the traditional concept of a memorial, partly because Eisenman did not use any symbolism. An attached underground “Place of Information” (German: Ort der Information) holds the names of all known Jewish Holocaust victims, obtained from the Israeli museum Yad Vashem. (Wikipedia)
Leipzig 2009 – Völkerschlachtdenkmal
March 28, 2009
Originally uploaded by let².
Leipzig 2009, Germany – Völkerschlachtdenkmal / Tränenteich
The Battle of Leipzig or Battle of the Nations, fought on 16–19 October 1813, was one of the most decisive defeats suffered by Napoleon Bonaparte. The battle was fought on German soil and involved German troops on both sides, as a large proportion of Napoleon’s troops actually came from the German Confederation of the Rhine. The battle involved over 500,000 troops, making it the largest battle in Europe prior to World War I.
