Martin Gropius Bau
This is one of the recent images I acquired of Berlin during the Cold War. There are no captions on any of the images and it took a little while to figure out where it was, but eventually it transpired the building was Martin Gropius Bau. More of what that is shortly, but during the Cold War it sat in ‘No Man’s Land’ right up against the Berlin Wall. This makes sense with the image as the building is obviously derelict, the cars of the 1945 battle are clearly visible and the Wall is just visible to the right rear of the structure. The image was apparently taken from a tourist coach in the Western sector, while on a holiday there in July 1974.
Martin Gropius Bay, February 2011
Martin Gropius Bau is in the Mitte district of Berlin and was built between 1877 and 1881. It was originally an art museum and after WW1 it became the Museum for Prehistory and Early History and the East Asian Art Collection. By the time of the Third Reich it was close to Gestapo Headquarters and the Ministry of Aviation. Badly damaged in the final battles of 1945, it remained unusable until the 1980s, although was not properly accessible until after the wall came down. It’s red stone and renaissance influenced freezes have been completely renovated, and it is once again an art museum. Despite the renovation some of the WW2 damage is clearly visible, and in the street in front where the Berlin Wall ran, the route is marked in the road. The Topography of Terror exhibition is also close by.
Military Berlin 