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EXBERLINER MAGAZINE

CULTURE

The Best of Berlin in April

This month Exberliner, Berlin's leading English-language magazine, gets literary, goes retro and comes up smelling like roses.

Published: 13 April 2010 10:48 CEST
The Best of Berlin in April
Photo: Exberliner

Written in the sand

When Londoner Jason Andrews first came to Berlin in 2005, it was for the weekend. Little did he know that five years and a published novel (November) later, he’d be living here and launching an English literary magazine with a fellow Anglophone, Becky Crook. Crook, a Seattleite who works at the Friedrichshain-based “platform for social projects” betterplace.org, met Andrews at a writing class; both were enamoured with Berlin’s literature and poetry scene. This month, they’re joining forces to launch SAND, the first local magazine of its kind since Border Crossings disappeared one-and-a-half years ago. “I want SAND to be a central watering hole,” says Crook. “To reflect on Berlin’s vibrant [literary] scene.” Their project has created ripples of anticipation in the English literary community: it has been endorsed by the likes of Rob Grant, the man behind Beat Street, and Fuel hostess Lady Gaby; it has also garnered financial support (and subscriptions) from cafés, bookshops and online donors. The deadline for initial submissions was in February, but that shouldn’t stop all you Christopher Isherwood wannabes from sending in your writings: they could be included in the next issue. Crook and Andrews have invested their own savings in the project. “We’re sure we’ll make our money back,” they say enthusiastically. Even if they don’t, it’s sure to be a fun, fulfilling project./EP

SAND: Berlin’s English Literary Journal | Appearing biannually as of April 2010. The launch date and details about the party will be posted at sandjournal.com

The cabinet of Doctor Korneev

“A Panoptikum,” Vlad Korneev says with earnest confidentiality, is “a collection of extraordinary or rare objects.” He couldn’t have found a better name for his time warp of a shop. The moment you step in, you are swallowed up by a heady mix of venerable typewriters, glinting bowling trophies, retro telephones, funky clocks and wonderfully comfy chairs. In one room, a great stone bust of Lenin introduces a GDR theme: back issues of Das Magazin can be snapped up for a mere €1; kitsch-but-cool bowls cost €3. But most of the time, there aren’t price tags – Panoptikum is about soul, not money-making. Korneev carefully handpicks each item, culling his wares from ‘secret’ bric-a-brac stores, eBay and even rubbish skips, then lovingly restoring and displaying them. Amateur decorators can pick up some truly unique items for their living rooms: a 1970s stereo/record player from the East German electronic supplier RFT (in stunning condition!); a life-size Power Ranger from Japan; and lamps of every shape and size. In the futuristic, refrigerator-like backrooms, the items are not for sale, but can be rented for anything from film to fashion shoots. Here, dentist chairs share space with some of the first ever Ersatzsonnen (electric sun lamps), and a human-sized birthing doll lies on a chair near a talking dispensing machine. Korneev plans to organise a museum-style exhibition soon: the €1 admission price will be a bargain, considering the mind-boggling treasures he is planning to display./PRC

DESIGN PANOPTIKUM | Torstr. 201, Mitte, U-Bhf Oranienburger Tor, Mon-Sat 12-20 , Tel 0157 7401 299, www.vlad.ag

A whiff of Berlin

Give your nose a holiday from the stench of city streets: at Frau Tonis Parfum, you’ll find the new scent of Berlin. Inspired by the fragrances worn by her mother – which always instilled a sense of happiness in her as a child–

83-year-old Ruhr-born Toni Gronewald fulfilled a life-long dream with the opening of her own perfume boutique last November. Lined with rows of flacons, the shop’s simple but sleek white interior exudes an air of nostalgic elegance, while the many fragrances often offer a note of retro sophistication: “Veilchen” (No. 37) was inspired by the violet scent Marlene Dietrich used to wear; “Sminta” (No. 20) is reminiscent of Chanel No. 5, a perfume also invented in the 1920s. Toni’s ‘younger’ fragrances include the light and fruity “Potosi” (No. 86), the aromatic, herb-infused “Lavendelwasser” (No. 1) and the fruity “Tulpe” (No. 58), a perfect choice for springtime. All the perfumes are manufactured in Berlin, with oils from France. The prices range from €7 for a 7ml flacon to €79 for 100ml; eau de cologne and aftershave cost €12 for 50ml and €18 for 100ml – and you can even ‘layer’ your scent with bath salts (€2.50) and soaps (€1 to €1.50). Frau Tonis also offers customers the opportunity to invent their own perfumes: the staff is happy to help you find a suitable combination and ratio./AW

Frau Tonis Parfum | Alte Schönhauser Str. 50, Mitte, U-Bhf Weinmeisterstr.,Tel 030 20215310, Mon-Fri 11-19, Sat 10-18, www.frau-tonis-parfum.com

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DISCOVER GERMANY

Eight amazing German museums to explore this spring

With thousands of years of history in Germany to explore, you’re never going to run out of museums to scratch the itch to learn about and fully experience the world of the past.

Published: 5 April 2024 10:46 CEST
Eight amazing German museums to explore this spring

Here are eight of our favourite museums across Germany’s 16 states for you to discover for yourself. 

Arche Nebra

Nebra, Saxony-Anhalt

One day, around 1600 BCE, local Bronze Age peoples buried one of their most precious objects – the Nebra Sky Disk, a copper, gold, and bronze disk that acted as a calendar to help them plant crops. This was a matter of life and death at the time. 

Over three thousand years later, in 1999, it was uncovered by black market treasure hunters, becoming Germany’s most significant archaeological find. 

While the Sky Disk itself is kept in the (really very good)  State Museum of Pre- and Early History in nearby Halle, the site of the discovery is marked by the Arche Nebra, a museum explaining prehistoric astronomy and the cultural practices of the people who made it. 

Kids will love the planetarium, explaining how the disk was used. 

Atomkeller Museum

Halgerloch, Baden-Württemberg

From the distant to the very recent past – in this case, the Nazi atomic weapons programme. Even as defeat loomed, Nazi scientists such as Werner Heisenberg were trying to develop a nuclear bomb. 

While this mainly took place in Berlin, an old beer cellar under the town of Halgerloch, south of Stuttgart, was commandeered as the site of a prototype fission reactor. 

A squad of American soldiers captured and dismantled the reactor as the war ended. Still, the site was later turned into a museum documenting German efforts to create a working reactor – one that they could use to develop a bomb.

It’s important to note that you don’t need to be a physicist to understand what they were trying to do here, as the explanatory materials describe the scientist’s efforts in a manner that is easy to understand. 

German National Museum

Nuremberg, Bavaria

Remember that scene at the end of ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’, where an unnamed government official wheels the Ark of the Covenant into an anonymous government warehouse? This could possibly be the German equivalent – albeit far better presented. 

The German National Museum was created in 1852 as a repository for the cultural history of the German nation – even before the country’s founding. In the intervening 170 years, it’s grown to swallow an entire city block of Nuremberg, covering 60,000 years of history and hundreds of thousands of objects. 

If it relates to the history of Germany since prehistoric times, you’re likely to find it here.

Highlights include several original paintings and etchings by Albrecht Dürer, the mysterious Bronze Age ‘Gold Hats’, one of Europe’s most significant collections of costuming and musical instruments, and a vast display of weapons, armour and firearms. 

European Hansemuseum

Lübeck, Schleswig-Holstein

In the late Middle Ages, the political and economic centre of the world was focused on the North Sea and the Baltic German coasts. 

This was the domain of the Hanseatic League, one of the most powerful trading alliances in human history. Centuries before the Dutch and British East India Companies, they made in-roads to far-flung corners.

The European Hansemuseum in the former Hanseatic city of Lübeck tells the story of the league’s rise and eventual fall, its day-to-day operations, and its enduring legacy.

This museum is fascinating for adults and kids. It uses original artefacts and high-tech interactive elements to tell tales of maritime adventure. Younger visitors will also be enchanted by the museum’s augmented reality phone app that asks them to help solve mysteries. 

Fugger & Welser Adventure Museum

Augsburg, Germany

The Hanseatic League was not the only economic power in the late Middle Ages. The Fugger and Welser families of Augsburg may have been the richest in the world until the 20th century.

From humble beginnings, both families grew to become incredibly powerful moneylenders, funding many of the wars of the 16th century and the conquest of the New World.

The Fugger & Welser Adventure Museum not only explains the rise of both patrician families but also the practices that led to their inconceivable wealth—including, sadly, the start of the Transatlantic slave trade. 

The museum also documents the short-lived Welser colony in Venezuela, which, if it had survived, could have resulted in a very different world history.

This museum has many high tech displays, making it a very exciting experience for moguls of any age.

Teutoburg Forest Museum

Kalkriese, Lower Saxony

Every German child learns this story at some point: One day at the end of summer 9 AD, three legions of the Roman army marched into the Teutoburg forest… and never came out. 

Soldiers sent after the vanished legions discovered that they had been slaughtered to a man.

Arminius, a German who had been raised as a Roman commander, had betrayed the three legions to local Germanic tribes, who ambushed them while marching through the forest. 

Today, the probable site of the battle – we can’t entirely be sure – is marked by a museum called the Varusschlacht Museum (Literally ‘Varus Battle Museum’, named after the loyal Roman commander). 

The highlights here are the finds – made all the more eerie by the knowledge that they were looted and discarded from the legionaries in the hours following the ambush. 

German Romanticism Museum

Frankfurt, Hesse

The Romantic era of art, music and literature is one of Germany’s greatest cultural gifts to the world, encompassing the work of poets such as Goethe and Schiller, composers like Beethoven and artists in the vein of Caspar David Friedrich.

Established in 2021 next to the house where Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was born, the German Romanticism Museum is the world’s largest collection of objects related to the Romantic movement. 

In addition to artefacts from some of the greatest names in German romanticism, in 2024, you’ll find a major exhibition exploring Goethe’s controversial 1774 novel, ‘The Sorrows of Young Werther’, and another on the forest as depicted as dark and dramatic in the art of the period. 

Gutenberg Castle

Haßmersheim, Baden-Württemberg

Sometimes being a smaller castle is a good thing. The relatively small size and location of Guttenburg Castle, above the River Neckar near Heilbronn, protected it from war and damage over eight hundred years – it’s now the best preserved Staufer-era castle in the country.

While the castle is still occupied by the Barons of Gemmingen-Guttenberg, the castle now also contains a museum, that uses the remarkably well-preserved castle interiors to explore centuries of its history – and the individuals that passed through it.

After you’ve explored the museum—and the current exhibition that uses Lego to document life in the Middle Ages —it’s also possible to eat at the castle’s tavern and stay overnight!

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