Gate To Wonderland

Brandenburg Gate is one of Berlin’s best-known icons. It is the only remaining gate along the customs wall that surrounded Berlin until the 19thcentury. By the time it was built to replace an earlier gate, the wall had lost its excise function, and it gradually disappeared along with most of its other gates. More importantly, Brandenburg Gate has come to represent the East-West division during the Cold War and, after 1989, it became the paramount symbol of German reunification.Architecturally, the sandstone Brandenburg Gate also represents one of the earliest and most attractive examples of neoclassical architecture in Germany.Built between 1788 and 1791 by Carl Gotthard Langhans, architect to the Prussian court, Branden-burg Gate was Berlin’s first Greek revival stucture, inspired by the monumental gateway at the entrance to the Acropolis in Athens. It is 26 meters high and 65.5 meters wide, with six pairs of Doric columns.When Germany was reunited I was only eight years old. I remember my father sitting at the kitchen table the morning after the night it happened, close to tears, telling us about his evening at the wall. He said that this had been a historic moment the world would remember forever. In the days that followed he told us about wall-peckers trying to tear the wall down, people going back and forth through holes, and soldiers standing around not really knowing what to do.A few nights after the famous night, my father took me to the wall. I only knew it as a wonderful, long art gallery and never thought about the other worldbehind it. My father lifted me up and people pulled me onto the top of the wall. This was the first time I saw the other side. There were soldiers and police-men standing everywhere, everything was white and clean and looked more like a prison. I was quite scared.One day, a week or so later, we went to the other side. It was like a trip to wonderland. Everything was different. The cars, the people, their clothing style, the products they sold. I remember that I was allowed to drink a cola in a restaurant we went to in East Berlin. Since I was only allowed to drink Coca-Cola on special events, I was very excited. I got the drink, took a big sip and found it disgusting. I imagine it was the same for people from the East trying Western products. On the picture you can see the word ÄNDERUNG”,which means “CHANGE”. After that morning at the kitchen table everything had changed!

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