The Classic - a photo on Flickriver

The Classic

A Concrete Desert?

After two years of construction work, the historic Gendarmenmarkt at the heart of Berlin reopened this March. It's known as Berlin's most beautiful place ("Berlins schönster Platz") but right after the grand reopening complaints were issued that it's a "concrete desert", "the millions were wasted", "where are the trees?", "misanthropes at work" etc pp.

The place was indeed adorned with green areas as the following image I found on Wikipedia from around 1900 shows (Link: STRG/CTRL+ de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:Berlin_-_Gendarmenmarkt_-_a...) and isn't that just beautiful? But it's also true that the requirements for a modern city have changed. Gendarmenmarkt, for instance, hosts the annual, internationally renowned "Classic Open Air" days with concerts, and it's visited by more than three million people each year; facts that, together with heritage protection considerations, apparently influenced the decisions regarding the reconstruction.

So are the complaints just the (to be expected) "Berlin bashing" or the rather Berlin-typical nagging? When we were there yesterday, I found the place as impressive as it had always been but seeing those older images also makes me wish the planners would have indeed found a way to combine usability with at least a few green spaces.

The building you are looking at is the "Deutsche Dom" ("New Church"), and the statue on the right, a lioness with a lyre-playing cherub on her back, belongs to the stairs leading up to the Konzerthaus Berlin, a concert hall and Gendarmenmarkt's "centre piece".

Taken in: Germany / Land Berlin / Berlin, Stadt / Friedrichstadt (show map)

Taken on: March 18, 2025

Tags:

Berlin

Mitte

Thursday Monochrome

Gendarmenmarkt

Deutscher Dom

New Church

historical

heritage-protected

baroque

lioness

cherub

lyre

people

bustle

street

sunny

spring

shadows

black and white

monochrome

sepia

wide-angle photography

OM System

OM-3

early adopter

M.Zuiko Digital ED 8-25mm F4.0 PRO

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Sets appears in: • Berlin-Mitte

Groups appears in: • Architecture • Explore This! (ONLY EXPLORED PICS) more » • ! 90+ Faves (P1,A+F3) • in explore • Thursday monochrome (Donnerstagsmonochrom) • ! ! Flickr Active’s TOP photos – Level 1, P1/F+A3 • *The Moody Moodpepper* ( Admin invite only) • The New Focus 1a • monochrome passion • - Restless Mind - • WONDERS OF PHOTOGRAPHY IN GENERAL.MARAVILLAS DE LA FOTOGRAFIA EN • - World Of Architecture - • OM System OM-3 « less

Camera: OM Digital Solutions OM-3, f/5.0, 1/3200 sec, 18mm (=36mm), ISO 200 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	OM Digital Solutions OM-3
Lens:	OM 8-25mm F4.0
Aperture:	f/5.0
Exposure Time:	1/3200 sec
Focal Length:	18mm (35mm equivalent: 36mm)
ISO:	200
Exposure Bias:	-2 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Aperture-priority AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic 14.2 (Windows)
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