Berlin is not beautiful like Paris, or magnificent like Rome, but it has many faces and that is its charm. Its identity is carved into the domes of ancient churches, graffitied in public spaces, and reinvented by contemporary artists eager to bring the city foward from its troubled past.
Many structures still standing in Berlin have withstood extreme political and social ideologies, endured the decades of war and its aftermath, and suffered tragic defeats that lead to years of foreign occupation. Some have fallen admist of the confusion and conflicts of men only to be rebuilt to symbolize a new Germany. Others have fallen at more civil times, and the space of its empty void awaits for new architect and plan.
Memory, remembrance, nostalgia, preservation, education, national symbols, German identity.
These are the stories told by the streets of Berlin and the trail of paving stones that interrupt the sidewalk. These are the stories of a country that fell one too many times on the wrong side of history.
These are the stories told by the streets of Berlin and the trail of paving stones that interrupt the sidewalk. These are the stories of a country that fell one too many times on the wrong side of history.
But Berlin, what do your stories mean to me?
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