Astro-Not!

One Man Bunker

During our tour of all of the Mills (see prior post here) back on June 1st, one of the places we drove through is Wünsdorf. It’s not a very big place (about 6000 people), but played a key role in the Soviet v/s the US space race and the cold war.
The following is a rough translation of a German Wikipedia article Thanks to babelfish.

Wünsdorf saves a long militarily traditional history. In Wünsdorf was beside the partial headquarters underground put on of the OKH (Tarnbezeichnung: Maybach I) and OKW (Maybach II) from 1939 to 1945 settled in the message shelter zeppelin the office 500. Here it concerned one of the largest message junctions during the Second World War. These are protected by thick Panzertüren. Here also the first tanks, thickness Bertha and the V-weapon were tested.

After the war Wünsdorf became the seat of the supreme command of the group of the Soviet armed forces in Germany (after 1990 under the designation west’s group of the troops). Except the 2,700 inhabitants lived at point times 50,000 to 60,000 Soviet men, women and children there. For citizens of the GDR the area was restricted area. Within the fenced and/or ummauerten area numerous Soviet mechanisms were such as kindergartens, schools, business etc. after the departure of the Soviet armed forces 1994 developed the EWZ (development company forest city Wünsdorf/Zehrensdorf ltd.) the area on behalf the Brandenburgian federal state government. In the abandoned staff buildings numerous authorities were settled, among them the Brandenburgian office of a federal state for the regulation of open fortune questions and the Brandenburgian office of a federal state for care of monuments and archaeological federal state museum. The former barracks were converted mostly to houses, on free-vacated surfaces developed single family house areas and it local supply mechanisms, a primary school as well as kindergartens were established. These represent now together the municipality part of forest city.

Even today, the place is impressive- yet creepy. Why? Because there are abandoned bunkers and old traning facilities all over the town, and even the “new” modern buildings sit on top of what used to be part of the Soviet Air Defense plans:

Air Defense Bunker

I guess, among all the bunkers though, I was able to find a bit of humor. The reason is because all over town there were soviet era statues – Lenin, Stalin, etc. And then.. there was this priceless gem… which me laugh – because he is a Cosmonaut – (aka an Astro-NOT!) with highly detailed musculature:

Russian Cosmonaut Statue (talk about super abs!)

Oh – by the way, did I mention the butt detail on the statue is “out of this world”.

More photos of the set are here.

The Baroque in Rural NeuZille

During our tour of all of the Mills (see prior post here) back on June 1st, Michael and I stopped for lunch at a place named Kloster Neuzille. This rural town is famous for two things – it’s Kloster brew beer (which was made by the monks in the 1400’s) and the Baroque church and gardens that are on the grounds of the monestary.

When you intially walk up, you basically have to pass a lovely pond covered with lilypads and little ducks with a nice view of the complex in the background. (The opposite side has cafes):

Cloister NeuZille Pond

Once you walk around the pond, you come up to the main entry of the complex, which looks relatively plain in yellow and white:

Cloister NeuZille complex from the outside

Thing is that the simple and relatively plain outside is rather decieving. Why? Because once you approach the doors – you recognize that these monks had lots of time and truly filled the church with magnificent carvings and artwork. A sample of the overpowering nature of the building (which made me think “how the heck do I photograph this and do it justice? Not sure that’s possible!” :

Entry Door Pattern

Entry way Ceiling

Click these for full photo:

Main Altar

Looking back toward the Organ.

I finally decided to start focusing on the small pieces that made up the whole – to see if I could capture some of the beauty up close – as the entire details were too much.

1: Madonna with Sapphire Crown & Child; 2: Inlaid Compass Rose Wall Panelling; 3: Sword of Truth; 4: Released from Life

From there, I went out to the gardens, and found that they were just as lovely:

Baroque Garden Layout

as they were filled with roses, irises, and winding paths:

In the end, I came away feeling overwhelmed with the beauty, a knowledge of why this was added as a UNESCO world heritage site, and well, a feeling that no matter what, the Angels Support Us.

Many More photos here – from not only the main closter, but the secondary (smaller) church next door (also Baroque).

Jüterbog Day Trip

City Map (notice it’s round like the city walls)

June 6,2009 – I took a day trip to Jüterbog. It’s not too far from where I live but is a very cool place because it retains its full city walls from the middle ages. It turned out to be very gray and rainy in the afternoon, but it was a decent bike ride (after the train trip down) anyhow because it was a warm rain.
More information is at: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%c3%bcterbog But the summary (interspursed with my pictures) is:

First mentioned around 1000 as a town, The town is surrounded by a medieval wall including three gateways and barbicans.

Dammtor gateway Exterior

Dammtor gateway Interior which would have been used as the militia rally/training point it was literally right outside the main city gate towers below:

Old Midevil city walls to the main city gate

The old city walls – about 8 feet high – looking back to the gate

Intact Watch tower along the city walls

Jüterbog encompasses two Protestant churches, of which Gothic St Nicholas’ (14th century) is remarkable for its three fine aisles and features a preserved coffer (chest) of Johann Tetzel, and original paintings.

St Nicholas’s Church – Juterbog was First mentioned in 1307, back then it was a Romanesque basilica. The church today is a gothic hall church – built in 3 stages which can be seen in the ground plan.
First stage – The long nave between the slanting outer pillars (1330 – in black)

Second stage – lengthening to the west, a cross beam, and the west end (1440 – grey)

Third stage – alteration of the alter apse and building of the ambulatory (1488 – light grey)

Inside – looking back toward organ

The building of the towers were not finished before the beginning of the 16th century. The different tops are due to the circumstances that the spire of the northern tower was knocked down by a thunderstorm in 1560. After that, the octagonal construction was built by taking the 30 unused altars of the catholic time as material to create room for the watch man. This baroque top was put on in the year 1617 and still adorns the northern tower.

The church survived the conflagration in 1478, The Thirty Years War, the occupation of the town by Prussia rom 1756 to 1763 in the Seven Years War, and the first and second world war almost unharmed – unlike the town and residents.

Inside, You will find a famed Madonna and Child from the 1500’s, and a statue of a black St. Maurice from the 1400’s.

and a whole set of other states that are hand carved from the 16-1700’s

Most Impressive, however, is the original side chapel – with original Painting (you need to go to flickr to see more of these) which are dark b/c of NO FLASH allowed:

Tourquoise Roof With Angels

Pilgrims to the Holy Land

Saints

Jüterbog carries on weaving and spinning both of flax and wool, and trades in the produce of those manufactures and in cattle. Vines are cultivated in the neighborhood.

Town Hall (built for the trading of flax, wool and coal).

Town Hall Ceiling

Town Hall Ceiling 2

That’s it from Jüterbog, but be sure to check out more of the set here.

Phoenix Rose's Blog

The Chronicles of a Girl, Her Dog, and a Lifelong Journey…

Germany

Astro-Not!

The Baroque in Rural NeuZille

Jüterbog Day Trip