Beyond the Berlin Victory Column, the Memorial Church and the Brandenburg Gate,
there’s a lot to discover in the German capital.
Hello. My name is Thomas Jonglez. And today I will show you around some secret places in Berlin.
Writer and publisher Thomas Jonglez presents 200 “secret sites” in his book 'Soul of Berlin'.
One is the open-air museum of gas lanterns in Tiergarten Park.
Just a stone’s throw away from the Brandenburg Gate, the world's largest gaslight collection
was started here in 1978.
The display includes ninety historical models from various cities, and can be visited for free.
Berlin is the world capital of gas lanterns. We knew it was the capital of techno of many things.
But of gas lanterns - it’s much less well-known.
And here a couple of years ago, they decided to move specific gas lanterns from mostly
German cities and a bit of abroad, so you can see in this walk that every gas lantern is different.
A twenty-minute stroll brings you to the Kaiser-Wilhelm Memorial Church, with its golden clocks.
Just across the square is a more unusual clock: the Berlin-Uhr.
The Guinness Book of Records lists it as the world's first public clock that
gives the time by means of colored fields.
The first line of lights is five hours, the second line is one hour for each light.
The third line is five minutes. And the bottom one is one minute.
That means it’s 1 o'clock and 11 minutes. Is it correct? Correct.
One o'clock and 11 minutes. And it works, which is good.
The clock by German inventor Dieter Binninger originally stood on Kurfürstendamm.
But it was moved in 1995 because maintenance was too costly.
A ten-minute subway ride takes us to the next hidden gem:
the Twelve-Apostles Church in Schöneberg.
Its windows are a testament to ingenious improvisation.
What’s so special is that they’re made out of gin bottles, liquor bottles.
Because after the second world war many buildings have been destroyed and there was a shortage of
glass to make the windows of these buildings.
So one gin/liquor producer in Berlin called Gilka
had the fantastic idea to offer gin bottles to make these windows.
Thomas Jonglez has more tips for buildings and sites in and around Berlin ...
... such as the foyer to the Moabit Criminal Court...
... the expressionist church on Hohenzollernplatz...
... and the Hindu Sri-Mayurapathy-Murugan Temple.
For open-air art, he recommends the installations by sculptor Sergej Alexander Dott in the north of Berlin.
Various creatures fly and swim across the facades of this apartment complex,
breathing new life into the 1930s-era buildings.
The rose is a symbol of resurrection and it was exactly that for this complex of houses.
It was a resurrection of really bad state which it was before. To after refurbishment almost new.
Also not well known but definitely worth seeing are...
... the Energy Museum in southern Berlin...
... the Buchstabenmuseum or Museum of Letters.
And the light installation by American artist James Turrell in a cemetery in Berlin's Mitte district.
An evening stroll through Berlin is always worthwhile.
After dark, the gaslight museum can even be romantic.
These were just a few secrets of Berlin.
If you want to know more: Come over and see for yourself.