Architecture photos with focus on underground train networks, modern as well as historic constructions and Berlin

Waisen Tunnel – The East-West Escape through Berlin’s Underground

Berlin has many unknown structures. One of those man-made hidden things is located right under Spree River and connects the Berlin subway area between Littenstraße and Brückenstraße. At the moment Waisen Tunnel is subject to redevelopment. Back in 1980 the connection tunnel was stage of a spectacular and clever escape from East to West Berlin… Read More

Christian Heritage – The Chora Church of Istanbul

Far in the west of old Constantinople and originally being located outside the city walls a jewel and testimony of early Christianity can be seen, that is the Chora Church. Like Hagia Sophia it was once being transformed into a mosque. Today it is called Kariye Museum and holds the worldwide most historically significant as well as elaborated mosaics and frescos of Palaiologan Renaissance… Read More

Minsk – Refuge of Socialist Modernism

Belarus unclenches itself towards the rest of Europe and welcomes meanwhile visitors, landing at the Minsk International Airport, with a visa on arrival. Beside a typical Soviet style metro inviting me to continue my European subway photo project, Minsk boasts with an urban architecture telling from pre- as well as post-war Socialist times, the so called Socialist modernism… Read More

Athens, Acropolis and Roman Ruins

The area of greater Athens is inhabited by humans for about 7.500 years. Symbol of this presence and its cultures is the Acropolis Hill, the famous and conspicuous castle hill with its Parthenon temple. The rock as well its development are evidence of some of the world’s greatest civilsations, of the Greeks, Romans, Venetians and Ottomans as well as the ever boiling conflict discord about the Mediterranean Sea.… Read More

West Berlin’s Soviet Heritage – The Tiergarten Soviet War Memorial

The preliminary final of my photo series “East Germany’s Soviet Heritage” is dedicated to a paradox, that is the first of Berlin’s big Soviet commemorative sites as well as the only Soviet War Memorial on the territory of West Berlin. The monument was guarded by Red Army soldiers around the clock and is located within sight of Brandenburg Gate and Reichstag.… Read More

East Germany’s Soviet Heritage – Löwen-Adler barracks and the Elstal Olympic Village

When hearing of the Olympic Village for the 1936 Berlin Games, then people quickly think about Hitler, the Nazis as well as their making a cult out of Hindenburg, the former WW I hero and later President of the Reich. However also the Soviet Army lodged itself in strategically well located Elstal and its Löwen-Adler Kaserne military barracks, leaving a very interesting melange behind as in the Olympic Village not only a terrific abandoned swimming pool can be seen, but also a mix of clearly recognizable Nazi elements neighbouring with typical Soviet iconography… Read More

Gasometer – Berlin-Schöneberg’s steel skeleton

Hip and cool Berlin can be pretty shallow as with having a highest elevation of only ~100 metres it’s generally got a very flat topography. And since German megalomania once also regulated the maximum height for residential buildings, it is very easy to overlook whole Berlin when standing on elevated places.… Read More

Moscow Metro – Queen of Undergrounds

I can still feel the New Year’s party on Red Square in my bones; the very square that was said to be entirely closed if one would believe the words of western media. Well, I had quite a great midnight, enjoyed the fireworks and ice-skating together with Russians, Georgians and Armenians before going underground to captue the whole Moscow Metro.… Read More