Monday of week two

The Berlin Dome was the first stop of the day. Before everyone went in, we stopped for some history of the Wilhelmain Era and the Berlin Dome. There were intense national movements in this era and industrialization. The year 1848 was important and is referred to as the year of revolutions. Karl Max is also writing at this time. The revolution fails in Germany and becomes very violent in the south. The national assembly becomes repressed. In late 19^th century, some Germans immigrate to New Orleans and to other cities in the United States. Berlin became the largest city in Europe in size and population before World War I. The Berlin Dome is a Protestant church and was built to rival the Vatican in Italy. 

The inside of the Dome was majestic and beautiful. I loved the alter area of the Berlin Dome because it was very intricate and detailed but even with that it was elegant. The stain glass at the top of the Dome had a dove on it. There was a crypt below the Dome. The crypt was interesting because you got to see the different coffins. It was also interesting to see the different designs and the different rang of decoration put on each tome. Some were elaborate and had sculptures on them, while others were simple and had little decoration on them. I was not feeling well so I did not climb to the top of the Dome. I explored more of the Church and the rooms that were open to the public. There were pictures of the angels on the stain glass above the alter and the crest of the royal family above the door that we had entered in through.  I wish I could have heard a song played on the giant organ that they. The more I looked at the alter the more detail I saw in the stain glass and the surrounding elements that gave the alter its dramatic pull in the room. 

At lunch, Lauren and I walked around and finally picked a place that had pizza and pasta. I did not get anything because I was not too hungry. We found that other people were already eating their so we sat with them and talked until it was time to head to the museums.

The first museum was the Pergammon. The exhibits were very interesting to see. They had a Turkish gate and a Greek temple in the museum. I feel like I could of spent hours in every room of the museum. It was interesting to see the mix of different exhibits and artifacts that the museum had. There was the Middle East, Greek, Roman, and Islamic part. I took tons of pictures. There were many manuscripts on display which I found very interesting to see how different the language and style of each was from the other. The rare exhibit area was my favorite. It had a room that was covered in the family trees of the Greek and Roman gods. They also had a bust of Alexander the Great. The museum seemed to go on forever but I had a fun time just wondering around in all the different areas. In doing so, I found things that I had not seen and rooms that I had missed or walked by going to something that had caught my eye.

In the second museum of the day was Neues Museum. It was not as interesting as the first but I think that was due to the granger and magnitude of that first over shadowed the Neues. The Neues had exhibits on Egyptian culture and history. I saw the part of the book of the dead. That was cool to see in person because it had heard about it many times in my history classes. It was also interesting to see tombs from ancient Egypt. Sadly, there were no human mummy’s because they had a bug infestation but we did get to see mummy’s of animals. We also got to see the ceremonial jars that they would put the important organs in to. 

On the second floor, you could see a denier of Charlemagne. 

The third and final museum was optional but I chose to stay and go to it because it had more Classical related exhibit in it. The Third museum was the Altes Museum. We could only stay an hour because it closed at six but it was still a great museum. There was a domed room full of statues. It was a beautiful museum and I was very glad I chose to stay and see it even thought it was not for long. The Altes had two statues that I was very fond of which are one of a greyhound and a lion. The Lion was a funerary lion, which means it either was a grave marker for a person or was a part of a monument to a group of individuals. The lion was seen as the guardian of the tomb and was thought to protect the tomb from harm. The greyhound was just done for decoration of a villa because the dogs were often seen with deities. The dogs were used by the upper classes for hunting and as guard dogs.  There was an angel standing on a ball with what I think is some Greek or Roman writing on it. It is a cast and the original has been missing for ages. The statue is called The Victory of Calvatone and was commissioned for the victory of Emperor Marcus Aurelius and his brother. It was commissioned by M. Satrius Mairo. 

That was the end of the museums and our day. I took about 500 pictures and very worn out after seeing so much and reading out all the different artifacts in each museum. After a short rest, Lauren and I went and got ice cream from a place that we had seen at lunch. She got Hello Kitty ice cream and I got Pokémon ice cream. It was really good and cheap. With the new boost of energy, we went and looked at the souvenirs shops and the Berlin Bears.  We took a bus to almost to the Brandenburg Gate but a bear caught our eyes so we went back to take a picture and ended up almost where we had gotten on the bus. It was nice to relax and do some shopping after such an interesting and museum filled day.