Dresden, Germany : reclaiming its past glory

Dresden is the capital city of the Saxony state in Germany.  It was a major cultural, economical and political center in Eastern Germany and Eastern Europe.  However, it suffered its deadly destruction before end of the Second World War.  The city was nearly levered off by the bombings of the Alliance air force.  After the Second World War, Dresden became part of East Germany. 

The city reconstruction works took half a century.  With the unification of Germany, Dresden has gradually reclaimed its past glory.  The city has rebuilt its economic and cultural importance.  Major historical landmarks have been reconstructed with great efforts.  You can feel the proud of the citizens who have made this happened.

Dresden Fraudenkirche (the Church of Our Lady), a Lutheran church built in the 18th century, is one of the city landmarks.  The church was destroyed by the bombings with only the status of Martin Luther remained.  After half a century, the church was reconstructed to its original form with parts of its remaining sandstones.

(Status of Martin Luther standing in front of the reconstructed Frauenkirche)

(Baroque style pipe organ restored in the church)

You can see status of Frederick August I around the city.  He was Saxony's Prince-Elector and developed Dresden to one of the major European cities in the 18th century.  He later reconverted to Roman Catholic and became King of Poland.  That is why you will find Kutholische Hofkirche (the Church of the Royal Court of Saxony) a Roman Catholic cathedral.  It is just within walking distance from Frauenkirche.

(Many beautiful paintings are kept inside the Kutholische Hofkirche)

(Kutholische Hofkirche has one of the largest pipe organ)

The Semperoper (the Opera House) is another beautiful architecture restored to its former glory. 

(Semperoper is still the best opera house in Dresden)

The Furstenzug (the Procession of the Princes) was lucky enough to escape the destruction of bombings in the Second World War.  It is one of the largest porcelain artworks.  Princes of the Saxony were shown in the 103 meter x 9.5 meter wall of porcelain tiles.

(Beginning part of the Furstenzug)

Dresden is located nearby the German Alps region.  It is one of green cities in Europe.  Within an hour ride, you can reach the green forests.  You can see the beautiful River Elbe flowing through Dresden and its suburb area.

Bled, Slovenia : a beautiful resort town

Bled is a small town in the Northwest of Julian Alps in Slovenia, bordering Austria.  The town develops around the beautiful glacier lake, Bled Lake.  It has been a resort for the European nobles and riches in the past two centuries.  It is still one of the major tourist spots for Slovenia. 

This fall, my wife and I had opportunity visiting this lovely place. 
We had lunch in the Bled Castle while enjoying the picturesque scenery of the Bled Lake.  There is a small island in the lake.  People can take a short boat ride to the island and visit the church there.  A few resort hotels are built along the lake with many other private resort houses around.

(Slow moving rowing boat in the Bled Castle below the Bled Castle) 

(Rowing boat is the only mean of transportation to the church in the island of the Bled Lake)

(Resort house along the Bled Lake)

(White swam swimming leisurely in the lake)

We enjoyed our leisure walk along the lake shore.  Then, we settled down in the hotel cafe for the afternoon tea and Kremsnita (a local favourite pastry).  We could see swam and duck swimming in the crystal clear lake.  There were also people practising rowing in the lake.  Four world rowing champions were held here in Bled.

(Resort hotel along the lake shore)

(Rowing boat cutting through the calm water surface)

Slovenia is one of the small EU countries with about two million population.  With its close economic and social tie to the former Austrian empire, Slovenia is better developed than other Balkan countries.  The French car marker, Renault, has a plant in Slovenia. You can find Renault cars everywhere in the country.  Automative export to EU forms an important part of the Slovenia economy.

Plitvice Lakes National Park, Croatia : beyond the beautiful natural scenery

The first sight of the Plitvice Lakes National Park was beautiful and peaceful.  Layers of water moisture from early morning rain partially covered up the forests around the lakes.  When we walked along the wooden path on the lake shore, we felt that we were inside a picturesque paradise.

The Plitvice Lakes National Park covers about 300 square meters of natural forests, waterfalls and 16 lakes.  The park sits on the limestone area and forms the unique karst landscape. 

(Sign board at the entrance to the national park)

The 12 upper lakes are bigger in size and the 4 lower lakes are more picturesque.  The river Plitvica flows into the water system and creates the lake water fall (Veliki Slap).  Dissolved calcium carbonate turns water into milky white and forms the tufa sedimentation in the lower lakes.  With abundant water around, flora and fauna grow densely around the lakes and hill slopes.  There are many trouts in the lakes with ducks swimming around. 

(The lake water fall, Veliki Slap)

(Plants growing in the waterfall)

(Trouts swimming in the lake)

(Calcium carbonate precipitation on the surfaces of fallen tree trucks turned them into marble white)

The Plitvice Lakes National Park was recognized as a world heritage by the UNESCO early in 1949.  Each year, it attracts hundreds of thousand visitors to see its natural beauty.  It is now one of the major tourist destinations in Croatia and Eastern Europe.  Tourism business is important to the local economy.

If you look at the map, you will find the Plitvice Lakes are in vicinity to Bosnia-Herzegovina.  They are separated by few steep mountains.  

Before arriving the national park, we came through several villages along the road.  Many village houses were covered with bullet holes.  Few empty houses were lying idle among the villages.  Suddenly, this reminded us the bitter Balkan wars in the Ottoman - Hapsburg history and modern time.  The last crash just took place twenty years ago.  Local Serbs attempted to clean out their fellow Croats.  Ethnic fighting had brought great hardship to the local communities and made damages to the national park.  The national park was able to recover its glory just ten years ago.

Pergamon Museum, Berlin : museum management challenges

This fall, my wife and I were in Berlin.  We took this opportunity to visit the Pergamon Museum in the Berlin Museum Island. 

(Exterior of the Pergamon Museum)

One of the major exhibits in the Pergamon Museum is the Pergamon Altar, which is also called the Zeus Altar.  The altar was presented as quasi reconstruction from the rubbles unearthed in Pergamon of north eastern Turkey. This unveils master pieces of Hellenic art to the modern world.  Pictures of the altar and its marble sculptures appear in many many books on ancient Greek mythology, art and architecture.

(Visitors seeing the quasi reconstructed Zeus Altar inside the museum)

The altar is decorated with beautiful marble statues featuring the battle of the Greek gods and the Titans.  Visitors can watch these statues and recall the interesting Greek myths of Zeus, Athena, Venus, Cupid and other Greek gods and giants.  These are very fine examples of the Greek art.



The altar was first unearthed by a German engineer, Carl Humann, in Turkey about 150 years ago.  It was then brought back to Berlin.  Historically, this represented the rise of the Prussian power in the nineteenth century.  It is interested to note that the altar was taken by the Russians after the defect of Germany in the second world war.   The altar was returned to Berlin after absence for ten years.

We had been to Pergamon last year.  Obviously, the Pergamon Altar was missed there.  Instead, we were much impressed by its hillside theatre.  If the altar was restored on site, the impact would be much greater.

(Ruins of the original site of the Pergamon Altar)



(The Pergamon theatre can host thousands of spectators)

The Pergamon Museum also has many treasured historical artifacts of the Ancient Near East, including the famous Ashtar gate of ancient Babylon.  Similarly, Germans excavated the historical ruins in Irag a century ago and then quasi reconstructed them in Berlin. 

(Part of the Ashtar Gate)

(Reconstructed wall with its original bricks)

(Imaginary creature only found in Babylon - animal with snake head)

The collections of the Pergamon Museum are very impressive and of great historical values.  However, it still face many common museum management challenges.  It is an academic debate that whether such quasi reconstructions properly reflect their original forms.  These artifacts could be more meaningfully displayed in their original sites.  The legitimacy of the foreign hosts keeping these artifacts.