Berlin U-Bahn Illustrated | Opera Gallery Deutsche Oper
đ Stepping off the U-Bahn at Deutsche Oper, your heart filled with anticipation for âThe Magic Flute,â youâre suddenly immersed in a visual feast amidst the emerald green cast-iron pillars. Cobalt blue and ochre red intertwine in abstract totems that flow across the glazed surfaces, geometric lines slicing and dicing into contours that resemble both humans and musical notes. Olive green occasionally dances, echoing the steel columns. Ascending the stairs, youâre delighted to find the names of your beloved composers adorning the passageway to the exit: Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Verdi⌠Before even setting foot in the theater, itâs as if you can already hear the Queen of the Nightâs coloratura. đ This station, opened in 1906, carries the memory of Berlinâs initial rail transport. Originally named âBis/marckstraĂe,â architect Alfred Grenander imbued the space with the classic charm of early 20th-century industrial aesthetics through elegant cast-iron pillars and continuous arches. However, the station, like its neighbors, has had a tumultuous history: WWII bombs nearly destroyed the entire neighborhood, and the original Deutsche Oper was burned and rendered unusable. It wasnât until the new theater was completed in 1961 that the station was renamed Deutsche Oper. đźď¸ Apart from the ravages of war, a train carriage fire in the new millennium also brought devastating damage to the station. After a year of restoration, the station was renewed and reopened. Perhaps itâs because of this history that Portugal chose to gift the station with a tile mural by the famous artist JosĂŠ de GuimarĂŁes as a token of gratitude for Germanyâs aid during the Lisbon fire of 1988. Disasters leave scars, but itâs the hands that clasp tightly in times of adversity that are truly worth remembering. đ¨ On the gray walls, the wild tension of African primitive art and the clean lines of European modernism collide. As a train pulls in, the airflow lifts your opera flyer. For a moment, a blue arc on the mural aligns perfectly with the moon as the Queen of the Night descends, and you finally understand why this station never takes a curtain callâwhen the roar of machinery and the glint of artistic enamel intertwine underground, Berliners have their symphony to shatter the mundane. #Berlin #berlin #Germany #aestheticaccumulation #eurotravels #subway #opera #mozart #coloraesthetics #spatialaesthetics