Kaiser Wilhelm II (1859\u20131941), who visited several places in the Near East during his famous trip in 1898, including Damascus, Jerusalem, and Constantinople, was an admirer of ancient Near Eastern archaeology and history. The Kaiser\u2019s interest was not only research-related but also related to the imperialistic and colonialist ambitions of the German Reich, which was in competition, at the time, with the two great European imperialist powers, Great Britain and France.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 1898, the Deutsche Orient-Gesellschaft<\/em> (DOG) was founded by (amongst others) the Berliner art patron and cotton trader James Simon (1851\u20131932) and Bruno G\u00fcterbock (1858\u20131940), a private scholar and donor of the K\u00f6nigliche Museen zu Berlin<\/em>. The DOG was the successor of the so-called Orient-Comit\u00e9<\/em>. The Comit\u00e9 <\/em>was originally founded to investigate the \u201eTr\u00fcmmerst\u00e4dte\u201d of the Ancient Near East. The DOG was founded to finance German archaeological expeditions and excavations in the Near East and to lend the discovered and exported archaeological findings to the Vorderasiatische Abteilung<\/em> of the K\u00f6nigliche Museen zu Berlin<\/em>. The DOG was supported, financially and politically, by Kaiser Wilhelm II.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Through the efforts of James Simon, the DOG and the K\u00f6nigliche Museen zu Berlin <\/em>(later Staatliche Museen zu Berlin<\/em>), the first German archaeological expedition in the Near East began at Babylon in 1897. The two members of this survey were the architect and building researcher Robert Koldewey (1855\u20131925) and the orientalist Eduard Sachau (1845\u20131930). The survey was followed by extensive excavations, conducted by Robert Koldewey, at the same place from 1899 up to 1917. The main goal of this archaeological fieldwork was the discovery of ancient architectural remains and works of ancient art that could be brought to Berlin and presented at the Vorderasiatische Abteilung<\/em> of the K\u00f6nigliche Museen zu Berlin<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n From the very beginning of this archaeological expedition, one focus of the archaeological fieldwork at Babylon was the characteristically colorful- and beautifully glazed bricks found (amongst other findspots) at the Ishtar Gate, the Processional Way, and the throne room fa\u00e7ade of the so-called S\u00fcdburg<\/em>. More than half of the archaeological finds at Babylon were fragments of glazed bricks. Most of them were dated to the reign of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar (604\u2013562 BCE).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once the excavations at Babylon had gotten underway, the DOG published the first graphic reconstructions of the ornamented glazed-brick fa\u00e7ades (e.g., lions, and floral adornments). Little by little, the facades of the Ishtar Gate, the Processional Way, and the throne room fa\u00e7ade of the S\u00fcdburg <\/em>could be reconstructed. This publication made a huge impact on the interested public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Around 1900 the Swedish architect Alfred Grenander (1863\u20131931), based in Berlin, was commissioned by the Gesellschaft f\u00fcr elektrische Hoch- und Untergrundbahnen in Berlin <\/em>to design train stations for the Berlin U-Bahn<\/em>. Famous examples for his architectural work on Berlin train stations are the U-Bahnhof Wittenbergplatz <\/em>(1910\u20131913), the U-Bahnhof Krumme Lanke <\/em>(1927\/1928), and the U-Bahnhof Alexanderplatz <\/em>(1927\u20131931). He also designed the U-Bahnhof Klosterstra\u00dfe <\/em>in Berlin-Mitte, which was opened in 1913. It was built in 1911\u20131913 and contained a mezzanine, which was necessary because of the station\u2019s relatively deep location in the vicinity of the river Spree<\/em>. For the walls of this mezzanine, Grenander designed a special polychrome decoration, consisting of glazed tiles. The glazed tiles, dominated by the colors blue and yellow, depict stylized palm trees. The walls of the southern part of the mezzanine have in total 38 palms on several walls with double volutes at their top ends (see Fig. 1), while the northern part of the mezzanine includes only seven palms on one wall (see Fig. 2). The double volutes are colored turquoise; the trunks of the stylized palms are depicted in yellow, while the background is kept in blue (see Fig. 3). The seven palms at the northern mezzanine are less decorated: the double volutes are grey and the palm trunks are executed in pale yellow. These wall decorations refer directly back to the graphic reconstructions of the ornamented glazed-brick fa\u00e7ade of the throne room of the Babylonian S\u00fcdburg<\/em>, which were published by the DOG.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n The concrete reason why the U-Bahnhof Klosterstra\u00dfe<\/em> was decorated in this way is not known. Some authors have argued that the decoration of this train station was based on its relative proximity to the Museumsinsel<\/em>, where the Vorderasiatische Abteilung<\/em> at the K\u00f6nigliche Museen zu Berlin<\/em> was located. Other authors argue that, as an influential founder of the DOG and important financer of the K\u00f6nigliche Museen zu Berlin<\/em>, James Simon had his company seat at Klosterstra\u00dfe 80\u201382, which led to the special decoration of the train station. This assumption is supported by a recent information table at the train station, on which Simon\u00b4s company seat is specified as Klosterstra\u00dfe 80\u201382 (see Fig. 4). According to this view, the station\u2019s decoration is a homage to Simon\u2019s accomplishments at the Vorderasiatische Abteilung <\/em>at the K\u00f6nigliche Museen zu Berlin<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n While the reconstruction of the throne room fa\u00e7ade at the Vorderasiatisches Museum <\/em>in the Pergamonmuseum<\/em> was not finished and presented to the public before the grand opening of the museum in 1930, the glazed tiles with the \u201cBabylonische Palmen\u201d motif at the U-Bahnhof Klosterstra\u00dfe<\/em> was the first reconstruction attempt, presented to the train-using Berlin public, almost 20 years earlier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Partial Bibliography:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n S. Bohle-Heintzenberg, Architektur der Berliner Hoch- und Untergrundbahn. Planungen. Entw\u00fcrfe. Bauten bis 1930 (Berlin 1980)<\/p>\n\n\n\n C. Brachmann \u2013 T. Steigenberger, \u00bbSvensk arkitektur och m\u00f6belkonst i Tyskland\u00ab. Das Werk Alfred Grenanders (1863\u20131931), in: C. Brachmann \u2013 T. Steigenberger (Hrsg.), Ein Schwede in Berlin. Der Architekt und Designer Alfred Grenander und die Berliner Architektur (1890-1914) (Korb 2010), 27\u2013152<\/p>\n\n\n\n H. Gries, Das Ischtar-Tor von Babylon. Vom Fragment zum Monument (Regensburg 2022)<\/p>\n\n\n\n P. G\u00fcttler, Liste der U-Bahn-Bauten vor 1945, in: Architekten- und Ingenieur-Verein zu Berlin (Hrsg.), Berlin und seine Bauten. Teil X. Band B. Analgen und Bauten f\u00fcr den Verkehr (1). St\u00e4dtischer Nahverkehr (Berlin \u2013 M\u00fcnchen \u2013 D\u00fcsseldorf 1979), 100\u2013146<\/p>\n\n\n\n R. Koldewey, Die K\u00f6nigsburgen von Babylon. 1. Teil. Die S\u00fcdburg (Leipzig 1931)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Landesdenkmalamt Berlin (Hrsg.), Berliner U-Bahnh\u00f6fe zwischen Krumme Lanke und Vinetastra\u00dfe (Berlin 1996)<\/p>\n\n\n\n O. Matthes \u2013 J. Althoff, Die \u2018K\u00f6nigliche Kommission zur Erforschung der Euphrat- und Tigrisl\u00e4nder\u2018, MDOG 130, 1998, 241\u2013254<\/p>\n\n\n\n O. Peders\u00e9n, The Glazed Bricks that Ornamented Babylon. A Short Overview, in: A F\u00fcgert \u2013 H. Gries (Hrsg.), Glazed Brick Decoration in the Ancient Near East. Proceedings of a Workshop at the 11th International Congress of the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East (Munich) in April 2018 (Oxford 2020), 96\u2013122<\/p>\n\n\n\n J. Renger, Die Geschichte der Altorientalistik und der vorderasiatischen Arch\u00e4ologie in Berlin von 1875 bis 1945, in: W. Arenh\u00f6vel \u2013 C. Schreiber (Hrsg.), Berlin und die Antike. Architektur. Kunstgewerbe. Malerei. Skulptur. Theater und Wissenschaft vom 16. Jahrhundert bis heute. Aufs\u00e4tze (Berlin 1979), 151\u2013192<\/p>\n\n\n\n R.-B. Wartke \u2013 M. Wartke, Mit der U-Bahn durch Babylon, AW 6, 2010, 33\u201336<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 21.02.2023 by Benjamin Scheel In this blog post, I would like to look at an example of the reception of ancient Near Eastern art in twentieth-century Berlin. In Germany at the turn from the 19th to the 20th century AD, there was a huge fascination with the history and cultures of the ancient Near East. … \u201eThe \u201eBabylonische Palmen\u201c at the U-Bahnhof Klosterstra\u00dfe in Berlin-Mitte\u201c<\/span> weiterlesen<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1825,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-allgemein"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.fu-berlin.de\/knowtheancients\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.fu-berlin.de\/knowtheancients\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.fu-berlin.de\/knowtheancients\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.fu-berlin.de\/knowtheancients\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1825"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.fu-berlin.de\/knowtheancients\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.fu-berlin.de\/knowtheancients\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":122,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.fu-berlin.de\/knowtheancients\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118\/revisions\/122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.fu-berlin.de\/knowtheancients\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.fu-berlin.de\/knowtheancients\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.fu-berlin.de\/knowtheancients\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.fu-berlin.de\/babylonianmedicine\/files\/2023\/02\/Bild1.jpg\")
<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>