We start the new year with a surprise, shooted just before the winter and still unrevealed. This building belong to the series of buildings that we cross by car o by tram and we never stop by and we actually don't know what's inside.
What I had as information was just that it was looking as DDR architecture (which is under Denkmalschutz - monument protection) and was still in use, but I never expected it to be so interesting and full of details.
The sport complex is on the way that goes from Lichtenberg to Weißensee on the Indira-Gandhi Strasse, not far from the Jewish Cemetery - the second largest one in Europe.
From the street zou can just see a small portion of the huge complex, but once inside, there are 35 different sport facilities.
It has been built in the 50's as a reaction to the division of the city, as long as the Olympiapark (full reportage here) was part of West Berlin (the replicas of facilities has been a common topic after the WWII in Berlin, including theaters, stadiums and also the zoo).
Which I've found very interesting and unexpected were the DDR decorations inside and outside the buildings, which are disappearing very fast day by day in Berlin due to restorations. DDR art, together with all the socialistic art, can maybe not be the most spectacular one from an aesthetic point of view, but I found it very distinguish - as well telling simple stories. Here for example the picture on one of the wall shows the construction of the stadium and the people from the NVA helping it.
Although the facitilites are still in use and others are closed to restoration, most of the decorations are original, as the low reliefs and the statues in the park.
Among other structures, there is also the original stadium of SC Dynamo Berlin, well known because it was a sports association of the Ministry of the Interior (STASI) and its chairman was Erich Mielke (dubbed, "The Master of Fear," - in German: der Meister der Angst by the West German press, he was one of the most powerful and most hated men in East Germany). Dynamo first played here, then they move to the Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark (today known as Mauerpark).
More infos: WIKI (german)
Map: https://goo.gl/maps/cbwSHcnfcTD2
All images are under CC Creative Commons (Attribution, Noncommercial, No Derivative Works), please refer to " darioj laganà | www.norte.it "
