Berlin: The Gay Districts: Kreuzberg – Martin-Gropius-Bau

Martin-Gropius building is the most important exhibition hall in Berlin.The imposing museum was built after the plans of Martin Gropius and Heino Schmieden in 1881.
Originally it was conceived to be a museum of crafts. It was erected in the style of an Italian renaissance building and contains an impressing atrium, which is the centre of the exhibition.
Mosaics with allegories of all times and emblems of German towns decorate the spaces between the windows. After the First World War the building housed the prehistoric museum and the East Asian art collections. In the last weeks of the Second World War bombs hit the building.
Its reconstruction started in 1978. In 1966 it was placed under a preservation order.
A further restoration took place in 1999 and 2000 before the millennium exhibition "Sieben Hügel" was displayed. Today the Martin-Gropius-Bau is the setting of many temporary exhibitions of international rank.

One of the places I have been working during my staying in Berlin. The Martin-Gropius-Bau was the main venue for the European Film Market.