Tam Eastley explores one of Berlin’s most fascinating parks…
In the immortal words of a close friend, “Treptower Park is full of treasures.” But the first time I went five years ago, I didn’t venture more than a couple hundred metres past the S Bahn exit.
I lay on the grass among the cement ping pong tables, the 20-somethings chilling on blankets, Berlin-style with a case of beer, and away from the grills spewing their grey meat-scented smoke.
I was happy with my little spot near the canal, and I had no idea that on either side of me, stretching for four kilometres in one direction (depending on whether or not you count Plänterwald) and one kilometre in the other, was, in my opinion, Berlin’s best and most entertaining park.
Depending on which end Treptower Park is entered, one’s impression of it will be vastly different. The southern most side is outside of the ring, covered in leafy, overgrown forest, and with no obvious entrance. Busses shuttle Berliners living out near Schöneweide and Baumschulenweg directly up through the middle of the park along Pushkinallee (named after the famous Russian poet), to S Bahn Treptower Park, at the northern end. Emerging from the S Bahn is how most people first experience former East Berlin’s weekend playground.
Treptower Park is part of the larger borough of Treptow-Köpenick. The park dates back to the end of the 18th century, when the area it now stands on was partially cleared of a forest. Treptower Park was born, and in 1896, the Berlin Industrial Expo took place on the land, which spurred industry and development and heavily influenced the surrounding areas. The park runs along the Spree, Berlin’s famous and loveable river, however, back during the time of Berlin’s separation, parts of the Spree were border areas instead, and like everything else in Berlin, there’s a memorial to this side of the city’s dark history.
Just past the Elsenbrücke, the bridge beside the park that the S Bahn so picturesquely runs along, stands the “Molecule Man,” which commemorates the reunification of Berlin’s neighbourhoods along this formerly dangerous strip of river. The 30 meter high metallic statue of three men who face each other with hands joined in the middle, is by the American artist Jonathan Borofsky, and has been standing in the middle of the river since 1997. According to Borofsky, the statues, which are each spotted with holes, represent “the molecules of all human beings coming together to create our existence.”
Walking along the Spree, the quirkines…