 | Berlin Profile |
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| | With the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, Berlin was free - and in search of a new identity. As the former East/West citizenry poured through the Brandenburg Gate, the now united city revealed yawning gaps in cultural and financial wellness. In the East, the lovely Baroque boulevard, Unter den Linden, lined with restored architectural masterpieces, was passed daily by a deprived populace. In the West, the central Kurfurstendamm, crowded with modern structures of neon, glass and concrete, were inhabited by a people with places to go, things to do, money to make. Presently, the standards of living are slowly leveling and new city-planning is in full swing everywhere. | | At one time, Berlin was the magnificent capital of the Kings of Prussia. This relatively late blooming dynasty (having come into its own in the 18th and 19th centuries) established such treasures as the Brandenburg Gate, Charlottenburg Palace, Humboldt University, Staatsoper, Neue Synagoge and impressive museums. These achievements suggest fertile periods of cultural tolerance and financial posterity. | | And after the 45 year Cold War deep freeze, Berlin has been fated bold new opportunities. By constitutional decree, this magnificent city is once again capital of Germany. That the government commissioned the artist Cristo to wrap the imposing Reichstag like a giant present, attests to their foreseeing the subsequent unwrapping of the much anticipated, new Berlin. | |
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