coliseum at platz der deutschen einheit ( 2014 ).
it's time for some wiesbaden city impressions again! i know the city quite well by now, and sometimes i even feel like i have seen it all, that it has no surprises in store for me anymore, but the city proves me wrong everytime i decide to go for a walk. some places i haven't visited in forever, and those are exactly the ones that keep surprising me, because something changed about them, or i haven't bothered to check a neighborhood out more thoroughly. maybe my preferences and interests changed, too and suddenly i notice things that i otherwise wouldn't have before. maybe a mural finally started making sense to me, for example, or a house i have walked by a million times, suddenly registers in my brain as completely unique because i recognize a specific detail.
when you live longer in a city that can be easily explored ( i consider cities up to the 300.000 inhabitants mark easily explorabe ), you tend to take it for granted sometimes, even though it might be most unique to people outside visiting it. don't get me wrong, i don't think my city is boring or ugly, but sometimes i feel indifferent about it, probably a result of knowing it too well over time.
the coliseum on the intersection between inner city and the westend near schwalbacher straße is a fairly new addition to the urban landscape, realized by georg scheel wetzel architekten. it's used by the nearby elly-heuß-schule and by the VCW - wiesbaden's volley ball club. i am not really a sportive type, so this addition to the city isn't really something i will appreciate much in terms of using it, but i think i can still appreciate the architecture, right? there's also an office block attached to it, and some commercial spaces, so the building's not completely lost on me ;)
those clouds were really that dramatic when i began my walk, though they opened up and let through some warm sunshine eventually. i like the unequal arrangement of the windows on the office part of the building and also the varied colours of the dressed stone facade.
a bit further up the street is a mural that i first consciously perceived when i fell in love in 2018, it felt incredibly relevant back then. i actually wanted to take a photo of this everytime i passed it by during the short stint of time we had together, but never went through and then we separated again and i could no longer look at it without feeling remorse. about 8 months later i finally felt detached enough to be charmed by it again. i love how sensual and intertwined the bodies are, how full of love and comfort and tranquility it is.
the mural was painted in 2018 during an art festival by the belgian street artist bonom ( real name vincent glowinski ). he's called the belgian banksy in belgium, probably because he also creates quite controversial pieces, oftentimes in illegal places, but to me that basically seems to be all what they have in common. i wouldn't say his work is particularly shocking. it reminds me of cave paintings, subtle and soft and almost watered down in execution. it seems like it is of very small endurance, but it still manages to imprint itself in your head, difficult to get out. i hope it's gonna stay on that house wall for a little while longer, it adds a reminder to the environment that we all need an embrace sometimes, that we all need love, no matter how detached we are from it, or how looking at it makes you feel wistful.
nice brutalist staircase up towards some residential buildings.
the residential complex was probably constructed during the same time as the staircase, i assume around the 1980ies, judging from the plainness of the design elements. only the colour bonus turned it a little extra, as the playground suggests. taking photos of the complex was senseless, the trees were pretty much hiding everything. also, who wants to take photos in the middle of a place where people live and are able to see you taking photos? not me, i don't.
a random cute little blossom - pennywort. loves to grow on masonry.
the hessian administration for land managament and geo informations resides in this building, but there is no information about its origins anywhere whatsoever. how can such a big building that looks like it's about 100 years old exist without having any known facts released about it somewhere? strange.
not pondering about mysterious buildings anymore, but instead focussing on nice plants again! i love me some tamarisk bushes.
it's always so refreshing to stumble upon houses that don't look generic, that have a little extra oomph going on. there's some serious 80ies colour-blocking vibe going on here, which i love!
another house on the same street also sported these minimalist sculptures, reminding me a lot of bauhaus forms and figures ( maybe even the triadic ballet? ).
i didn't know i needed a curvy roof in my life! super into it! unfortunately i forgot where i spotted this little gem, maybe that should warrant another city walk though ;)
unter den eichen was once a media-related hub, and a kinda important ( at least to wiesbaden citizens ) one at that. it started out as a movie production company ( AFIFA & taunusfilm ) before it was made into the headquarters of the TV broadcast ZDF from 1964 to 1974. in germany we basically have two big public television broadcasters, ARD and ZDF and both are carrying a lot of culturally important weight. wiesbaden citizens still seem to be really proud of that little piece of history, even though our 'enemy city' mainz now calls dibs on being the headquarter and basically diminishes the importance a little and takes away the glamour of being a film city, lol. some of the buildings on the area are still intact, but they are mainly used by the rhein main university now and some smaller media companies. i had never explored that part more thoroughly so i was quite surprised when it turned out to be a really lovely place, adequately designed to be a university campus. it was really green and quiet and i spent quite some time there before moving on.
this piece of concrete looked like a bunker wall and it probably is a clue to another historic place on the premises: the kz unter den eichen. it was a really small concentration camp during world war 2, about 100 people were detained & condemned to work here.
on the campus i found a tiny little pond, which was truly a little piece of eden. water lilies in white and red were covering it and a single egyptian goose floated around on the water, curiously trying to figure out whether i had some breadcrumbs to eat for it.
can you spot the goose?
there it is ❤
eyeing me up carefully.
upon closer inspection, i really found the goose to be rather beautiful! i had never noticed their structured feather dress before and their red eyes struck me as incredibly unique! these birds are actually not native to germany at all ( as the name suggests ), but it seems that over time escapees have adapted to the local environment and now there are quite big populations here and even all over europe!
i really couldn't get enough of the water lilies. aren't overgrown ponds just the most perfect ethereal places on earth? they emit so much calmness and slowdown.
these water plant blossoms were super delicate - arrowheads they are called.
oh the lushness of this one made me weak.
an azure damselfly suddenly hovered by me and then the whole pond was filled with them!
they definitely were in procreation mode, y'all. i love when they do their little love wheels ❤
there were some really neat seatings on the grounds, actually quite perfect set-ups for photo shoots in my opinion. i may have taken a few quick self portraits along the way ^^;
i love stumbling on flamboyant stuff like this 😍
the publisher of medical tribune resides in this building - a professional journal for doctors, medics and everyone interested in health care. it's quite a modern building, and i have to assume that it got build between 1990 and the 2000s because there is no other info out there. it's at least way too contemporary to be a product of the 1980ies, which was my first thought, because it is super post-modern.
loved the cut-out bulleyes in the concrete.
the whole building was made out of slopes and round windows, at the same time it also wasn't too outrageously extravagant.
leaving the campus i crossed over the street to set foot into one of my all-time favourite spots in wiesbaden: the nordfriedhof - the best cemetery the city has to offer. it is such a wonderful location, full of the most poetic gravesites you can imagine, lots of nature around and in general it retains a park-like feeling. i love to visit in autumn mostly, but this time i happened to be nearby in early summer, and it's been equally as atmospheric and wonderful as per usual.
the cemetery was constructed in 1877 and is the second largest one in the city. you can find all kinds of historic and significant gravesites here, a lot of famous wiesbaden citizens were buried in this place.
the grave of the rühl family ( many of his descendants were town councils in wiesbaden ) for example is absolutely mesmerizing, the angel almost seems like a dark foreboding omen, despite her looking melancholic and soft.
so fucking intense she is. absolutely adore her ❤
every once in a while you find a little hidden gem that you haven't seen on any visits before! doesn't this guy look like a relict of celtic times? i know, the celts were not part of the wiesbaden history fabric, but a girl can dream, right?
the state of weathering on many of the gravestone sculptures makes me swoon everytime!
a lot of the gravesites were built at the turn of the 20th century, which was the era of art nouveau, neo-historic architecture. the cemetery is basically a treasure trove inspired by these art movements. the gravesite of the industrialist heinrich albert was erected in 1908 by architect johannes baader, who was a very illustrious contemporary of the time, a great follower of the dadaist movement. the memorial has lots of strange little details and embellishments that feel kinda off if you think about it.
it has a secret - an engraved pentagram on the ceiling. i am not sure if that was part of the original design or if somebody enchased it later on. i love a good little mystery! also, i feel like the iron work on the pillars is strangely untypical for even an art nouveau-style gravestone. it feels... a lot more organic than it should be, like it was inspired by a gaudí building.
say hi to my most favourite grave memorial on the cemetery, the fascinating pendant to the rühl graveyard from earlier, only it is a sitting young man this time. he is equally intensely staring into the void as his female counterpart, but there is something to him that shakes you up from within. probably the fact that he's SO FREAKING beautiful. what a doozy! he belongs to the grave of sigmund schuckert, an electrical engineer originally from nuremberg. he died in wiesbaden during a cure stay because of nervous exhaustion.
of course i couldn't just stroll through a cemetery in summer without at least taking a few flower pictures, right? rhododendron bushes can be found in masses all over the place.
and also these sweet beings - which i couldn't find out what they were.
i discovered an utterly gorgeous grave, that of dr. ulrich bartling, which was basically a contemporary minimal concrete cube with a mid-century sculpture on top ( that already had the perfect amount of weathering going on ). ulrich bartling seems to have been a descendant of a pretty influential wiesbaden family ( which erected an even bigger gravesite on a different plot of the cemetery ). i couldnt't find much else on him or that grave in particular, but i reckon it's a repurposed grave.
i LOVED the tiny baby spruce in the crook of his arm, and also the rose tugged into his hand ❤
his facial features were only suggested, which was another detail i liked. the moss growing over him endorsed the all natural aura about him.
when i shot him in this angle i first didn't notice the dead mouse on his lap. would you? it just appeared in my field of vision when i sat down beneath him, checking him out without the viewfinder of a camera.
the discovery of the mouse completely took me by surprise, especially with the way it was laid out in his lap, cradled like a little treasure. i wondered if the mouse was carried here by someone or something, or if it chose to die there, because it was so warm and protected? either way, what an incredibly moving coincidence in such a perfect little spot.
i am sorry to those who don't like to see dead animals, but since i am rather curious and love to see things more up close, and since this little mouse was so peacefully resting in its last space on earth, i really had to get a detail shot. it looked so pristine, almost like it was sleeping...
not far away from the mouse and its protector these women were guarding the grave plot. their elegance is really striking.
the family of influential businessman & politician eduard bartling ( probably ancestors of the aforementioned doctor ) had commissioned one of the most elaborate and iconic grave memorials in 1905 by the sculptor ernst herter, and it's easily the figurehead of the whole cemetery! you can find it near the main entrance of the graveyard, forming a haunting introduction to the site. it depicts death ( with an hour glass ) and a young couple who seem to have to part from each other. i wonder if all three might also be symbolic for god, eve and adam, because quite frankly, why would you stand in front of death almost naked? the hammer in the man's hand probably is also symbolic for something, though i can't really make a connection as to why? both man and woman also don't look like they are on the verge of death, rather too young instead. the man looks like he's just got to do a little task and has to leave her for a little while, though the woman urges him to stay ( probably sensing that something about this departure might be off ).
it's a rather sugarcoated sculpture group, the bodies being a little too ideal and too perfect. while it's super beautiful to look at, i still question the intention behind it, as eduard bartling clearly wasn't a young man anymore when he died. maybe he just wanted to leave a reminder to his descendants that they may use their time wisely, because death is always waiting with an hourglass and not only when you are old, but also young?
bartling's wife, marie bartling, nee neuhaus, is memorialized on the burial vault as well ( eduard's picture is on the other side of the structure ). she also wasn't that young anymore when she died.
the whole vault breathes an air of art nouveau ( of course, it was erected in 1905 already ), though the badges were probably made later, i mean, art nouveau was already not trendy anymore by the time both of these people said goodbye to the earth.
aaaand a close-up of the exquisite work. herter really was a master in his field!
while i could've spent some more time at the cemetery, i still decided to return back home. i don't know where i stumbled upon this structure, but i'm guessing it was still on the grounds of the cemetery. or maybe already outside on my way home? i really can't remember. it looks like it's a little learning tool for getting to know various leaves of trees. i do love playful things like this stuff!
back in the city i passed by a new addition to the landscape: built in 2018/2019 these 'exclusive' condos were squeezed inbetween ( formerly ) rather tatty corners of the city. the architect was magnus kaminiarz, who is not active anymore, as he died in april 2019.
new versus old. i loved the 1960ies/1970ies (?) staircase windows in the back!
and that was the last one ( yeah, i love to end these posts on a pretty unspectacular level, lol ).
what did we learn again? that sometimes it's just nice to get a reminder or wake-up call - that wiesbaden can still charm the wits out of me, even if it does it via details only, not via the grand landmarks. and i think it also helps if you go to districts that you rarely explore, maybe even ones that you previously thought would be plain and residential only. treading through back-alleys and outer districts almost always offers something special, something charming, it might even be where the city's heart and bones lie.
keep staying curious, you never know what greets you around the corner!
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