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Article and photos:ArchitectRussia Vu
To summarize the history throughout the period from the middle ages and ancient times to the present of a nation; to help visualize and inspire visitors about the culture of that nation has never been an easy task, especially when it is the Jewish nation, a nation without a homeland, always rejected but with a persistent vitality and a strong and everlasting cultural identity.
The Jewish Museum Berlin consists of two buildings. The old building (also known as Kollegienhaus) was built in the Barrock architectural style by architect Phillip Gerlach in the 18th century, and is now the entrance hall, ticket office, luggage storage, souvenir shop... and special themed exhibition area. The new building, the main exhibition area of the museum, was designed by architect Daniel Libeskind in the Deconstructivist style in 1989, but it was not until 2001 that the Jewish Museum Berlin officially opened to visitors. At first glance, the old building with its typical European architecture may make you feel warmer and more welcoming, but the new building by Daniel Libeskind is truly impressive and gives you many surprises. You will gradually feel that in both the museum language and the architectural language as soon as you enter the exhibition area.
Basement: A Quick Slice of History
The entrance hall's basement entrance leads you to the first exhibition area. On this floor, Daniel Libeskind designed the floor plan from three overlapping lines to form three main exhibition axes: the axis of continuity (Achse der Kontinuität), the axis of exile (Achse des Exils), and the axis of the Holocaust (Achse des Holocaust). The exhibition space is condensed, according to each theme along the three axes, like a visitor walking on seven-mile boots to quickly visit nearly two thousand years of Jewish history in Germany. The end of each axis is a deliberate stopping point or next point. At the end of the Achse der Kontinuität is the staircase leading to the upper exhibition floors, at the end of the Achse des Exils visitors will find the Garden of Exile (Garten des Exils) and at the end of the Achse des Holocaust is the Holocaust Tower (Turm des Holocaust).
The Garden of Exile is the only roofless space in the basement. Here, 49 square, gray concrete columns, 6 meters high, stand straight up against the inclined walkway. The number 49 is taken from 7 times 7, a sacred number in the Jewish faith. Willow trees, a symbol of Jewish freedom and hope, are planted on each concrete column, and in early summer, these plants bloom with tiny flowers like small stars, emitting a light fragrance, so that visitors lucky enough to catch a few of the stars resting on them can relax and feel at peace.
Standing among the heavy, cold, and towering gray columns, you will see the views cut off, the sky becomes smaller even though the sky above is still green with leaves and blue. The slope below your feet gives you the illusion of being unsteady, precarious, and the columns seem to be drifting and colliding with each other. The architect intended to take sacred soil from Jerusalem to level the ground into an inclined plane at the foot of the columns, but this idea encountered many obstacles and could not be implemented. In the middle of this garden, if you close your eyes, you will briefly see images, floating dreams, heavy blocks of nightmares and the cruel reality that once flashed through the eyes of little Anne Frank when she hid in the house behind her father's company for nearly two years...
Following the museum's instructions, leaving the basement, you will not go to the ground floor or the first floor but go through the grand staircase straight to the second floor (the highest floor of the museum) and then slowly go down. From here, you will follow the time thread back to the Middle Ages and gradually come to the present.
Floor Two – The Formation of Jewish Culture, the Struggle for Survival
The entire second floor depicts Jewish life and culture from the Middle Ages to before World War II. Between the two minimalist black and white tones throughout the design concept, rich, culturally distinctive color blocks appear joyful, lively, and filled with light. The formation of Jewish culture is described from the exhibits taken from ancient life such as models of ancient houses, ovens, household items, costumes... to sacred objects such as pieces of leather with the Bible written on them, ancient Tora scrolls (Jewish Bible), Tefillin (leather ropes to tie hands and wear on the head when praying to commemorate the event of God liberating the Jews who were slaves under the yoke of slavery in Egypt)... The customs, habits, and religious rituals of the Jewish people are also meticulously described through paintings, models, statues, and stories... All are hung on or placed next to the display panels simulating the walls in the Synagogue (Jewish synagogue).
If you carefully follow the black dots and arrows under your feet, you will determine the chronology and content system for each exhibition area as well as throughout the entire museum. On the second floor, if you look closely, you will imagine the first difficult days of the Jews in a strange land. They lived mainly in poverty in the countryside until they had to urge civilization in their community, by focusing more on scientific research, astrology, philosophy, gradually changing the harsh laws to be more equal with women... then taking the opportunity to develop prosperity, to infiltrate and stand firmly in the aristocracy of one of the most powerful and conservative empires in Europe.
Following the museum's directions, continue down to the first floor and you will understand the causes that led to the outbreak of the large-scale Holocaust across Europe and how it took place.
Level 1 – The Struggle for Equality of Jews in German Society
On the first floor, the architectural materials and even the museum documents are more modern. In the exhibition space are impressionist paintings, modern sculptures, film photographs, printed books, a room with a piano and a Christmas tree... as we often see today. Exquisite silver and gold objects, massive models of churches, famous names of wealthy Jewish artists, thinkers and merchants appear more densely, showing that from the mid-18th century, the Jewish community lived more and more prosperously, had more power, which meant it was easier to exert a wider cultural influence.
The museum has a very clever display idea by creating a Kinderinzel (children's island) before the transition from the prosperous period of the Jewish people to the darkest period - the Holocaust. In this area, there are circular "multimedia islands" with cheerful colors for visitors to sit and relax. Each island has its own theme and is like a small encyclopedia that attracts children and adults. The children's island is like the last sunny days, allowing visitors to re-experience the warmest and happiest hours that are about to pass and prepare to face the most stormy and fierce events.
The Holocaust is the darkest part of the overall picture of Jewish history as well as the entire design concept of the Museum. However, since this museum is mainly to honor the Jewish people and culture, the Holocaust presentation in the museum uses a lot of metaphorical language and symbols, which are highly evocative and symbolic, instead of detailing numbers and publishing heartbreaking photos.
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Here, there is only a black wall marking and connecting the main historical milestones. The rest, almost nameless and very ordinary characters such as children, Jewish women, personal stories or stories of a family are highly respected by the Museum. Open the lid of a suitcase with the picture of a Jewish baby, you will read a letter that the little girl or boy was sent back by his or her father or mother with love, you will see a faded photo or even see a teddy bear that was once an inseparable friend of Jewish children in the past.
Closing the exhibition space on the first floor are the newly revived Jewish lives, of which there are now more than 100,000 living in German society. Here, they have been welcomed back and have found a way to continue to take root and rise again.
Ground Floor – The Void of Remembrance
In the museum, there is a single skylight that runs from the ground to the roof, called Leerstelle des Gedenkens (Void of Remembrance). Above is a dim, dimly lit and dark space like a closed tower, below the floor is covered with nearly 10,000 faces with different expressions, cast in thick iron designed by Menashe Kadishmann. The Holocaust is considered an unfillable void in German history. Each face represents a Jew who fell due to genocide. If visitors choose to walk on this floor, the faces will collide and make a loud rustling sound. This was the intention of the designer and the Museum, so that the Jewish souls who were once banished will be welcomed back and never be forgotten.
Conclusion and Remaining Thoughts
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Rarely does a museum have such a smart and unified architectural concept and museum arrangement. You will have to spend at least half a day to see the whole museum. The Jewish Museum Berlin is a typical example of a modern museum with high interaction with the audience. You will see that every corner of the museum contains a surprise and an interesting space, you can touch many artifacts, open them, close them, write your name in Hebrew and print it out, play games together, even crawl under the stairs to lie on a red mattress to watch TV or go through a tunnel...
But above all, the image that left the sweetest aftertaste in me was the pink pomegranates made of cardboard, on which visitors wrote their own wishes and hung them on a large pomegranate tree model. The pomegranate tree is a sacred fruit for the Jews, symbolizing prosperity and passion. On New Year's Day, Jews will eat a pomegranate and hope that the coming year will be as rich in good things as the pomegranate seeds.
Next to the LCD screens showing images of swaying leaves, next to the green fabric leaves that you can touch with your hands, the fake paper pomegranates with the random but very real wishes of many tourists from all over the world written in many languages made me touched and made me feel so small. Coming here, I left a message: Wishing for world peace!
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