Berlin's Beautiful Pergamon Museum

If you ever find yourself in Berlin, a definite must see is the famous Pergamon Museum built from 1910 and opened in 1930 it is located on Museum Island in Berlin which houses five large museums that are worth a visit. When you walk into the Pergamon you enter into the classical antiquities department and the first and largest exhibit is the Zeus Altar (180-160 BC). The altar is so large that it has a huge room all to itself and it the first row of a reassembled acropolis (ancient Greek religious temple) with an amazing frieze (sculpted band) around the base. The frieze depicts the battle between the Olympian gods against the Titans which is called Giantomachy, which the many gods led by Zeus won. Directly after the Zeus Altar you move onto the massive and gorgeous Market Gate of Miletus the entrance way to an ancient mall in Miletus, which was a Greek colony then Roman city in what is modern day western Turkey along the Aegean coast. The gate was destroyed during a earthquake in 1100 AD and was reassembled bit by bit in the Pergamon. The Altar and Market gate took twenty years to assemble and the department holds many impressive sculptures from many Greek and Roman cities of that era. The Near East Museum contains one of the largest collections anywhere of antiquities from ancient Babylonia, Persia, and Assyria. Among the exhibits is the Processional Way of Babylon with the Ishtar Gate, dating from 580 BC, and the throne hall of King Nebuchadnezzar II (604 - 562 BC). Cuneiform clay tablets document a civilization that created ceramics, glass, and metal objects while Europe was still overrun with primitive tribes. In the south wing of the museum is the Museum of Islamic Art, featuring miniatures, carpets, woodcarvings and illuminated manuscripts. The museum provides an excellent 30-minute, English-language recorded tour, which you can pick up at the entrance.

Entrance to Museum Island with Berlin Cathedral and the famous TV tower in the background

Approaching the Pergamon Museum 

Pergamon Entrance

 

The Zeus Altar

Ancient Greek Statue

Giantomachy Battle, Zues leading the Gods in a battle against the Giants

 Athena holding some poor blokes head, I'm sure it did not turn out well for him

Perfect Mosaic floor

 Columns that show how high the structures were in Ancient times

The Market Gate of Miletus 

More ancient greek and roman statuary and columns

The Ishtar Gate

 Kings Procession Hall of the Ishtar Gate

 One side of the walls of the Procession hall of the Ishtar Gate

 More of the wall of the procession hall of the Ishtar Gate

 

Video of the room containing the Market Place of Miletus

Video of the Zeus Altar

Schwarzrosagold means Fashion in Berlin

Check out my favorite Berlin Blog;

SCHWARZROSAGOLD - (BlackPinkGold)

The new SPARTACUS INTERNATIONAL GAY GUIDE Cover Model Eliad came all the way from Tel Aviv to Berlin to the international Tourism Fair International the ITB. He draws a lot of attention, especially when he wears his SCHWARZROSAGOLD BERLIN-SHIRT in Hebrew. Let’s hope he will do so as well on his whole trip through Berlin!

Thank you Eliad!

Don't forget to buy BERLIN clothes are amazing and

 to easy to buy in English and Hebrew click here

Guerilla Marketing in Berlin this Easter Weekend

Guten Tag from the Boy Butter World Tour! We are in Berlin over the Easter weekend and this is a very popular gay locale to visit all year long. The largest and most historic gayborhood, Schoneberg is the area around Nollendorfplatz has been a centre of gay life in Berlin since the 1920s and early 1930s during the Weimar Republic. One historic gay club called, The Eldorado Night Club on Motzstraße was closed down by the Nazis on coming to power in 1933. Large gay crowds from all over the world flock to Berlin over this holiday and if there are enough gay eyes in a city, I will invariably begin to hanging Boy Butter posters around the ghetto. This is a beautiful time to visit Germany, the weather is perfect, the bars are full, the beer is plentiful and Boy Butter samples are flying all over the place. If anyone is not here for Easter fear not, Folsom Street East in September will be great and I plan on having a booth at the street festival.

Boy Butter posters along Motzstrasse 

Boy Butter Extreme poster

Another Boy Butter Extreme poster

 Justin is selling the heck out of the Boy Butter.

A leather man walking by my poster, maybe he saw it.

Bonn, a jewel along the Rhine

Brendan's brother, sister-in-law and their two cute children live in Bonn and we had the pleasure of visiting them and this pretty little town for a few days as we travel around Germany. Bonn was the former capital of the Federal Republic of Germany (previously, West Germany) and lies on the river Rhine some 20 km south of Cologne. Bonn is best known culturally as the birthplace of Ludwig van Beethoven with a population is a around 315,000. Bonn's beginning dates between 13 - 9 BC when Romans began building roads, bridges, and fortresses at a location known as "Bonna." One well-documented event was the martyrdom of two Thebaean legionaries, Cassius and Florentius. The Thebaean Legion was an all Christian legion, which refused to worship the Roman emperor as a god. As punishment, the Thebaean Legionnaires were executed in St. Mortiz in Switzerland and buried in Bonn and at the location of the present-day Münster basilica, which was built on top of the burial site and Cassius and Florentius became the town's patron saints. Two huge statues of decapitated heads lie in the courtyard in front of the bascillica as a memorial of these martyred saints. In December 1770 Bonn's most famous son, Ludwig van Beethoven, was born on Bonngasse Street and this fact is well advertised by the city. There are also tons of museums to visit, though a number of them are German language only, so prepared to not have much explanation of the exhibits. Luckily we had two beautiful little tour guides, Emmy and little Terry, Brendan's niece and nephew respectively. They live in the center of Bonn next to the University and town center.

University of Bonn

Emmy being silly in front of the University.

Beethoven Museum, site of his birth and early years

Some Beethoven graffiti in front of his museum

Bonn's Natural History Museum

 

Terry standing next to a snail from 60 million years ago,

this snail could have fed a small French town today.

Lifelike action taxidermy at the Bonn Natural History Museum

A beautiful field of flowers at a park along the Rhine river.

 

Munster Bascillica

 

Courtyard of the Munster Basilica with the statues representing the patron saints who were martyred there during Roman rule

An old aqueduct along the old city border in Bonn

Happy Passover 2011

The High Speed Train in Spain Goes Mainly Through The Plain

From Sants Estacion in Barcelona we booked tickets on the high speed train from Barcelona to Spain's beautiful capital, Madrid. The Alta Velocidad Española or Spanish High Speed is a service of high-speed trains operating at speeds of up to 300 km/h (186 mph) on dedicated track in Spain. Normally I would fly from Barcelona to Madrid in under an hour, but this train arrives in under 3 hours and you get to view the goregous Spanish countryside the whole way. It is comfortable, spacious, and a fun way to travel, plus it drops you right into the center of the city so it seems a bit more efficient and slightly cheaper than flying. Once you arrive in Madrid you are in a big beautiful city which is the hub and heart of the Spanish speaking world. Beautiful neo classical buildings, museums and landmarks dot much of the center of the city which is alive with a hearty mix of locals and tourists. Whether you want to wander around the legendary Prado Museam with the wall to wall classical art, statuary, and other exhibits or wander through the green and lush Park of Madrid, there is always something to do or see. I always make sure to visit the Chueca neighborhood is the biggest and best Gayborhood in all of Europe today with great nightlife of many clubs and bars, retail stores and just plenty of places to enjoy some Spanish food and wine. 

Fotos

AVE or High Speed Train in Spain

Parked High Speed Train in Madrid upon Arrival

Standard cruising speed 301 km/h or 187 mph, not bad

Biblioteca Nacional or National Library

Casa de America or House of America

Front entrance to Museo Prado

Back of Prado Museum

The Three Graces at the Prado

Brendan at the Park of Madrid or Parque de Madrid

Fountain at Parque de Madrid

13th Century Royalty in Spain

El Rey Ataulfo or King Ataulfo, a 5th century Spanish ruler

El Rey Eurico or King Eurico, a 5th century ruler

El Rey de Mantequilla or The King of Butter, present day

Palacio Real desde jadrin Sabatini or Royal Palace from Garden of Sabatini

Estoy enfrente de Palacio Real, Me in front of the Royal Palace

Catedral Nacional or National Cathedral

 St. Paul the father of Christianity

St Peter or Christianity's holder of the keys to the gates of Heaven

Office of Foreign Business Affairs

Brendan in Plaza Mayor

Church outside Parque de Madrid or Madrid Park

Fountain in the smaller Plaza de Espana 

360 of Plaza Mayor

Michael Lucas Demands Gay Anti-Israel Apartheid Stop Using His Images

World Famous Gay Adult Film Producer Michael Lucas of NYC is demanding that the political group Queers Against Israeli Apartheid stop using images from his Men of Israel shot in Israel on anti-Israeli propaganda at Gay Pride Events. 

The signs were carried by protesters during a Gay Pride event in Toronto and used an image from Lucas Entertainment film Men of Israel. The signs used the copyrighted image to wrongly and misguidedly portray Israel as an "apartheid" state.

"I was really amused to see this enigmatic picture from my film Men of Israel on the poster of anti-Israel demonstrators," says Lucas. "I am happy that this series of bestselling movies, including Men of Israel, has made them mad, because it shows Israel just the way it is, a joyous and beautiful safe haven for LGBT people. That is the reality of Israel. Obviously that is not how Queers Against Israeli Apartheid would like to see Israel portrayed."

The full article