Nuremberg!

I think everyone was excited to see the Bauhaus today. We talked abut it so much in class, I was glad to finally be able to see it in person. The Bauhaus is located in Dessau about two hours from Berlin, in the country. Walter Gropius designed the school and it was funded by the state, but as part of the deal he also had to build houses for the city. The school opened as a school for design, it had a wood shop, studios, and production areas. At this time Marcel Breuer was commissioned to design all the furniture, and became a teacher at only 23 years old. I loved how simple all the designs were, everything was built exactly how you needed it to function, nothing extra. Gropius also designed Master Houses for the other teachers that taught at the school, that the state decided were famous enough to get their own house, Breuer was not one of those people. Breuer and a few other teachers resided in eight of the twenty student dorms, and apparently many marriages came out of this.

The school was only open about six years before  the Nazi's were elected and took over the school, and turned it into a youth center and a school for math and science. The women that attended were only taught domestic duties, which went against Gropius's idea of equality. The building was then painted with camoflauge in order to try to prevent bombings, but were bombed anyway. Later the wall of glass that was damaged was just bricked over, and left. On the Bauhaus 50th anniversary they began to restore it, and today it is almost exactly as it was when it was originally built.

 I love the color detail on the stairs

 View from acrros the bridge, you can see straight through to the other side of the building.

 Marcel Breuer Chair: $1,800

 Kartoffelsuppe mit Wurstchen (Potatoe soup with meat)

 Master House

After a 4 hour drive we arrived in Nuremberg, a quaint little town, and went exploring. We ate dinner on the river front, and did some people watching. I am not sure what was going on this weekend, but we saw 8 different bachelor/bachelorette party groups. We visited a view churches, and then we hiked up a steep little street to the castle, and then walked up the castle, and were amazed by the view.