Großsiedlung Britz and Museumsinsel

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Großsiedlung Britz

   From above, the Hufeisensiedlung, the Horseshoe Estate, looks like a giant horseshoe wrapped around a pond, and from the ground it looks like something rarer, a housing project that people actually love. It was designed by Bruno Taut and Martin Wagner between 1925 and 1930 for a cooperative, as part of the effort in Weimar-era Berlin to give working families light, air and gardens instead of the dark tenements of the nineteenth century. Rows of low terraced houses with their own small gardens curve around a central green, and the façades are painted in strong colours, notably a long blue wall. It is one of six Berlin housing estates that UNESCO listed together in 2008 as examples of modern housing reform.

   Read the complete Großsiedlung Britz write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Großsiedlung Britz is where the day begins. Next is Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf.

2. 2. Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf

   Bright colours were a weapon for Bruno Taut. The architect believed that good housing could change people's lives, and in the 1920s he designed several large housing estates in Berlin for working and middle class families, with light, airy flats, gardens and shared green spaces. The Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf, better known as Onkel Toms Hütte, Uncle Tom's Cabin, after a nearby inn and the underground station, was built between 1926 and 1931 on the edge of the Grunewald forest, and Taut, working with other architects, painted the houses in strong reds, greens, blues and yellows, so that the estate glows among the pine trees. It is one of the great monuments of modern housing in Germany.

   Read the complete Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf comes up about 17 km into the recorded legs. Next is Museumsinsel.

3. 3. Museumsinsel

   The northern tip of an island in the Spree in the middle of Berlin holds five museums that between them cover about six thousand years of human history. The Museumsinsel, or Museum Island, grew out of a decision in the nineteenth century by the kings of Prussia to build a cultural centre in the heart of the capital, and the buildings, in neoclassical and neo-baroque style, were added one by one until the 1930s. UNESCO listed the ensemble in 1999. Among the treasures are the Pergamon Altar, the Ishtar Gate of Babylon, and the bust of Queen Nefertiti, which sits in the Neues Museum.

   Read the complete Museumsinsel write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 31 km into the recorded legs you reach Museumsinsel. Next is back through Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf.

4. 4. back through Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Waldsiedlung Zehlendorf, late in the day. Next is Großsiedlung Britz.

5. 5. Großsiedlung Britz

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Großsiedlung Britz write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Back at Großsiedlung Britz. That is the ride.