history

Risiko was a legendary bar & club in the West Berlin of 1980’s, and Uli M Schueppel did a short film about its last morning, all the way back in 1986. The footage captures and documents a little piece of Berlin history with a cover of Lost in Music by Anita Lane and Alex Harvey as the soundtrack of this movie shot in Super8.

Last Morning of Risiko, one of Berlin’s legendary bars from the 1980’s

Berlin (category)
3 min read
11/12/201723/06/2025

I was in Kaliningrad in the last days of October 2017, and the House of Soviets caught my attention since I arrived in the city. The building can be found in the middle of the central square of Kaliningrad, close to where the Königsberg Castle used to be but not quite there. The House of Soviets was built over the moat of the castle, and you can clearly see this in the following picture. There you can look at the ruins of the castle and the abandoned building in the back.

The Monster of Kaliningrad: The Story of the House of Soviets

Kaliningrad (category), Russia (category)
7 min read
22/11/201730/10/2024

It was August 21, 1988, and four people decided to risk their lives crossing the Spree River in an attempt of escaping East Germany in hope for freedom in West Berlin. Three men and a woman risked their lives and watching it today make everything look like a distant event in the past, but that was Berlin at the time.

Escaping East Germany: Swimming Across the Spree into West Berlin in Video

Berlin (category)
3 min read
12/11/201705/02/2024

Konrad H. Jarausch explains the Rise and Fall of the Berlin Wall on a TED-ED video animation

Konrad H. Jarausch explains the Rise and Fall of the Berlin Wall on a TED-ED video animation

Berlin (category)
2 min read
07/10/201708/04/2024

Neukölln is a weird place in Berlin. At first glance, the neighborhood looks like a clash of cultures or, maybe, the future of Germany. But, in the back streets, you can find a glimpse of the past, and this is called Popraci, a hay roll race that has been happening for ten years yet most people don’t even know it exists. Fotostrasse got together with a few friends and put a team to race in this year Popraci Neukölln 2017, and here you can read everything about it.

Popraci Neukolln 2017: When we pushed rolls of Hay around Neukölln dressed with Black Metal war paint

Berlin (category)
3 min read
16/09/201701/04/2024

If you are a walk along where the Berlin Wall used to be around Bernauer Strasse, you will see a meat mural that might be our favorite street art piece in Berlin. This enormous painting shows the side of buildings being cut by a large knife with the shape of the city being represented in some white tissue. For us, this shows how the Berlin Wall was a scar running along the city.

If Walls Could Talk… — A Meat Mural by Marcus Haas where the Berlin Wall used to be

Berlin (category)
3 min read
07/09/201706/08/2025

Why you need to visit the Olympiastadion even if you dont care about sports_

Why you need to visit the Olympiastadion Berlin even if you don’t care about sports

Berlin (category)
8 min read
30/08/201719/03/2024

Far away from the tourists the flock Berlin there is a neighborhood called Kaulsdorf, and it’s there that you will find the lonely hippo known as Knautschke after a famous hippo that was born in the Berlin Zoo back in 1943. Knautschke has the entire Freibad Wernersee to himself but, when I was there, I didn’t see he enjoying much of it. Maybe it was cold; maybe it was the fact that the pool was frozen. Maybe he was just waiting for a time where he would have company, but this will, probably, never happen.

Freibad Wernersee: The Abandoned Pool where a Hippo rests forever

Berlin (category), Urbex (category)
6 min read
23/08/201705/02/2024

When the Soviet Union became Britain’s ally during the Second World War, the Finsbury Council planned a monument as a sign of friendship between the two countries. The statue of Lenin was the central part of this memorial, and the Soviet Embassy presented it to the people of Finsbury. This Lenin Memorial was erected in 1942, and the construction of what would be Lenin Court stalled during the Second World War due to material shortage and the destruction caused to the area by Nazi Germany.

I visited the only statue of Lenin in London-Islington

London (category)
6 min read
17/08/201724/03/2026

While I was browsing through these books, I realized that I have been to a lot of different places in Berlin and that, maybe, I should just write down my list of places to see in Berlin. Yeah, so this is my list of places to see in the beautiful German capital. These are the places that I bring my friends when they are visiting me; these are some of the places that I bring my family when they come here. These places are here because I like them. I might like the food there; I may like the experience of being there, I might like the history behind. And I believe that you should visit them.

52 Places to See in Berlin: One for each week of the year

Berlin (category)
37 min read
30/06/201721/02/2024

If you want to find Lenin in West-Berlin, you will have to walk between trucks and factories in the industrial park south of Neukölln. It feels like Lenin is left out of the city but, somehow, I believe that he is in the right place. Far away from the tourists and close to the people who work in Berlin.

The Only Place to Find a Lenin Statue in West-Berlin

Berlin (category)
4 min read
31/05/201728/02/2024

Poznan is considered by many people as the birthplace of the Polish nation and, because of that, it has more historical places than we could visit. Also, Poznan is one of the oldest cities in Poland, and it used to be one of the most important areas for the Polish people during the Middle Ages. There are traces of those elements in most historical places that we visited in Ostrow Tumski, the island where the city came to be, and around Poznan.

These are our Top 5 Historical Places to Visit in Poznan, Poland

Poznan (category)
11 min read
27/05/201730/01/2024

On the way between my hotel and King’s Cross, there was a park. A park with a familiar name but one of those names that doesn’t ring a bell but that you still think you know what it is. The park I’m mentioning here is called Joseph Grimaldi Park, and it’s named after the person that many consider being the world’s most famous clown, the great Joseph Grimaldi.

Joseph Grimaldi Park in North London: where the world’s most famous clown is buried

London (category)
4 min read
25/05/201714/01/2024

This is what I did back in February 2017 when I visited London for the first time in five years. I was in the city for a week, but I knew that I wouldn’t have much free time so I decided to use in a way that would fit my tastes in the best way possible. That is why I ended up looking for the smallest police station in Great Britain and the First Public Drinking Fountain in the World. I visited both on the same Sunday, and you can read more about it now.

The First Public Drinking Fountain in London

London (category)
5 min read
17/05/201728/05/2024

Like I said before, We Will Forget Soon is a fantastic book that documents a part of German history that most people don’t like to talk about but that needs to be told. Dario-Jacopo Laganá and Stefano Corso did a fantastic job with their book, and I believe that everybody that has some interest in this part of history needs to have this on their bookshelf.

We Will Forget Soon: An Interview with Dario-Jacopo Laganá

Berlin (category), Interviews (category)
11 min read
08/05/201722/02/2024

The last time I went to London, I wanted to see something a little bit different, and this is how I manage to find the smallest police station in Great Britain. Yeah, this is for real and is located on the southeast corner of Trafalgar Square. If you have been to this square, there is a great chance that you already have seen this but… Since you didn’t know what were you looking, you just ignored it like everybody that went by while I was taking pictures of it on a cold February night earlier this year.

We visited the smallest police station in Great Britain

England (category), London (category), United Kingdom (category)
3 min read
06/05/201728/05/2024

Kau Manor used to be the best-kept secret in Northern Europe, but since it won the award for World's Most Inspired Design Hotel in 2016, this fantastic Estonian hotel has been in the spotlight. We had the pleasure of spending two days and one night there in January 2017 and our experience was beyond amazing, and you can read about it below.

Kau Manor: Our Stay in the World’s Most Inspired Design Hotel

Estonia (category)
6 min read
25/04/201729/01/2024

When David Bowie died, in early 2016, we were surprised to read a tweet from the German Foreign Office mentioning how he helped bring down the Berlin Wall. We read it and started looking for a David Bowie Berlin Concert so we could see him in action. One of the first items we found was the Glass Spider Tour of 1987 that became legendary for a lot of reasons. Some say it was the worst tour Bowie ever did. Below we’re going to explain you this concert in Berlin.

David Bowie Berlin Concert 1987: The Glass Spider Tour in front of the Reichstag

Berlin (category)
3 min read
28/03/201709/01/2024

If you ever wondered why Strasse des 17. Juni has its name, you have to watch this short movie from British Pathé from the Berlin Riots of 1953. This short movie is not a documentary but a newsreel report about the uprising of workers against the Communist Regime in East Germany. This is the real deal, not an interpretation of what happened.

Berlin Riots: The 1953 Uprising of Workers in East Germany

Berlin (category)
2 min read
03/03/201703/02/2024

Without its cover, an album is just a black vinyl disc. But, with its cover, it becomes something magical that captures our eyes and turns music into something more. You don't even need to close your eyes to remember four guys walking in a crosswalk, a baby under water trying to catch a dollar bill, a yellow banana... Everybody knows what are those and this is why Total Records at C/O Berlin is such an interesting exhibition.

Total Records: The Art of Vinyl & Photography at C/O Berlin

Berlin (category), Photography (category)
4 min read
15/02/201703/02/2024

I have been to West Berlin a few hundred times but, for me, that part of the city is still a mystery. Sometimes you look into a different direction and something completely new pops up before your eyes. This is what happened to me one day when I left Kurfürstendamm U-Bahn and looked up at the subway exit at Joachimstaler Strasse. There was a prismatic building looking over the street and I had no idea what is was. After some online research, a name came to me: Verkehrskanzel.

Verkehrskanzel: Berlin’s Only Traffic Control Pulpit Left from the Fifties

Berlin (category)
4 min read
01/02/201722/01/2024