Yesterday before the show, when I say yesterday thats only relevant now otherwise it has no reference of time. I asked Giorgi, one of the lighting team about things to do on our few days off. He recommended a few things, but this one, possibly being the least touristy thing caught my attention.
Teufelsberg (Devil’s Mountain) is an old cold war listening stain built onto of one of the largest man made hills in Berlin. Buried beneath the hill is an old Nazi technical college, which the americans tried to blow up with explosives after the war but because it was built so sturdy it was decided to bury it instead! Ontop of all of this was built a US listening station, I cannot find the exact dates when it was built but from various google sources (this one is quite interesting Dirk) it was occupied between the mid 50’s until 1991 when it was abandoned sand all radio equipment removed.
I began my journey by getting the S5 from Alexander Plats to Westkreuz, then on the S75 getting off at Heerstrasse, it too about 40 mins but theres lots of interesting stuff to see along the route. After getting off at the station head South down Teufelsseechaussee for 1km until you see a car park on your left. turn left into here and there us a really obvious path which takes you straight up the hill to the site.
I have heard they the site is to be opened up to tourists at some point this year for guided tours but currently the main gates are closed and there is a fence, sometimes double, sometimes triple around the perimeter. And of you walk around the fence perimeter there are some entrances into the site which appear as holes….ahem…..
After going through this particular entrance you may find yourself between two fences, one interior and one exterior.
If you continue down here in a clockwise fashion there is a second entrance which also looks like a hole in the fence which will take you into the main complex. continuing a further 100m there is a larger entrance and you don’t need to scramble up a short crumbly hill.
Upon getting the first glance of the site on the other side of the fence up close the whole thing seems nuts, and it is. The entire area is covered in graffiti up to arms reach, and it feels completely desolate, that was until I heard noises coming front he main building. There were obviously other people there bit it just felt weird, I continued around the site exploring, circling the whole perimeter and venturing some erie dark corridors. Here was place which was what looked like office building with a pretty hefty save door, you can’t see it from the picture but their are some rather big deadbolts in this 4inch thick door.
Behind me was a cul-de-sac which looked like office space, there was some amazing graffiti on the wall. Here I was in a room with only one way out admiring the graffiti it was bizarre, it was kind of a mixture 10% Uncertainty, 2% Fear, 3% Null, 2% Thirst, 73% Excitmenet & 10% Whatthefuckamidoinghere!
I ventured back out of the offices area and continued clockwise around the perimeter, turning the owner I passed a girl sitting on the grass eating sandwiches and a couple of people with a camera and a tripod taking snaps. this was the first time seeing some other people inside the complex! Everyone smiled and replied to my half English, half German “Hallo”, it was the accent which came out at the time, I have no idea why!
I had eventually done full circle and headed towards the steps which look alike they lead to the main tower/golfball. I got to the first floor and had a mooch around, both long sides of the building were open and gave an amazing view over berlin which was stunning on such a nice March day. Venturing up another couple of floor’s I eventually got the the main circle base of the tower which rose above the main building. Theres a central (disused) lift which runs up the main tower and a concrete staircase which goes around it opening up on each floor.
On each floor of the main tower you can walk a whole panorama and take in every direction of Berlin. This particular day the weather was awesome and you could see for miles. On the third tower floor there were a couple sitting quietly just taking in the view, I said my obligatory German/English “Hallo” and they said hello back, they sounded Italian but if they were anything like me they were probably Welsh.
I think it was the next floor, possibly the one before the golfball which is the following picture. To note, all of the sides of the structure are open, apart from rooftop areas there are no barriers to stop you falling off the edge, if you do visit this place before it becomes commercialised, or the rich “eat it”, be careful.
I had noticed sounds before I approached the top of the main tower, a kind of symphony sound coming down the stairwell but impossible to tell where the sound was coming from. I slowly ventured up what was the last flight of stairs and into the golfball to find 3 people. One girl playing violin, (which I cannot remember the name of the tune), one Polish girl who was brilliantly quirky and unintentionally funny, and a guy who didn’t say much, i think he was spanish?
I spent a while in the golfball, just listening to the girl practicing and playing violin, it was so sureal but nice. Being in an almost completely enclosed parabolic structure meant that any noise you made is completely reflected back at the point of source. So, for example, when I spoke, my voice was louder to me than it was anyone else, and then when someone else replied their voice was slightly muffled to me but completely clear to them. Its such an amazing space with one main opening which is a doorway of light and a sheer drop to the ground.
This whole place is mad, surreal, steeped in so much crazy history, I’m so glad I got the chance to visit and on such a clear day. For now this is a great alternative tourism spot, although its probably inundated in the summer and will only become more and more popular.