Karl-Marx-Allee, Berlin: A Pictorial Record

摘要

Over a kilometre of Berlin's Karl-Marx-Allee is lined with monumental buildings dating from the 1950s and sporting facades of architectural ceramics manufactured in Meissen by VEB Plattenwerk Max Dietel (Fig. 1). This huge contract required significant investment by the firm. Although there is a great deal of published research — much of it in German — relating to the planning and construction of Karl-Marx-Allee, there has thus far been little consideration of what must be one of the world's most extensive installations of Meissen-produced architectural ceramics. Indeed, one of the few references found to Meissen tiles was to another remarkably large installation, the 102 metres long panel Der Furstenzug in Dresden, which was recreated by the famous Meissen Porcelain factory during 1904—7. Given the vast amount of literature devoted to Meissen products in general, it is curious that the Karl-Marx-Allee ceramics have escaped academic attention. Thus this brief article attempts to summarise the construction h istory of Karl-Marx-Allee, and to provide a pictorial record of its architectural ceramics and other decorative elements.