![Printing3 Walk of Ideas Berlin](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a6/Printing3_Walk_of_Ideas_Berlin.JPG)
The Walk of Ideas was a set of six
sculptures
Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...
in central
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
designed by
Scholz & Friends
Scholz & Friends is one of Europe's largest advertising agencies. The company was founded in Hamburg by Jürgen Scholz, Uwe Lang and Michael Menzel in 1981. Today, the company has dual headquarters in Hamburg- HafenCity and Berlin- Mitte. Scholz & ...
for the
2006 FIFA World Cup
The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the ...
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
event in
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
. The sculptures, part of a campaign called ''Welcome to Germany – the Land of Ideas'', were put up between 10 March 2006 and 19 May 2006. The opening of the
exhibition
An exhibition, in the most general sense, is an organized presentation and display of a selection of items. In practice, exhibitions usually occur within a cultural or educational setting such as a museum, art gallery, park, library, exhibition ...
was covered by reporters for the international mass media. The sculptures were on display until September 2006.
Background information
The "boulevard of sculptures" was a central component of a
nation building
Nation-building is constructing or structuring a national identity using the power of the State (polity), state. Nation-building aims at the unification of the people within the state so that it remains politically stable and viable in the long r ...
campaign called "Deutschland – Land der Ideen" (''Germany – Land of Ideas''). The campaign, under the
patronage
Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, arts patronage refers to the support that kings, popes, and the wealthy have provided to artists su ...
of the then German President,
Horst Köhler
Horst Köhler (; born 22 February 1943) is a German politician who served as President of Germany from 2004 to 2010. As the candidate of the two Christian Democratic sister parties, the Christian Democratic Union of Germany, CDU (of which he is ...
, was a collaboration between the German government and the German business sector, (represented by the
Federation of German Industries
The Federation of German Industries (german: Bundesverband der Deutschen Industrie (BDI)) is the umbrella organization of German industry and industry-related service providers. It represents 39 industry associations and more than 100,000 compani ...
), whose purpose was to communicate a positive image of Germany both nationally and internationally.
The campaign's corporate design, as well as the design of the sculptures, was developed and realized by the Berlin design agency
Scholz & Friends Identify. The agency has since received multiple awards for this campaign (such as the renowned German EVA Award in 2006
). The sculptures were placed on central squares (
Bebelplatz and
Gendarmenmarkt
The Gendarmenmarkt ( en, Gut Market) is a square in Berlin and the site of an architectural ensemble including the Berlin concert hall and the French and German Churches. In the centre of the square stands a monumental statue of poet Fri ...
among others) in Berlin's city center. Many politicians, members of the initiative or representatives of the companies involved held speeches at the small opening ceremonies accompanying the unveiling of the sculptures. The first sculpture to be unveiled was "Der moderne Fußballschuh" (''The Modern Football Boot''), at
Spreebogenpark
Spreebogenpark is a park in Tiergarten, Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population with ...
on March 10, 2006. The final sculpture "Relativitätstheorie" (''The Theory of Relativity'') was unveiled and handed over on May 19, 2006 to the Berlin park
Lustgarten
The ' () is a park on Museum Island in central Berlin, near the site of the former () of which it was originally a part. At various times in its history, the park has been used as a parade ground, a place for mass rallies and a public park.
The ...
. In autumn of 2006, the sculptures were removed again. One sculpture, ''Das Automobil'', was transported to
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...
; it is not certain if or how the other pieces of art have been recycled or used elsewhere.
From the planning stage to the finished pieces, the total cost per sculpture lay between 300,000 and 350,000
euros
The euro (symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . T ...
. The sculptures were all built using the modern synthetic material
Neopor, and coated with a special brilliant white
varnish
Varnish is a clear transparent hard protective coating or film. It is not a stain. It usually has a yellowish shade from the manufacturing process and materials used, but it may also be pigmented as desired, and is sold commercially in various ...
. The production time for each sculpture was roughly two months, with the final assembly on site spanning 2–3 days.
Plaques in both German and English provided explanatory details on the
symbol
A symbol is a mark, sign, or word that indicates, signifies, or is understood as representing an idea, object, or relationship. Symbols allow people to go beyond what is known or seen by creating linkages between otherwise very different conc ...
ism of each object along a path exemplifying Germany's research landscape and
cultural history
Cultural history combines the approaches of anthropology and history to examine popular cultural traditions and cultural interpretations of historical experience. It examines the records and narrative descriptions of past matter, encompassing the ...
.
Sculptures
''Modern Book Printing''
The installation of the statue "Der moderne Buchdruck" (''Modern Book Printing'') took place on April 21, 2006 at
Bebelplatz opposite
Humboldt University
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiati ...
. The assembly of this object on the street Unter den Linden took three days.
A steel structure held 17 different-sized shell segments together; each of them representing a single book. Including the stabilizing
ballast weight, the tower ended up with an overall weight of .
The 17 books were stacked on their sides and bore the names of German poets and writers on their spines; ''
Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as treat ...
'' formed the base as the lowermost book. The sculpture was erected in remembrance of
Johannes Gutenberg
Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg (; – 3 February 1468) was a German inventor and Artisan, craftsman who introduced letterpress printing to Europe with his movable type, movable-type printing press. Though not the first of its ki ...
who invented the modern letterpress in
Mainz
Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.
Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main (river), Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-we ...
around 1450 and created the first bestseller in history with the
Gutenberg Bible
The Gutenberg Bible (also known as the 42-line Bible, the Mazarin Bible or the B42) was the earliest major book printed using mass-produced movable metal type in Europe. It marked the start of the "Gutenberg Revolution" and the age of printed b ...
. Of the approximately 180 original copies of the first edition, 48 are known to
still exist.
Here is the full list of names on each spine, beginning with the topmost book:
*
Günter Grass
Günter Wilhelm Grass (born Graß; ; 16 October 1927 – 13 April 2015) was a German novelist, poet, playwright, illustrator, graphic artist, sculptor, and recipient of the 1999 Nobel Prize in Literature.
He was born in the Free City of Da ...
*
Hannah Arendt
Hannah Arendt (, , ; 14 October 1906 – 4 December 1975) was a political philosopher, author, and Holocaust survivor. She is widely considered to be one of the most influential political theorists of the 20th century.
Arendt was born ...
*
Heinrich Heine
Christian Johann Heinrich Heine (; born Harry Heine; 13 December 1797 – 17 February 1856) was a German poet, writer and literary critic. He is best known outside Germany for his early lyric poetry, which was set to music in the form of '' Lied ...
*
Martin Luther
Martin Luther (; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, theologian, author, hymnwriter, and professor, and Order of Saint Augustine, Augustinian friar. He is the seminal figure of the Reformation, Protestant Refo ...
*
Immanuel Kant
Immanuel Kant (, , ; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German philosopher and one of the central Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works in epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, and ...
*
Anna Seghers
Anna Seghers (; born ''Anna Reiling,'' 19 November 1900 – 1 June 1983), is the pseudonym of a German writer notable for exploring and depicting the moral experience of the Second World War. Born into a Jewish family and married to a Hungarian ...
*
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (; ; 27 August 1770 – 14 November 1831) was a German philosopher. He is one of the most important figures in German idealism and one of the founding figures of modern Western philosophy. His influence extends ...
* The
Brothers Grimm
The Brothers Grimm ( or ), Jacob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm (1786–1859), were a brother duo of German academics, philologists, cultural researchers, lexicographers, and authors who together collected and published folklore. They are among the ...
*
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...
*
Heinrich Böll
Heinrich Theodor Böll (; 21 December 1917 – 16 July 1985) was a German writer. Considered one of Germany's foremost post-World War II writers, Böll is a recipient of the Georg Büchner Prize (1967) and the Nobel Prize for Literature (1972).
...
*
Friedrich Schiller
Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (, short: ; 10 November 17599 May 1805) was a German playwright, poet, and philosopher. During the last seventeen years of his life (1788–1805), Schiller developed a productive, if complicated, friends ...
*
Gotthold Ephraim Lessing
Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (, ; 22 January 1729 – 15 February 1781) was a philosopher, dramatist, publicist and art critic, and a representative of the Enlightenment era. His plays and theoretical writings substantially influenced the developmen ...
*
Hermann Hesse
Hermann Karl Hesse (; 2 July 1877 – 9 August 1962) was a German-Swiss poet, novelist, and painter. His best-known works include ''Demian'', ''Steppenwolf (novel), Steppenwolf'', ''Siddhartha (novel), Siddhartha'', and ''The Glass Bead Game'', ...
*
Theodor Fontane
Theodor Fontane (; 30 December 1819 – 20 September 1898) was a German novelist and poet, regarded by many as the most important 19th-century German-language realist author. He published the first of his novels, for which he is best known toda ...
*
Thomas
Thomas may refer to:
People
* List of people with given name Thomas
* Thomas (name)
* Thomas (surname)
* Saint Thomas (disambiguation)
* Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church
* Thomas the A ...
and
Heinrich Mann
Luiz Heinrich Mann (; 27 March 1871 – 11 March 1950), best known as simply Heinrich Mann, was a German author known for his Social criticism, socio-political novels. From 1930 until 1933, he was president of the fine poetry division of the ...
*
Bertolt Brecht
Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known professionally as Bertolt Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a pl ...
*
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as trea ...
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''Milestones of Medicine''
The ceremonial inauguration of the sculpture ''Milestones of Medicine'' took place on March 30, 2006 at the
Friedrich-Ebert-Platz which is located just east of the
Reichstag. It was in the shape of a pill and, with a diameter of , was impossible to overlook on the waterside promenade of the Spree across the Marie-Elisabeth-Lüders-Haus which houses the Library of the German Parliament. The sculpture was anchored below the pavement by a steel base which measured .
The sculpture was intended to symbolise breakthrough pharmaceutical research, such as that done by
Felix Hoffmann,
Robert Koch
Heinrich Hermann Robert Koch ( , ; 11 December 1843 – 27 May 1910) was a German physician and microbiologist. As the discoverer of the specific causative agents of deadly infectious diseases including tuberculosis, cholera (though the Vibrio ...
,
Emil Adolf von Behring
Emil von Behring (; Emil Adolf von Behring), born Emil Adolf Behring (15 March 1854 – 31 March 1917), was a German physiologist who received the 1901 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, the first one awarded in that field, for his discovery ...
,
Paul Ehrlich
Paul Ehrlich (; 14 March 1854 – 20 August 1915) was a Nobel Prize-winning German physician and scientist who worked in the fields of hematology, immunology, and antimicrobial chemotherapy. Among his foremost achievements were finding a cure ...
or
Gerhard Domagk
Gerhard Johannes Paul Domagk (; 30 October 1895 – 24 April 1964) was a German pathologist and bacteriologist. He is credited with the discovery of sulfonamidochrysoidine (KL730) as an antibiotic for which he received the 1939 Nobel Prize in Phy ...
. In 1897, pharmacist and chemist Felix Hoffmann managed to process acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) that was chemically pure and stable as well as well tolerated for patients. The product came onto the market two years later under the name of
Aspirin
Aspirin, also known as acetylsalicylic acid (ASA), is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) used to reduce pain, fever, and/or inflammation, and as an antithrombotic. Specific inflammatory conditions which aspirin is used to treat inc ...
and constitutes the active ingredient of many other painkillers today. In 1950, Aspirin was listed in the ''
Guinness Book of Records
''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...
'' as the best-selling painkiller.
Additionally the giant pill on the Spree riverside was meant to be a reminder of medical equipment like the
X-ray tube
An X-ray tube is a vacuum tube that converts electrical input power into X-rays. The availability of this controllable source of X-rays created the field of radiography, the imaging of partly opaque objects with penetrating radiation. In contrast ...
, the
Cardiac catheter and dialysis which are German developments. The pill symbolises Germany as one of the world leaders in pharmaceutics and medical technology.
image:Medicine1 Walk of Ideas Berlin.JPG,
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''Masterpieces of Music''
The sculpture "Meisterwerke der Musik" (''Masterpieces of Music'') consisted of six individual notes, three
quaver
180px, Figure 1. An eighth note with stem extending up, an eighth note with stem extending down, and an eighth rest.
180px, Figure 2. Four eighth notes beamed together.
An eighth note (American) or a quaver (British) is a musical note play ...
s and three
crotchet
A quarter note (American) or crotchet ( ) (British) is a musical note played for one quarter of the duration of a whole note (or semibreve). Quarter notes are notated with a filled-in oval note head and a straight, flagless stem. The stem u ...
s. Each note was high, long and wide and weighed , including the flag. According to the websit
Land der Ideen(''Country of Ideas'') the notes were, due to their static and geometric aspects, by far the most complicated construction of all six sculptures.
A crane was used to assemble the individual parts, the note heads and stems, on May 5, 2006 at the Gendarmenmarkt.
The notes were intended to represent the importance of music for Germany - of composers like
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...
,
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...
,
Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms (; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, pianist, and conductor of the mid- Romantic period. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, he spent much of his professional life in Vienna. He is sometimes grouped wit ...
, or
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...
, of pioneers like
Karlheinz Stockhausen
Karlheinz Stockhausen (; 22 August 1928 – 5 December 2007) was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. He is known for his groun ...
, and of artists such as
Anne-Sophie Mutter
Anne-Sophie Mutter (born 29 June 1963) is a German violinist. She was supported early in her career by Herbert von Karajan. As an advocate of contemporary music, she has had several works composed especially for her, by Sebastian Currier, Henri ...
. The compositional work covers serious religious music and powerful symphonic pieces as well as a variety of cheerful elements. For example, in "
Kaffeekantate" Bach depicted a humorous scene exploring the
bourgeois
The bourgeoisie ( , ) is a social class, equivalent to the middle or upper middle class. They are distinguished from, and traditionally contrasted with, the proletariat by their affluence, and their great cultural and financial capital. They ...
life of the middle class in
Leipzig
Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...
of that time.
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Image:Music2 Walk of Ideas Berlin.JPG,
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Image:Music4 Walk of Ideas Berlin.JPG,
Image:Music5 Walk of Ideas Berlin.JPG,
Image:Music6 Walk of Ideas Berlin.JPG,
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''The Automobile''
It is long, wide and high, weighing more than . Using of
glass fiber reinforced plastic lining and of
Neopor foam, the sculpture ''Das Automobil'' comprises 16
steel
Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...
segments on a steel frame. The sculpture was designed by the German car manufacturer
Audi
Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. As a subsidiary of its parent company, the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide.
Th ...
. More than 100 people were involved in the making. The public interest was high when the sculpture was unveiled on the western side of the
Brandenburg Gate
The Brandenburg Gate (german: Brandenburger Tor ) is an 18th-century neoclassical monument in Berlin, built on the orders of Prussian king Frederick William II after restoring the Orangist power by suppressing the Dutch popular unrest. One ...
on April 6, 2006. Besides the
mayor
In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...
Klaus Wowereit
Klaus Wowereit (born 1 October 1953) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and was the Governing Mayor of Berlin from 21 October 2001 to 11 December 2014. In 2001 state elections his party won a plurality of the votes, 29 ...
, 600 guests, 100 photographers, TV crews and journalists took part in the celebrations.
In May 2006, the sculpture was relocated to the
Schloßplatz in order to make room for the
FIFA Fan Fest
The FIFA Fan Festivals are public viewing events organized by FIFA and the host cities during the FIFA World Cup. FIFA Fan Festivals (initially named FIFA Fan Fests) followed the success of public viewing at the 2002 FIFA World Cup in South Korea ...
during the
2006 FIFA World Cup
The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the ...
.
The automobile sculpture was chosen to represent
Karl Benz
Carl Friedrich Benz (; 25 November 1844 – 4 April 1929), sometimes also Karl Friedrich Benz, was a German engine designer and automotive engineer. His Benz Patent Motorcar from 1885 is considered the first practical modern automobile and fir ...
,
Gottlieb Daimler
Gottlieb Wilhelm Daimler (; 17 March 1834 – 6 March 1900) was a German engineer, industrial designer and industrialist born in Schorndorf (Kingdom of Württemberg, a federal state of the German Confederation), in what is now Germany. He was a ...
,
Wilhelm Maybach
Wilhelm Maybach (; 9 February 1846 – 29 December 1929) was an early German engine designer and industrialist. During the 1890s he was hailed in France, then the world centre for car production, as the "King of Designers".
From the late 19th ce ...
,
August Horch,
Ferdinand Porsche
Ferdinand Porsche (3 September 1875 – 30 January 1951) was an Austrian-German automotive engineer and founder of the Porsche AG. He is best known for creating the first gasoline–electric hybrid vehicle (Lohner–Porsche), the Volkswag ...
, and
Rudolf Diesel
Rudolf Christian Karl Diesel (, ; 18 March 1858 – 29 September 1913) was a German inventor and Mechanical engineering, mechanical engineer who is famous for having invented the diesel engine, which burns diesel fuel; both are named after him.
...
, the inventor of the
diesel engine
The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-call ...
.
According to an announcement by the team behind the
national marketing campaign "Deutschland – Land der Ideen", Professor Martin Winterkorn unveiled the sculpture in front of the Oriental Plaza business center in Beijing on November 18th 2006, the evening before the "Auto China 2006" exhibition. The sculpture, ''Das Automobil'', was on public display for 4 weeks. China's most prominent figures in society, sport, and culture were part of the approximately 250 invited guests at the unveiling, which, according to a news release, was a "spectacular show."
image:Automobile1 Walk of Ideas Berlin.JPG,
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''The Modern Football Boot''
On March 10, 2006, the organisers of the "Boulevard of sculptures" unveiled the first statue, ''The Modern Football Boot'' in the Spreebogenpark opposing the new central station. The sculpture was built by the company EDAG Ltd. in Fulda. It depicts a pair of modern soccer shoes, as developed by the Dassler family.
In 1953,
Adolf Dassler
Adolf "Adi" Dassler (3 November 1900 – 6 September 1978) was a German cobbler, inventor and entrepreneur who founded the German sportswear company Adidas. He was also the younger brother of Rudolf Dassler, founder of Puma. Dassler was an innov ...
(the founder of
Adidas
Adidas AG (; stylized as adidas since 1949) is a German multinational corporation, founded and headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, that designs and manufactures shoes, clothing and accessories. It is the largest sportswear manufactur ...
) developed soccer shoes with flexible screw-in studs that provided a particularly firm grip on soft, rain-soaked ground. This development revolutionized soccer equipment.
The
Germany national football team
The Germany national football team (german: link=no, Deutsche Fußballnationalmannschaft) represents Germany in men's international football and played its first match in 1908. The team is governed by the German Football Association (''Deutsch ...
wore these shoes during the
World Cup
A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...
which saw their victory in 1954 in Bern (Switzerland). The shoes are said to have contributed to their success. Otto Schily, former Federal Minister of the Interior and a member of the initiative's advisory committee, expressed his hopes for the upcoming World Cup 2006 after the unveiling: "Maybe Adidas has another "secret weapon" ready for this World Cup."
Each of the sculptured shoes was long, high and weighed around . At the day of the unveiling, there was heavy snowfall in the area considering the season. Because of that, the Spreebogenpark looked more like a winter sports paradise than a green soccer turf.
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''Theory of Relativity''
The last sculpture depicts what is probably the most well-known equation in physics:
E=mc². It belongs to the revolutionizing papers of
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theory ...
concerning the
Theory of Relativity
The theory of relativity usually encompasses two interrelated theories by Albert Einstein: special relativity and general relativity, proposed and published in 1905 and 1915, respectively. Special relativity applies to all physical phenomena in ...
. In 1905, his paper "
Zur Elektrodynamik bewegter Körper" ("The electrodynamics of objects in motion") established the
Special Theory of Relativity
In physics, the special theory of relativity, or special relativity for short, is a scientific theory regarding the relationship between Spacetime, space and time. In Albert Einstein's original treatment, the theory is based on two Postulates of ...
, which revolutionized the understanding of space and time. In 1915, he published the
General Theory of Relativity
General relativity, also known as the general theory of relativity and Einstein's theory of gravity, is the differential geometry, geometric scientific theory, theory of gravitation published by Albert Einstein in 1915 and is the current descr ...
, in which the curvature of
spacetime
In physics, spacetime is a mathematical model that combines the three dimensions of space and one dimension of time into a single four-dimensional manifold. Spacetime diagrams can be used to visualize relativistic effects, such as why differen ...
brings about gravity.
Nowadays, Albert Einstein is seen by many as the epitome of a scientist and a genius. He also used his fame outside of the scientific community in his efforts to further international understanding and peace. In this context he also considered himself a
pacifist
Pacifism is the opposition or resistance to war, militarism (including conscription and mandatory military service) or violence. Pacifists generally reject theories of Just War. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaign ...
,
socialist
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...
and
Zionist
Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after ''Zion'') is a nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is known in Je ...
.
The sculpture consisted of three segments. It weighed , was long and high. The ceremonial unveiling in Berlin took place on May 19, 2006, in the
Lustgarten
The ' () is a park on Museum Island in central Berlin, near the site of the former () of which it was originally a part. At various times in its history, the park has been used as a parade ground, a place for mass rallies and a public park.
The ...
on
Museum Island
The Museum Island (german: Museumsinsel) is a museum complex on the northern part of the Spree Island in the historic heart of Berlin. It is one of the most visited sights of Germany's capital and one of the most important museum sites in Europ ...
.
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References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Walk Of Ideas
2006 sculptures
Culture in Berlin
Outdoor sculptures in Germany
Sculpture gardens, trails and parks in Germany
Buildings and structures in Berlin
Halls of fame in Germany
Walks of fame