|
Index
Gründerzeit
Museum
Chinese
Tea House
Anatomical
Theatre
The
Deserted Room
Luisenst.
Canal Gardens
Comenius
Garden
Körnerpark
Gallery
Buddhisti
House
Lübars Village Green
Schöneb.
Nat. Reserve
Marienfelde
Green
Lions'
Bridge
Späthsches
Arboretum
Villa
Harteneck's Garden
Heerstraße
Cemetery
|
The steps leading up to the Mahlsdorf manor house are framed on both sides by red thorn trees pruned into spherical shapes. At the back, the old estate stretches out with its tall trees and bright flower meadows. Before Charlotte von Mahlsdorf
moved here in 1958, the ruined house was about to be pulled down, after numerous alterations and having been put to various uses. Charlotte, born in Mahlsdorf as Lothar Berfelde
was a transvestite, curator, maid, museum director, author and was awarded an Order of Merit. For decades, Charlotte devoted herself to the restoration of the old country villa, which is over two hundred years old. After only two years she opened her private
Gründerzeit Museum in the first rooms to be renovated. In the 1970’s, the collection grew to 23 complete interiors and many single pieces. She commented that “nothing would have come to fruition if l had not had a feminine disposition in a masculine body. This museum is here because l played with dolls’ house furniture as a child, because I am still a cleaning lady today, because l enjoy this Gründerzeit period and because I always wanted to have a household around me.” In 1995, the expert and lover of the Gründerzeit took the last visitors around the museum herself and shortly afterwards moved to Sweden. Various circumstances led to this, among them an assault by Neonazis. The collection was bought by the city and since then has been managed by a trust. Even without the lady of the house, it is still a pleasure to be guided through the 5 living rooms, through the kitchen, washhouse, maid’s room, barrel-organ music room and the complete installation of the “Mulackritze,” the last “Zille-Kneipe” in Berlin. Every piece of furniture reflects the history of the passionate collector. Her dedication to her hobby and unusual preservation of historical buildings and monuments, against the resistance of GDR bureaucracy, are the subject matter of many an
anecdote. |
|
(Bild1oben.jpg)
Bild2unt.jpg)
|
