Kosmonautenzentrum ‘Sigmund Jähn‘
Küchwaldring 20
09113 Chemnitz
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Kosmonautenzentrum ‘Sigmund Jähn‘
Küchwaldring 20
09113 Chemnitz
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UPDATE FOR ALL MY EU CUSTOMERS:
I am now IOSS (International One Stop Shop) registered so you can order again without occurring extra costs on arrival of your parcel. That means I now collect all the necessary taxes and YOU, you just receive the parcel, no extra costs WHAT SO EVER. It's only valid for orders up to Euro 150 (about £135) but that's a good start. If you want to order more just E-mail me at info@thorstenvanelten.com and I will talk you through it all.
All EU orders are shipped on a tracked service so costs may be a little higher but at least it streamlines the service and you know exactly where your parcel is at any given time.
Happy Shopping!!
]]>This lovely door is the front door to the 'Christus unser Friede' church in Duisburg Hagenshof and was built between 1974 and 1977 by architects Toni and Hannes Hermanns.
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From the 15th of July until the 15th of August I'll be off on my Sommerferien (Summer Holidays).
I'll try and spend some quality time with family and friends in Germany to make up for lost time over the last 18 months. It's been a challenging time for all of us so this is all about priorities, and that priority is to go and see my parents, family and friends.
The online shop will stay open but all orders placed during that time will NOT be posted until I return after the 15th of August. If you need something urgently, please DO NOT place an order as it won't be posted and I will respond to E-mails only sporadically.
For those of you who don't know, this Thorsten van Elten Online Shop is staffed by...Yep...Me...........Thorsten. This is a one-man band and this one-man band is going back to the Vaterland. You can follow my travels on my Personal Instagram or #thorstentours.
Have a wonderful summer and see you all in the middle of August.
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Like many churches, Maria in der Zarten (that's the name of the church) has been added to/changed/destroyed/rebuilt several times in its life and the latest expansion happened in 1962 when a rather modernist part was added to the onion domed tower from the 1730s. Architect Hugo Becker called upon French artist Wilfrid Perraudin to design the spectacular stained glass windows, Becker then put one of the original baroque altars next to a window and this is the result: A thing of absolute beauty.
Picture was taken in September 2020.
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Unfortunatley I didn't have time to have lunch there as the Kässpätzle were definitley calling my name. Oh well, maybe next time.
Picture taken in September 2020.
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This is probably one of my favourite buidings ever, it's completely bonkers.
The Bierpinsel (Beer Brush opened on the 13th of October 1976 as the Turmrestaurant Steglitz. It was built between 1972 and 1976 by architects Ralf Schüler and his wife Ursulina Schüler-Witte in the Pop Art style. Due to it's unusual shape it's had a bit of a rough time and has changed owners way too many times but thankfully since 2017 it is now a listed building.
Pictures were taken in March 2019.
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Who knew crematoriums can be this magnificent.
Well this one most certainly is. It was built between 1930 and 1932 by architect Fritz Schumacher in the Backsteinexpressionismus (Brick Expressionism) style and is located in the world’s largest park cemetery (389 hectares) in Hamburg Ohlsdorf. It‘s even got a nice place for Kaffee und Kuchen attached to it.
Pictures were taken in November 2019.
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Considered the most beautiful factory in the world, the former Van Nelle factory is the most prominent industrial monument in the Netherlands and was was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in June 2014. It started life as a factory processing coffee, tea and tobacco but has stopped operating in 1996 and is now a creative hub, housing many creative studios and architects.
Designed by Brinkman & Van der Vlugt, the factory is a classic example of the Nieuwe Bouwen school of Dutch modernist architecture and was built between 1927 and 1930. The clever and beautiful building was designed to provide all the facilities for the employees close at hand, keeping the building fully above-ground to create air, light and space.
Picture taken in August 2020.
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This adorable tiled mural adornes an East Berlin Nursery since 1978. It was designed by Gertraude Pohl.
A lovely bit of vintage upcycling from the 1950‘s, 60‘s or 70‘s and very popular in Central Europe: Fences and gates made from leftovers of the metal industry after the components got stamped out. The repeat pattern makes a beautiful fence or (in this case) gate. I drove past this one earlier this year and had to turn back to take a pic. I LOVE IT ♥️
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As well as just the museum, Kröller-Müller also have a rather amazing sculpture garden where you can find the Rietveld Pavillion. Designed in 1954/55 it was a temporary structure at the rather catchy Internationale beeldententoonstelling in de open lucht sonsbeek ‘55 exhibition in Arnhem. It was demolished after the exhibition but thankfully re-build in its current place in 1964.
Picture taken last weekend in Delft.
As seen in Decin (Czech Republic).
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Milchbar Pinguin (Milkbar Penguin) opened in 1964 and was THE place to be in the East German town of Leipzig. Serving, yes you guessed it, milk products. Apparently they had four types of ice cream when it opened, chocolate, vanilla, strawberry and mocha, and the queues were massive, seating up to 5000 (!!!) guests a day. Nowadays it's considerably easier to get a seat and they serve a larger amount of ice creams as well as cake and ice cream sundaes, and pretty decent ones too. The original interior is unfortunately long gone but the signage is still there. And what an absolute beauty it is.
Milchbar Pinguin
Katharinenstrasse 4
04109 Leipzig
So my 2015 New Year's resolution was to try them all. I failed miserably.
Still, for me a visit to Germany isn't complete without a Currywurst (best eaten in Berlin or the Ruhrgebiet), or a classic Weisswurst in Bavaria, with a pretzel, sweet mustard and of course a beer (all consumed before midday).
And whenever I'm in Frankfurt, a Rindswurst from Gref-Völsing is a must. For convenience you can get them from Schön's Wurstwaren in the Kleinmarkthalle which should be on everyone's list for Frankfurt anyway. For a quick snack (sausage of course) you could try a sausage from SCHREIBERS, also in the Kleinmarkthalle.
So that's three down, 1397 to go.
And for those of you not too keen I leave you with this quote, "Laws are like sausages. It’s better not to see them being made."
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I saw this road sign of a whizzing waiter in the ridiculously beautiful town of Hallstatt last summer.
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Hallstatt, situated on the Hallstätter See, is part of the Salzkammergut UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the most photogenic places I have been to, as you can see from my picture below. 
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As you may well be aware, I do love a good socialist mosaic and have been an admirer of artist Walter Womacka for quite some time now. I even travelled to the East German town of Eisenhüttenstadt a couple of years ago to check out his work in the town hall as well on a building facade on the high street but you don't have to travel to far flung places (ok, it's not really that far flung, Eisenhüttenstadt is only about an hour and a half east of Berlin), there is one right in the centre of Berlin. Titled "Unser Leben" (Our Life), it depicts every day life in the German Democratic Republic and is wrapped around the facade of the Haus des Lehrers (House of the teacher, built between 1962 and 1964) to the height of about two floors and, as with all good socialist mosaics, there's obviously a scientist, at least a couple of farmers, some construction workers and most important of all, a Friedenstaube (peace dove).
Make sure you check it out next time you're in Berlin, it's just around the corner from Alexanderplatz.
Haus des Lehrers, Alexanderstraße 9, 10178 Berlin
There's been a Markthalle in the same location (well, almost the same) since the 1870s but the current version was built in 1954 after the previous one was destroyed in 1944.
The Kleinmarkthalle has all sorts of stalls selling local food (you've got to try a sausage from SCHREIBERS) as well as food from around the globe. It also sell flowers and has a pretty amzing seed stall where I spent 20 minutes just eavesdropping to the sales person explaing all sorts of seeds and why that cucumber is better than that one and why I should be growing these leeks but not those.
I'll be back in Frankfurt soon so will make sure I set aside an hour for the Kleinmarkthalle and all my seed needs for the upcoming season. I may even speak to the sales person myself this time.
Below are a few more images with some wonderful old signage and a super display case.
Kleinmarkthalle, Hasengasse 5-7, 60311 Frankfurt am Main
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'Ohhh, that's an unusal name' I hear quite often, especially here in the UK. So a couple of years ago I visited the town where I guess one my ancestors must have come from, after all van Elten simply means from Elten (translated from Dutch). The fact that Elten is directly located on the German/Dutch border should also explain the Dutch-ness of my surname.
My ancestors clearly didn't make it very far as I was born only about half an hour away from Elten.
And here I am trying to lay claim to the town....it somehow didn't work though, I must try harder next time.
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Designed in 1968 by architect Hans Buchmann and sculptor Josef Rikus together with theologist Wilhelm Nyssen, Johannes XXIII church is based on a depiction of the Tree of Jesse (no, me neither). The sculptoral outside is continued on the inside in concrete as well as wood. It's so unusual that I have one picture from the inside where in all honesty I can't figure out if I have put it on here upside down or on its side. I just can't work it out.
Below are a few more pictures from the outside and some from the inside, including the possible upside down one. 
Kirche Johannes XXIII, Berrenrather Str. 127, 50937 Köln
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I've been reading about the Koloss von Prora (Colossus of Prora) for so many years, I just had to see it with my own eyes. And to be honest, you really have to see it to believe the sheer scale of this ginormous complex.
Built between 1936 and 1939, The Colossus of Prora was planned as a mass holiday resort for Nazi Germany and was going to have space for 20,000 people to holiday at the same time, with every room having a sea view. The organisation Kraft durch Freude (Strength through joy) was going to run it as a sort of Nazi version of Butlins, bringing affordable holidays to the masses. The onset of World War II in 1939 meant that construction was stopped and it was never used in the way it was intended. After the war the buildings were first a Soviet and later an East German Military base.
The buildings (originally 8 identical blocks) extend over a length of around 4.5km alongside a beautiful sandy beach on the island of Rügen in the Baltic Sea. It really is a colossus.
Three of the blocks have been more or less completely destroyed and the five remaining ones are slowly but surely being converted into holiday apartments. There is also a hotel, a youth hostel and a museum in part of the buildings.
Below are few more pictures I took this summer.
Above: Sea facing side. Below: Land facing side with staircase.
Above: A recently completed conversion into holiday apartments. Below: Left over of a mainly destroyed block. Bottom images: One massive building site.
We now have a oil-powered combination bolier and the first rule of oil boilers is: Do NOT run out of oil.
We've run out of oil.
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We're taking to this countryside living like a duck to water.
We now have an oil-powered combination bolier and the first rule of oil boilers is: Do NOT run out of oil.
We've run out of oil.
That means no heating and what's even worse, no hot water. I had to boil 15 kettles and all the pots and pans I have just to fill the bath up with some hot water, the glamour. Of course it had to happen on the coldest days of the year so far. Thankfully we're all up and running again, we got oil delieverd and had the boiler man coming to flush it through. Apparetly oil boilers do NOT like not having oil, who knew.
Hopefully that's a lesson learned.
Hopefully.
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I've been driving past the sign on the Autobahn so many times I thought next time I go to Germany to see my parents I'll definitely have to check them out. So when I went last week I finally managed to visit Haus Lange and Haus Esters by a little known architect called Mies van der Rohe. I'm obviously joking when I say little known, he's only one of the greatest architects like EVER!!
Built between 1928 and 1930 these two adjacent villas are apparently not considered as some of his best work, but I'd still be more than happy with a Mies on an off day. They are situated in the West German town of Krefeld which is about half an hour north of Cologne. Krefeld has a long history of textile industry, especially silks and satins and the buildings were commissioned by two directors of the Vereinigten Seidenwebereien AG (United Silk Weavers), a Mr Lange and Mr Esters (who'd have guessed).
By the way, Krefeld is also the birth place of two rather progressive Germans, artist Josph Beuys and founding member of pioneering electonic band Kraftwerk, Ralf Hütter.
Sorry, I digress. The villas have been donated to the City of Krefeld in the 1960s and are now part of the contemporary art museum Kunstmuseen Krefeld who use it as a changing exhibition space. Oh, and you can only visit the inside when they have an exhibition on. Unfortuntaley I got told off when I tried to take a picture from the inside so here are a few more from the outside.
Haus Lange and Haus Esters
Wilhelmshofallee 91-97
47800 Krefeld
